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Educators have a number of different roles in their students’ lives. They are there not just to educate them but also to help them develop in various ways and prepare them for the wider world. In the modern day, educators are increasingly using technology and different tools to achieve this goal. Technology can help educators to do many things, from gathering data about their students to monitoring their progress and engaging them in lessons. However, there are so many tools that finding the right ones can be difficult. Here are some of the tools that might be useful for student development both in the classroom and outside of it.
Social Learning Tools
Social learning tools enable teachers and educators to harness the power of social media and connect with students. They can be useful both for students who are learning in the classroom and those who might be studying through online programs. If you are looking for social learning tools for your students, you might consider options such as Flipgrid, which allows you to create video prompts and discussion forums, or Poll Everywhere, which you can use to carry out live polling, surveys, and more to let your students have a say.
Assessment Tools
Being able to assess your students and their development helps you to track their progress and create evidence-based plans for them. Assessing your students’ social-emotional learning is one of the ways you can understand them and ensure you are meeting student needs. Using an SEL universal screener is a great way to assess students and gather the data that you need. With essential data about your students, educators and leaders can take the right steps to lead all students in a positive direction, using the best interventions and fulfilling student needs.
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Learning Content Tools
There are many different tools you can use to create and source learning content for your students. You can use them to help make your lessons more interesting, fun, and engaging, as well as adapt them to the individual needs of different classes and students. You have plenty of options to explore when you need learning content, which can inspire you and help you to expand your practices. Many learning content tools are created for certain subjects, such as the math tool Prodigy or the literature tool CommonLit. Each tool can provide a lot of information and ideas to improve your lesson plans.
Student Engagement Tools
Keeping students engaged can be a challenge. The right tools help to make it easier to engage your students and get them truly interested in the topics that they are studying. There are plenty of options that can be used to make lessons more interesting and keep students engaged. You can use tools like Venngage to create interactive lessons or employ tech like augmented and virtual reality to take your lessons to the next level.
Using the right tech tools will give educators an edge when they want to engage students and improve their development in multiple ways.
