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With the 9th and last application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Nearpod. Nearpod is defined as a tool that is engaging media and formative assessments to make every lesson interactive.  We know that the more students are involved in the lesson, the better they learn. So it's important for lessons to be as interactive as possible, and Nearpod is a great tool for it. You can launch lessons that your students will join with collaborative and engaging activities like virtual reality, simulations, and gamified quizzes. Like a few other tools, you can link videos and add questions for your students to answer (if they don't remember the answer, they can watch the video again).  It also allows you to upload your files from Google Slides, PowerPoints and more. There are already pre-made lessons that you can use, but don't be shy to create your own! Nearpod is a very good tool with many different options, so I'd suggest you to make an account and try i

With the 7th and 8th applications of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Padlet and Trello. They are very similar tools so we will be looking at them in the same blog post.  Padlet is defined as a canvas to create beautiful projects that are easy to share and collaborate on. And Trello is defined as a tool where every single part of your task can be managed, tracked, and shared with teammates. Even their descriptions are pretty close. They are used for organizing your work. You can create cards and write how you feel about something, add links, images, videos that you find necessary. It's very useful if you want to keep track of your progress too.  Between the two tools, I'd say Padlet is a bit more simplified than Trello. Also it can be set to private, which is something you can't do on Trello if you want to use the Canvas integration. Since they have similar goals and both can help you with your projects, choosing the one you like more is completely up

With the 6th application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Voki. Voki is defined as a fun tool that students can use for homework, classwork or projects. But what does this tool do? With Voki, students can create avatars and design them as they please. There are a set of pre-made characters on Voki, like Abraham Lincoln or Zeus or Shakespeare that you can use without changing anything. You can either use them and change smaller details on them or you can start a character that is just "you".  The second part is for them to speak. You can either record your own voice on Voki and your avatar says it out loud, or you can type it and someone else (Voki has many options with different accents) will be your avatar's voice.  It is a very fun tool to explore and try out different characters, and it's definitely a fun way to teach your students new concepts. Here is the link of my Athena Voki if you want to see how it looks like: https://www.voki.com/s

With the 5th application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Flipgrid.  Flipgrid is defined as an app, and website that allows students to record short video responses. The videos are usually reflections, or responses to a specific topic / prompt asked by the teacher. You can download Flipgrid app to your iPad and record videos, or without needing to download the app you can use it through the Chrome browser.  During a pandemic where everyone is behind their cameras, Flipgrid is a great app to remember that each of your students are "real". With the videos they record (which are open to all members of the class, so that they can see each others' responses) you can discuss a great number of subjects. If some of your students are shy, or simply don't want to record a video when they've just gotten out of bed, that's fine too! Flipgrid allows you to add filters and emojis, so they can blur their video or add different emojis if they don'

 With the 4th application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Jamboard.  Jamboard is defined as a digital interactive whiteboard developed by Google to work with Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite.  It is very common for teachers to feel more comfortable while using a whiteboard. In distance education Jamboard allows teachers to use a whiteboard without actually buying one and putting it on their wall. You can write your notes on Jamboard, choosing whichever font or style you like. Since it allows you to "write" that means you can draw all sorts of stuff needed for your classes. A dragon, a cat, a turtle? Go for it!  Since it's connected to Google, you can also add images on your whiteboard whenever you like. Visuals are always a great way to help students understand a subject easier, so don't be afraid to doodle on Jamboard or add pictures.

 With the 3rd application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Edpuzzle. Edpuzzle is defined as a teaching tool used to place interactive content into pre-existing videos from a variety of sources, such as TED or YouTube, or into videos you have made. Let's say you want your students to watch a video uploaded on YouTube, with Edpuzzle you can cut out the unnecessary parts, you can add notes or voiceovers to the parts where you think more information needs to be given, you can add questions for your students at specific times in the video, you can prevent them from "skipping" so they must watch the video without changing the page or fast-forwarding it.  It helps teachers to see how much of the information the students have understood. (It's also fun for students since it means they'll get to watch videos / short movies!)

With the 2nd application of "Find the Right Tool Series" we will look at Pear Deck. Pear Deck is defined as an educational technology company offering a web-based application to K-12 schools and teachers.  It is used alongside with a Google Drive account, teachers need to create a presentation using Google Slides and add Pear Deck to it. Once they do this, the students will be able to interact with the presentation and the teacher easier.  It offers you text responses, multiple choice questions, numerical responses, draw an answer and drag an icon. It is a great application to break the misconception of presentations being seen as "boring" and "not interactive enough".

In this series called "Find the Right Tool" we will look at different platforms/apps for you to use in your lessons. Let's start with Edmodo: Edmodo is defined as a global education network that helps connect all learners with the people and resources needed to reach their full potential. You can use the website or download the app to your phone through App Store or Google Play. I've been using it since my first year in university and it makes everything so much easier. Edmodo allows you to communicate with your students as best as you can. You can post your announcements on Edmodo and students can leave comments on it (they will get an Email each time you upload a post). You can upload your lesson materials (presentations, handouts, extra links for information...) and your students can download them. You can also assign assignments or quizzes on Edmodo and they can upload their projects or answers (you will get notified when they upload it). It's a great platfor