Teachers, with the beginning of the school year rapidly approaching, it’s time to give the students what they really want: Good edtech products. So often teachers force students to use tools that don't do what they claim, or that they just don't like. But telling the difference between a hit and dud can be tricky, which is why I created this guide to steer you in the right direction.
So here are six of the products students actually love, in the words of the ones who use them.
Notability
Notability is the edtech love of my life. I’m serious. If I could marry an edtech product it would be Notability. Notability allows students to take notes and annotate pdfs in their own handwriting. This past year, they added eight new colors and the ability to draw perfectly straight lines. This was huge and at school there was a panic. Everyone was trying to get the Notability update. The ability to have aesthetically pleasing handwritten notes without spending my life savings on pens is why Notability is a must-have product.
I am not alone in my sentiment, Californian junior Megan says, “I just love how nice my notes look with Notability. They look like a rainbow attacked them.” So if you are a rainbow-lovin’ note taker, Notability is the product for you.
Socrative
We all have that one teacher who seems to take months to grade even a single test. We spend the entire semester wondering what our grade is. Is that a real A, or an A based on turning in the syllabus?
Socrative helps counteract this slow grading syndrome. It’s a student response system that allows teachers to make quizzes that students can take on their device. Us students love Socrative because it is a way to get feedback and grades instantly. The platform also offers a competition feature in which teams compete to accurately answer questions the fastest.
For Michigan senior Jackie, this is the product’s best feature. “I like being able to compete against my classmates ...It's an easy way for all of us to connect and compare.” And even when we do poorly on our Socrative quizzes, we can take solace in knowing, as does Socrates, that “true knowledge exists in knowing that we know nothing.”
Quizlet
It happens to every student. You walk into class without a care in the world, and casually look up on whiteboard to read the agenda. Then you see it: QUIZ. You turn to your seat partner and desperately ask, “We have a vocab quiz today?” 10 years ago, this might have been the end and you would just accept the low grade. But ever since Quizlet has come into the classroom, students have hope.
Quizlet is like a knight in shining armor. With its new ‘learn’ feature, Quizlet helps students not only memorize but understand terms quickly and effectively. “I have memorized 20 terms in 10 minutes,” boasts Californian junior Ryan. Truly a lifesaver.
Ck-12
The average high school textbook costs $70 and weighs about a million pounds. I’m serious. Have you ever tried to pick up a high schooler’s backpack? Filled to the brim with textbooks, binders, notebooks, and a computer, it’s no wonder so many teens suffer from early back pain.
Ck-12 is a solution to this epidemic. Ck-12 offers free, customizable, e-textbooks for hundreds of subjects. Not only does Ck-12 offer free customizable text books, it gives students access to video lessons, practice problems, flashcards, and articles. For Tennessee Middle Schooler Sarah, Ck-12 is more than just a product, it's a teacher.
She states, “Teachers sometimes talk too much and we never get the real message. CK-12 is the perfect tool where students can get practice without a teacher present.”
So teachers, be nice to your students. They could start liking Ck-12 more than you.
Kahoot
Wanna know the fastest way to get my heart racing without even standing up? Playing a round of Kahoot. Everyone loves Kahoot; from straight A to straight D students, Kahoot is a nonstop party. Within the first note of Kahoot’s iconic background music, the entire class goes wild.
For those yet to experience the magic, Kahoot is a free, game-based platform that allows teachers to create competitive and interactive quizzes. Combining learning with total domination of your peers is a recipe to becoming any student’s favorite edtech product.
For Californian Elise, this feature evokes her competitive spirit. “You don’t realize that you are testing your knowledge because you're so busy beating other people,” she reports gleefully. Getting first in Kahoot feels like winning an Oscar, becoming Valedictorian, and breaking the world record in the 400m dash all at the same time.
Canvas
Canvas keeps my life together. As a high school student with seven different classes all assigning homework, projects, and tests, Canvas is an easy way to keep everything organized. Basically it's a learning management system that connects all the digital tools used by a teacher in one place. It is the most crucial app for having a truly paperless classroom. I turn in everything on Canvas, from important research papers to minor homework assignments.
Students enjoy Canvas’s simplicity. According to Canadian senior Emily, “It keeps my backpack free of paper clutter and my assignments all together.” Save the trees. Use Canvas.
