The 17 Effective Online Teaching Tools You Need for Your Lessons

The transition into the digital age of teaching was recently enough, so no one could really expect that the global teaching culture would take a downhill spiral again so soon. 

Now, most schools and colleges are expected to deliver lessons online and are required to do so for the foreseeable future. That’s some change from teaching in a regular classroom environment. 

A lot of teachers are struggling with it, naturally, so we’ve decided to pitch in and lend a hand. 

Listed below, we have some information on tools for online teaching you might find useful, as well as 17 of the most effective online teaching tools that you should be using. 

Pros and Cons of Online Teaching

Despite how difficult it has been, the age of online teaching is not all bad. It’s forced education providers to get more creative and changed up a format that was otherwise incredibly stale. 

We’re seeing a new norm in education being developed, with each convention and the rules being written along the way. It’s a chance to redefine the wheel, so to speak, and solve some issues that were present in the traditional academic system. 

Online Teaching

• Teachers are required to become more creative and active in how they plan their lessons
• It’s given teachers the opportunity to change how they teach their class
• Students that can’t attend physical lectures don’t miss out
• You save money on traveling to and from school

• There is a lot of complicated technology involved
• It can get expensive

17 Effective Online Teaching Tools 

1. Office 365 

If you haven’t been provided with an Office 365 subscription by your institute, go ahead and put on some pressure. This suite of Microsoft programs comes with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and a bunch more that you’re going to need in your online lessons. This is a great online tool for teachers.

2. One Drive

Google One Drive is going to grow to be your best friend over the next few months. You get a certain limit of free cloud storage data, so take advantage of that. 

3. Google Docs / Sheets

If you don’t have access to Office 365 for some reason, Google has some free alternatives available. Google Sheets is a spreadsheet program similar to Excel, while Docs deal with word processing, replacing Microsoft Word. 

4. Grammarly

Grammarly has both free and premium accounts available. With either one, you can past in any text you type up, and it can help you edit quickly. It catches spelling mistakes, grammar errors, and with a premium account, even suggests different word choices to improve the piece. 

5. Zoom

This is the holy grail of effective online teaching tools, and without tools for online teaching, online teaching would arguably not be as big as it is. Zoom is what you’re likely going to be using to deliver your live lectures, although you might be using different, similar software. 

6. Evernote

Evernote is one of the best online teaching tools to keep on hand to assist with your lessons. It allows you to save any pieces of media that you think might be of use, take notes, and access them all in one convenient place. 

7. Pomodor.app

If you struggle to keep your focus on teaching for long periods of time online, don’t worry—the change in medium results in a lot of teachers struggling to keep their attention precise. The Pomodor.app site is an online Pomodoro technique timer, which can help your productivity. 

8. Hemingway Editor

The Hemmingway Editor exists in the same are as Grammarly. As in, it helps you make sure your written content is put together well. This particular online software is going to give you a readability level for your text, as well as highlight any wordy or difficult to read sentences. 

9. YouTube

It’s possible you use this tool without thinking of it as such. Despite that, YouTube is actually a great tool to include in your teaching. Not only does it give you access to a lot of additional material, but you can use it to host student videos if you teach some media class. 

10. Animoto

Animoto can be used to create short video and animation presentations. You don’t need to be particularly artistic to use it, either. Some teachers don’t like this style, but it can help bring your lessons to life a bit more than usual. 

11. Poetry Idea Engine

If you teach an English class, this might come in handy. It’s a generator that gives you a random poetry topic. You can use this for any poetry workshops you might be teaching. 

12. Litcharts

Litcharts is also a phenomenal resource for anyone teaching an English or Literature course. It requires a subscription, but you get access to printouts that cover all sorts of story elements, including definitions and examples. 

13. Teacherkit

If you’ve strictly been a manual teacher up to this point, you’re going to love Teacherkit. It acts as a digital replacement for all of the admin tasks that you would normally do on paper, such as taking a roll call or keeping a grade book. 

14. GradeHound

GradeHound is similar to Teacherkit. It lets you organize assignments, manage your class, and keep track of grades. 

15. Zzish

Zzish is a resource that is full of different digital assessment tools. There’s likely going to be something in here that is just what you’re looking for, so give it a glance before you plan any online assessments out. 

16. KwizzBit

KwizzBit is a live, interactive quizzing website that you can make use of in your classes. It lets students log into a quiz session with the class through their phone and computer. Questions and answers are dealt in real-time, which can make for a fun break for difficult work. 

17. ProProfs Quiz Maker

The ProProfs Quiz Maker online teacher tool is a god-send for a lot of new distance teachers. It is a software that helps you put together tests and exams, with preformatting and automated grading. While some teachers prefer to create their tests manually, this might help you save some time in that regard.