It has been 2 years since COVID-19 has entered our lives… and classrooms. Although many schools are now slowly resuming face-to-face lessons, some of us are still stuck at home with the computer to engage in online lessons.

It is undeniable that talking to a screen is less interactive than conducting a lesson in person. Where is the laughter? Where are the conversations? How do I teach more meaningfully?

In order to provide our students with a more engaging and efficient learning environment (even online), there are actually keys to doing so. Take a look!

1. Pear Deck

Pear Deck is a way to turn your presentation slides into interactive activities for your students. Students can see your slides on their devices and interact with them. You can ask them to type a text, draw something on the slide, drag icons on pictures and so much more! My students are so engaged and they love this platform. There is a free version, but you can upgrade your plan to do more activities.

2. Edpuzzle

Edpuzzle is an interactive platform that allows you to add questions into videos for your students. They are asked to respond to questions after watching a part of the video. The video will pause and only begin after they have entered their answers. It also gathers data so you can know how well your students are learning!

3. Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a fantastic platform for any teachers who would like to collect feedback or individual presentations from students. They can respond to a question you ask in the short video.

4. Quizlet

Quizlet is the perfect form of digital flashcards! This is especially useful for students who are trying to learn a second language. You can put the vocabulary with a picture that illustrates the meaning, synonyms or write the definition of the word. Students then can use the platform to review the vocabulary like flashcards. They can even create some study sets for themselves!

5. Adobe Spark

Adobe Spark is an easy-to-use online and mobile design app for students (or even teachers!) to create amazing videos, beautiful pages or engaging posts. The operation is not complicated at all. I asked my students to produce a video promoting a shopping mall in Hong Kong using the language items that they have learnt in the module. This tool is great for students to apply their knowledge.

Let me know your thoughts…

• Is there something else you’d put on this list?
• Do you have any experiences in using these tools?
• Which one is your favourite and why?