My Favorite EdTech Apps of 2019

This year brought a slew of apps to teachers. Even though they aren’t technically new, they were new to many teachers who tried them out for the first time. As a technology coach, part of my job is to find those apps that teachers can easily pick up and and play, so to speak. That is, that they’re easy to learn and easy to use in the classroom. I want teachers to see how accessible an app is. The last thing I want if for a teacher to be overwhelmed by learning a new app.

Below are five apps that I found easy for teachers to learn and, most of all, were easy to implement in the classroom in 2019.

• Equatio. Equatio is an easily accessible math app that allows teachers and students to insert math into their Google Documents. Equatio is not only great to use with Google Docs, but it works well with Google Forms as well. Equatio solves that eternal conundrum of working with math on a Chromebook.
• Nearpod. The first of the interactive presentation apps on the list. Nearpod is great in that it provides total classroom engagement through it’s interactive presentation lessons. Nearpod provides everything from short answer, to drawing, to quizzes. Nearpod provides an end of session report, showing the teacher where students excelled and what they need to work on.
• Wakelet. Wakelet was app that I discovered this year and shared with teachers. Wakelet is essentially a curation tools that allows for so many other uses. Wakelet can not only be used to collect resources for students or fellow staff, but it can serve as a class website and student portfolio as well.
• Google Forms. Of course Google Forms has been around for awhile, but now that many schools are going 1:1, it’s getting used more and more. Google Forms is great for using in an opening warm up activity, posing inquiry questions or as an exit ticket, asking students what they learned that day. It’s great for assessment too! One thing that took it up a notch was the new “Locked Mode.” Essentially locking down students Chromebooks while their working on an assessment.
• Google Classroom. In the age of a Chromebook classroom, a classroom management system has become a must, and Google Classroom is one of those that teachers have come to rely on. Google Classroom serves as the classroom hub that turns your classroom into a paperless one. From distributing and collecting work, to posting announcements and having online discussions in the stream, Google Classroom has proven to be a valuable teacher tool.
• Pear Deck. Another totally engaging classroom presentation tool. Pear Deck, like Nearpod, engages students in activities while the teacher presents the lesson. Students take part in the presentation using drawing tools, answering questions, watching a video, hovering a selector over the right answer, or taking a quiz. Like Nearpod, Pear Deck allows for a report for the teacher to review student data of the lesson.

If you haven’t explored the above digital tools, you owe it to yourself to make your 2020 school year a more productive and engaging one by checking them out.