Remote Teacher’s Guide: Learn How to Use These Tools Before Teaching

The pandemic might have temporarily forced the world into virtual classrooms, but once it was over, some students and teachers realized they didn't want to leave. The insights gained during this time have made remote teaching more viable and widespread, complete with a plethora of specialized digital tools educators could only have wished for a mere five years ago.

Whether you’re at the start of your remote teaching career or a seasoned pro at managing virtual classrooms, the following are the tools you and your students should not miss out on!

Learning Management Systems

An LMS is essential for consolidating, streamlining, and enhancing the extensive administrative work associated with teaching. It creates a virtual classroom environment that lets teachers develop lesson plans, make resources available, grade students’ performance, and keep track of homework and other assignments.

They're also great for keeping notes on students' performance and giving private feedback without making students self-conscious.

Video Conferencing Software

Modern remote teaching would be all but impossible without the advances video conferencing software has made due to recent global circumstances. It’s instrumental for fostering a sense of belonging to the same classroom even though students may be hundreds of miles away from each other in real life.

Video conferencing lets teachers deliver lessons in real time and record them for later. It also enables screen sharing and scales effortlessly to accommodate classes with dozens of students. Conversely, smaller groups can be created and checked in on when it’s time for group assignments.

Communication Tools

With the right communication tools, learning doesn’t have to end with the sound of the digital bell. Students may use them to form discussion groups, share documents, or get individual advice from teachers during virtual office hours. Teachers find them useful for reaching out to parents and sending out group reminders students are more likely to see.

Collaboration Tools

Next is a broad category of tools intended to foster collaboration among students as well as between them and teachers. For example, digital whiteboards let students brainstorm ideas and contribute to projects while giving teachers an unlimited canvas for laying out lesson materials and notes everyone can save and download.

Online word processors fall into this category, too. Teachers use them to create assignments and notes. Students can add comments and expand upon the contents with their own findings and remarks, creating knowledge bases that make it easier for everyone to understand the material.

Presentation Tools

Today’s students learn best when they’re actively engaged in a subject and receive instruction through multiple mediums. Teachers can effectively leverage beginner-friendly design and presentation tools to spice their lectures up with images, videos, graphs, or interactive content that demonstrates certain principles and helps students grasp concepts more intuitively.

Cybersecurity Tools

Remote study comes with almost complete reliance on digital tools, which introduce security risks not present in the traditional classroom. Each tool needs an account, and teachers have to tie their or the institution’s payment information to ones that aren’t free. The more digital teaching tools you use, the higher the chance that the company providing them doesn’t have adequate cybersecurity measures and is vulnerable to data breaches.

Teachers and students alike should be aware of cybersecurity basics like keeping their devices updated and knowing how to recognize social engineering like phishing emails. A password manager app will ensure that accounts are protected with one-of-a-kind and complex passwords. Together with two-factor authentication, it’s an essential safeguard that strengthens resilience to account takeovers, data leaks, and privacy violations.

Gamification Tools

Subject matter students find dull or unrelatable can quickly sap all enthusiasm for learning. Gamification tools save the day by helping teachers infuse even the most boring material with excitement. They offer access to games and countless quizzes on any subject and let teachers quickly create new ones.

Moreover, students get to track their progress, level up, and unlock customizations and rewards that turn every learning session into a highly anticipated growth opportunity.

Assessment Tools

Assessing student performance has never been easier or more in-depth. The right tools let teachers create tests comprised of questions in various formats, from simple multiple-choice to open-ended essays. They automate the grading process and plagiarism checks while allowing for flexibility and teacher remarks.

The analytics aspect is invaluable for test refinement and adjustment. Based on student feedback and performance, teachers can tailor a test's difficulty and track student development. Assessment tools also make accommodating students with special needs more effective by extending time limits, being easier to read, and more.