EdTech has brought a remarkable change in the education industry by changing how learning happens. Technical tools and teaching methodologies have peeped into the classrooms, making learning much more exciting. Moreover, Edtech tools have also enhanced the grasping power of children and improved their academic performance significantly.
These tools are equally beneficial for students and educators. They can use them to build the classrooms of tomorrow that are tech-savvy and capable of preparing children for the ever-increasing competition. For example, students can use educational technology tools to prepare presentations, study notes, and complete their homework conveniently. On the other hand, teachers can use them to create a nurturing and highly engaging classroom environment. Let us discuss what exactly Edtech tools are and list some examples for better clarity.
What are EdTech Tools?
EdTech or EduTech tools are software systems that combine education with technology. The primary idea behind these tools is to take learning to a digital level and give traditional classrooms a new look and feel. You must have seen projection screens, tablets, and other technical equipment in the advanced classrooms. It is all part of EdTech. Though it is in the early stages, the speed at which the schools are adapting it is fast. Soon, this interactive study method will take over the typical classroom setup.
With these tools, student performance will improve. Moreover, the teachers will feel less burdened. Evernote, Google Workspace, and TED-Ed are a few examples of educational technology tools teachers use widely. However, new tools and techniques keep coming into the market every other day, and the education industry is inching closer to becoming completely tech driven. Statistically, 75% of districts use more than 26 software products and the number is rising significantly.
Top EdTech Tools
If you are a student or an educator, we understand your curiosity to explore the top educational technology tools. So, we have listed the best EdTech tools that are famous and widely used.
1. Wakelet
Educators are constantly studying their subject matter to keep up with the latest findings and research in the field. They often create notes for their reference before delivering the lecture to their student. Wakelet lets them do this task fuss-free by providing them with a space to create notes or highlights. All their fruitful information will be available in one place, so they do not struggle to find the resources after a few days.
Features
Using Wakelet, you can:
- Keep the resources you explored over the web in one place without any coding skills.
- Create a space where students can also collaborate and share their ideas.
Price
There is a free version of the app available for everyone to use. However, the price for paid subscription starts at $10 per pupil.
2. Google Workspace
It is the perfect teaching assistant for modern educators who wish to make classroom sessions fun and engaging. It stands tall in the list of best EdTech tools in 2023, as many students and teachers use it regularly. Google Workspace includes docs, slides, forms, lenses, and drawings that help students and teachers take learning to another level.
Features
With the help of Google Workspace, you can:
- Create visual elements for free and enhance the student engagement level.
- Create presentations, slides, projects, and much more with all the apps present in this robust suite.
- Give your students access to the Google Classroom and allow them to do collaborative work on a project.
Price
Initially, you can use the 14-day free trial of Google Workspace. After that, you would have to pay around $18 per month per user for this tool.
3. Remind
It is a popular option amongst all educational technology tools for students, made primarily for communication purposes. For example, educators can use this tool to send two-way texts to students or parents to share classroom updates. The best part about this tool is that you do not have to share your number with anyone and use the app for communication.
Features
It is one of the best ed-tech tools for classroom communication. Its highlight features are:
- It lets you schedule reminders for parents or teachers, and you can focus on other tasks.
- The tool allows parents and students to make one-to-one conversations with the teachers.
- The engagement rate of this tool is better than emails or other messaging apps.
Price
Though Remind offers free services for its users, there are a few additional features for which you would have to pay a fee. However, consider it in the list of free educational technology tools.
4. Evernote
Ditch the messy notebooks and flashcards and replace them with Evernote. It is amongst the EdTech tools digital whiteboard where you can keep digitized notes. So whatever different things you learn throughout the day, you only have to note them on the app and access it whenever you want.
Features
Evernote offers some unique features that help it stand out. Some of these features are:
- You can use searching features to find your notes.
- It allows you to bookmark web pages for future reference.
- Attach files to save all the information you want
Price
There is a free version of this tool that you can use. However, to upgrade to the professional version, you have to pay $7.99 per month.
5. Headspace
Learning in modern-day classrooms is more than just academics. They learn different life skills in school, such as emotional stability. As a result, you can find many new educational technology tools that help conduct activities for learning emotion control. For example, Headspace also uses meditation and mindfulness to train students to control their emotions.
Features
The unique features of this tool are:
- It helps students learn meditation and reduces their stress levels significantly.
- Teach various effective mindfulness techniques to students to manage stress and perform to the best of their potential.
Price
You can use Headspace at $ 70 per year or $ 13 monthly. Before paying for it, you can try the 14-day free trial and decide whether to use it.
6. SplashLearn
It is a scientifically designed tool that helps students learn maths, reading skills, and other subjects. The curriculum is in the form of games in which children play and grasp the most challenging concepts with utmost ease. It is one of the free EdTech tools that many educators use to offer extra practice sessions to their students.
Features
The highlight features of this tool are:
- It adapts to students' learning pace as there are no time-bound activities.
- Offers learning options to students for different grades.
- It gives fun games for students to play and learn simultaneously.
Price
SplashLearn is absolutely free for teachers. They can sign up and start using it anytime.
7. Kahoot
It is one of the trusted EdTech tools for online learning that offers an engaging environment to students. It allows teachers to create fun games, quizzes, and questionnaires to keep their students engaged in learning. The tool also offers some pre-made content that the teachers can start using directly.
Features
The highlight features of Kahoot are:
- It is an easy-to-use tool for which you do not require prior training
- You can assign marks for each answer in a quiz to increase the competitiveness of children
- It also allows students to create their own games.
Price
You can try the 14-day free trial of this tool. After that, it would cost you $200 annually.
8. FlipGrid
Popularly known as Flip these days, it is amongst the top EdTech tools with advanced features. It is a video-based platform for creating direct interactive conversations between students and educators. In addition, due to its ability to make classrooms accessible from anywhere, it is considered one of the best EdTech tools for remote learning.
Features
The highlight features of Flip are:
- It makes distance learning possible through the video sessions
- Teachers can respond at their own convenience without being available 24x7.
Price
The price for Flip video classroom tools is around $ 70 per year. A free trial is available for you to explore this tool before using it.
9. Edpuzzle
This tool enables educators to record video lectures for their students. In addition, they can make the videos highly interactive and fun by introducing quizzes and interactive clips. Moreover, they can source short clips from different video platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, and more.
Features
The highlight features that take it to the list of promising EdTech tools are:
- It keeps students highly engaged with its interactive inclusions.
- Teachers can give real-time assessments to students
- This tool can make remote learning a possibility.
Price
Edpuzzle is amongst the list of educational technology tools that are 100% free.
10. Anchor
Podcasts are the new age trend, and they have a considerable contribution to make in the education industry. Though teachers have not adapted to it on a large scale, students are already aware of this platform. In addition, it can work positively in remote working environments, so students must learn to record and use podcasts. An anchor is the right tool for that, which makes students more familiar with podcasts and helps them keep up with the change.
Features
The highlight features of the anchor tool are:
- It is a free tool to introduce podcasting to students
- It allows you to upload and edit audio content conveniently
Price
It is amongst those new EdTech tools that are 100% free.
11. ChatGPT
It is an interactive model that makes learning happen conversationally. It is an elaborate question-answer-based platform based on OpenAI that provides answers to complex questions. Educators widely use this tool to answer their remote students automatically in their absence.
Features
The highlight feature of ChatGPT is that it can provide human-quality responses. The user gets the same feeling as talking to real humans.
Price
Now, two versions of ChatGPT are available - the free version and ChatGPT Plus, which cost $20. You have the option to try the free version and then decide if you want to invest in ChatGPT Plus.
12. NearPod
It is a widely used educational technology tool for the classroom that makes learning considerably engaging and fun. Teachers can create presentations and virtual field trips using the interactive features of this tool. It will help increase the student's focus and get excellent results.
Features
The highlight features of this tool are:
- One can create virtual field trips with this tool which even the best EdTech tools of 2023 cannot provide.
- There are multiple options, like polls, quizzes, videos, and more, so the teachers actually have plenty of options.
Price
The tool has a free version available with limited features. However, you will pay $159 annually for an elaborate feature-rich version.
13. TED Ed
TED-Ed is more than just a video classroom session. There are plethoras of motivational materials, academic content, and more that would excite children and improve their overall grasping power. Moreover, young children can even learn to record their TED talks, giving them much-needed exposure.
Features
The highlight features of this EdTech tool are:
- Young students can create their own TED talk
- There is a lot of content for the students to explore
- Teachers can use it for effective distance education.
Price
It is an affordable tool costing you around $8 a month.
14. Tynker
It is one of the rarest tools of educational technology that teaches coding. You can find over 3700 coding lessons on this platform and use it to introduce your child to a promising computer science career. In addition, teachers prefer this tool to organize fun events like an hour of coding during the school session.
Features
The highlight features of this tool are:
- There are more than 3700 coding lessons available.
- It makes students of all age groups learn to code efficiently.
- Teachers can organize fun coding events through this tool.
Price
You can create a free account on this platform to explore the features. However, the advanced version of Tynker would cost between $10 to $30 per month.
15. Storybird
For budding writers, Storybird is one of the best educational technology tools. It offers them a platform where they write their story and publish it into a book. Moreover, parents and educators also use this tool to improve their pupils' writing skills.
Features
The highlight feature of this tool is the availability of elaborate illustrations from artists worldwide. The students can use them to make their story interesting and keep them as a motivation to write a better story.
Price
You can use the basic plan with fundamental features for free. However, for the feature-rich version of this tool, you would have to pay $8.99 a month.
Countless other educational technology tools for the classroom make learning effective in one way or the other. While some offer the services for free, you would have to pay some price for the other. Based on the subject they teach and the interest of their students, educators can use the best tools of educational technology and get excellent results from their students.
Benefits of EdTech Tools
The use of types of educational technology tools is usual in the classrooms. Technology definitely cannot replace teachers (at least for now!), but it can make learning more effective and fun. Moreover, students feel comfortable learning over the internet. Which is why they ask for online access to their course material.
Some of the benefits that you can enjoy by using the most popular EdTech tools are:
- These tools make distance learning possible by making the student feel like he is attending a real classroom.
- Eliminates the stress level in teachers as they do not have to manage the whole class and worry about their focus on the lessons.
- Using top edtech tools can make learning utterly engaging and fun for students.
- It makes it easy for parents, teachers, and students to collaborate and contribute to successful classroom sessions.
The list of benefits that the EdTech tools offer is never-ending. That is why teachers do specialized courses, like Career Transition from KnowledgeHut, to learn to adapt to technology and prepare their students for the tech-savvy world in which they live.
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Conclusion
Young students can sail through tough competition if they match the pace at which the education sector is evolving. For that to happen, their schools and teachers should expose them to the tech part of learning as early as possible. The top ed tech tools listed above can help in it, making classroom learning technology-driven and much more interactive for students. So, teachers should plan their lessons wisely using tools that are easy to use and known to increase engagement levels. By doing so, the students' performance will improve, and they will be the best fit in the competitive world ahead of them.
