7 BEST Websites and Apps for Distance Learning

hello there and welcome back to my channel if you are new here my name is Michele Frey and I'm a fourth grade teacher in Maryland I have gotten an overwhelming number of messages and emails asking me Michelle how can I record videos of me teaching while we're doing this whole distance learning thing so in today's video I'm gonna share my favorite websites and apps for distance learning [Music] now Before we jump too far into it there are a couple of things that I want to start with number one I'm going to be focusing on websites and apps that will allow you to actually provide instruction rather than just apps or websites that are focused on practice activities because there's so so many of those I really want to hone in on the ones that will help you be able to teach from home number two all of the websites and apps that I am mentioning in this video will be linked down in the description box they are all free or have free versions that you are able to use they're not affiliate links or anything like that these are just websites that I truly love to use number three in this video I'm going to give a very brief overview of each website or app I'm not going to go into detail on how to use it because this video would be 5 million hours long but each one of these websites or apps does have a website with more detailed instructions on how to get started a lot of them even have tutorial videos and if all those fails just go on YouTube and search the app or the website and tutorial and you will find tons of videos to help you get started but don't be afraid to just jump onto the website where app and start playing around with it honestly that's the easiest way to learn number 4 before you use any of these websites or apps make sure you consider equity among your students do all of your students have access to these if not how could you provide them access make sure you keep that in mind because it is not there if you're using these websites and apps and not all of your students can access them but at the same time I know that a lot of districts and states are requiring teachers to teach remotely and so I understand that you need some ideas on how to do that and that is the purpose of this video and finally number 5 make sure you check with your district or school so you know whether these websites and apps are approved for use especially use with students because every district has different technology guidelines so make sure you are abiding by those all right let's jump right and my first website that I'm recommending is Google classroom now I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this because I do have several other videos dedicated to using Google classroom and tips and tricks and how to create digital assignments for Google classroom so I'm going to link those for you down in the description box but I did want to reiterate it in this video because Google classroom is my favorite tool as like a foundation for providing online learning through Google classroom you can communicate with your students you can post text or videos or images or PDFs or links to other things so it's a great tool to use as your baseline to be able to provide some of the other tools that I'm going to mention in this video to your students number two is screencastify screencastify allows you to record your browser your desktop or even your webcam in order to create videos that you can then share with your students on Google classroom or through email the great thing is screencastify can be added as an extension to your Chrome browser if you're not using the Chrome browser I highly recommend it it is my favorite browser to use because I love all things Google once you add that extension it's super easy to use you just click on the extension whenever you want to start recording and then you will be given three different options first you can record just your browser that will record only the tab that you are currently accessing so if you switch tabs it's not going to record the other tabs only the tab that you currently have opened when you start the recording if you record your desktop you can choose between recording your entire screen or recording just a specific application window that you have open now for both of these options you can choose whether you want to use your microphone so if you're going to provide narration you would want your microphone to be on and you can even embed your webcam which will allow you to be on the screen while you're recording either your browser or your desktop and that just creates a little bit more of a personal touch the third option is to record only your webcam so your computer screen will not be recorded at all it will just do a talking head similar to what you're seeing right now now the free of screencastify we'll limit you to five minutes of recording at a time and it will not let you use their editor once the video is complete however at the time I'm recording this video screencastify is offering some of their premium features such as unlimited recording length and their editor for free but you do have to like apply for it or your administrator has to apply for it so I will link that information for you down in the description box now once you end your recording you do have a few different options you can get a shareable link which you could post to Google classroom or if you have a class a website you could post it there you can actually share it directly to Google classroom or you can publish it to YouTube you can get an embedded code which would allow you to embed it into a website or you can just download the mp4 file this is a great option if you want to use PowerPoint slides to be able to teach your students or if you just want to talk directly to them or maybe you want to give them a tutorial on how to access certain technology this is a great application for that number three is jam board jam board is a free whiteboard tool provided through Google that does allow you to create multiple frames or multiple boards all on the same screen now there are two different ways to access it you can go to Jam board google.com or you can actually access it through your applications on Google Drive the great thing about Jam board is that you can create as many boards as you want and they're all free there's no cap on the number of boards you can create also once you create a board it will save it directly to your Google Drive now on the board you can draw you can obviously erase you can add sticky notes and you can even add images you can also change the background it can be solid white or you can have dots or a grid or blue or black you can also invite others to collaborate on your boards such as team teachers or even students by sharing out the link or by inviting them personally through their email now once you've finished with your whiteboards you can actually export it as an image or a PDF now this works perfectly with screencastify you can actually draw directly on the whiteboard just like you would in your classroom in order to provide instruction and then you can record it using screencastify and you can even record your voice while you're doing it and then when you finish you have a video of you teaching just like you would be in the classroom number four is sight board which is another virtual whiteboard but one thing I do love about this is that that whiteboard can be as large as you want it to be now you do need to sign up for an account which is free but you're limited to only saving three boards at a time just like with jam board you can draw you can erase you can add sticky notes you can add images but something I do love about sight board that jam board does not allow you to do is the ability to add PDFs this means you could add in a PDF of maybe a practice page you've given your students and you could review the answers on its site board just like with jam board you can collaborate with others by sharing out the link or inviting them through email and just like damn board you can save it to your account as well as exporting it as an image or PDF you could also use this with screencastify in order to record you teaching lessons honestly it's just personal preference if you would rather use jam board or site board number five is google meet Google me is a free audio and video meeting application through Google you can access it one of two ways you can either go directly to meet google.com or you can access it through the applications on your Google Drive now I do want to be clear that in order to create meetings you must have AG suite account the good news is if your school account is through Google then it's probably already AG suite account and that will allow you to both create meetings and join meetings if you have just a personal gmail account you're going to be able to join meetings but you're not going to be able to create them I love Google meat because it is so easy to use all you have to do is click join or start meeting if you are starting a meeting you would just type in a nickname and then you're able to ahead and join that meeting once you are in the meeting you have so many options you can share it out with others through a link you can invite them through email you can turn off your camera or microphone at any time which definitely comes in handy but some of my favorite features are the caption option so while you are talking it will actually produce captions as you're speaking on the screen which is super helpful for accessibility you also have the ability to record the meeting so if you have students that could not attend you can record it and then send it to them afterwards or you can even join a meeting just by yourself and use it as a recording tool just like screencastify you also have the ability to present or share your screen while in the middle of the meeting so you could use this with jam board or Zeit board to be able to provide instruction to your students in real time this is a great tool not only for just connecting with your students and being able to see them but also to provide instruction the opportunities are truly endless number six is zoom zoom is another audio or meeting application but I will say it's a little bit more complicated than google meet but that means it also has more features that you can use typically the free account does have a time limit I believe it's 40 minutes however at this time that I'm recording the video zoom is lifting that for educators to be able to use this with their students for free now with zoom does basically everything that Google me does but here are some of the features that it has that Google me does not have first of all there is a green screen feature so that means you can change your background which could be a lot of fun for you to deliver instruction virtually you also have a built-in whiteboard directly in zoom which means you would not have to use it with jam board or a sight board zoom also allows annotation of your screen while you're sharing it and multiple users can actually share their screen at one time another feature of zoom that I do think comes in handy especially if you are going to be going on with your entire class is the raise your hand feature so you could actually have your students all staying muted so that it's not distracting with background noises and if they want to say something they can raise their hand you can actually call on them and then they could unmute themselves and talk I will say however it seems like a lot of districts are not allowing zoom to be used I know personally my district is not so I did want to provide multiple options for these video conferencing applications in case one of them is not allowed by your district and finally number seven is flipgrid flipgrid is a really fun website that allows you to post either a question to your students or a video to them or an image and they have to respond through short video clips now this is a free website but you do have to create an account once you have that account you will create what's called a grid then on the grid you will create topics which is where you can ask questions or post images or you can post some videos or links there's really so many different options and then your students will respond through video and they can also respond to their classmates through video as well this website is highly engaging for students and it's a great way for them to be able to connect while they're not able to see each other physically you could post a different question to your students every day and have them respond or you could even have them do like a book review of something they've been reading at home and it's great because you're able to set the length of time but that their video clip can be up to 10 minutes alright those are my top 7 websites and applications for distance learning I really hope this video was helpful for you if it was give it a thumbs up and go ahead and share it out to your teacher friends I think as much as we can help each other during this time the better also leave a comment what can I help you all with during this time I know that it's very hectic and our anxiety is super high so I want to be able to be of service to you as much as I can so let me know what kinds of videos you would love to see I know personally Maryland school closures at this time have been extended through April 24th so I'm going to be navigating this whole distance learning thing for at least the next few weeks and I know many of you are in the same boat so let me know how I can help you and don't forget subscribe and hit the notification bells so you do not miss any future videos as always thank you for watching I love you all so much don't forget to put on some pants on and I will catch you in the next one thank you so much for watching all the way to the end of this video and for supporting my youtube channel if you want to check out any of my older videos you can use the two links right down here if you want to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss any future videos you can use like right up here the links to all of my social media sites my teachers pay teacher's store my merchandise store and my Amazon store are in the description box and I'll catch you guys in the next one

Channel: Pocketful of Primary

Views: 714,774

Rating: 4.9624939 out of 5

Keywords: teacher, classroom, vlog, 4th grade, pocketful of primary, tips for new teachers, tips for teachers, new teacher tips, teacher tips, classroom vlog, vlogger, teacher vlog, teacher vlogger, distance learning, remote learning, online learning, distance learning tips, distance learning videos, google classroom tutorial, distance learning google classroom, how to create instructional videos, home teaching, teaching from home

Id: svmGQhQLuBQ

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 29 2020