Tools for Online Teaching

SpeakPipe lets you record audio, free of charge, and share the recording with others. It's simple to use. Click the Start recording button, speak, and click the Save on server button. You can email or share the link to your recording. Your recorded message can be up to 5 minutes in length, and your message is accessible for three months. SpeakPipe also offers monthly subscription plans.

SpeakPipe is perfect for language learners and teachers. Students can practice their pronunciation, send the teacher a link, and the teacher can review it. For students preparing to take the TOEFL, IELTS, or other test that has a speaking component, they can use SpeakPipe to practice answering the speaking questions.

Quizlet makes it easy and fun to test your knowledge of a subject by using the flashcard paradigm. You can use it in a traditional manner, a flashcard appears with a word, phrase, image, etc. and you click on the card to flip it to the other side. Quizlet also provides other ways to test your knowledge, for example, you can display both the front and back of all your cards and then drag and drop the matching pairs together.

Flashcards can display text, image, and audio. Your flashcards are public, so anyone can use them. You can upgrade to a teacher's account if you need additional functionality.

For language learners, there are French, German, Spanish, and other language flashcards. Other topics include orchestral instruments, stomach anatomy, tectonic plates, London boroughs, etc.

You can use Quizlet as a different way to test your students’ knowledge of a subject. Create your own cards or use one of the many sets created by others.

TinyCards provides a quick, free, and easy way to create flashcards. It is from DuoLingo, one of my favorite language learning apps. There are a variety of readymade flashcards covering a wide array of subjects including geography, coding, foreign languages, etc.

Padlet is a post it board like Pinterest. You create topic-based boards and post relevant information. There are templates you can choose from. One of my favorites is the Question and Answer board. This is a nice way to gather information and have others not only share their answers but express their opinions about the other posted answers. Some of the templates are a storyboard, a Kan-Ban board to track the progress of a project, and a KWL chart - What I know, What I Wonder, What I Learned.

There are upgrade plans for schools, businesses, and individuals.

Instructables is a site for do it yourself (DIY) projects. As a teacher, you can incorporate these in your lesson plan for either individual or group projects. This site covers a wide range of projects with a special section for teachers, with projects categorized by grade and subject.

The Educational App Store provides a list of many apps for a variety of grade levels and disciplines. It is a great resource that includes some of my favorite apps.

Khan Academy provides on demand instructor-led training for many different classes: Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, World History, Art History, Test Prep, and so on. I love this site. It is great for self-study, a practice resource, or the teacher may want to include one of these classes in his or her lesson plan, for example as a blended class.

Scratch is a coding language for children. It teaches them how to code through storytelling. The language consists of cartoon-like characters. Your code gives them words to speak, actions to perform, and so on. It is a great introduction into the basics of coding. And while it was developed for children, it provides a fun introduction to learners of all ages.

Have fun playing with these tools. I hope you find them useful.