Most of my fellow colleagues are back in school starting their fall semesters. This is the time of year where we are all getting started with our courses, going over our syllabi, and meeting new members of our academic communities at our respective universities.
However, there are many questions about what are some emerging tools or platforms, or even assignments, that can be used in the classroom? Over the past few weeks, I have gotten questions from professors from all over asking me: What are some tools I need to make sure to incorporate into my classes for this year?
What’s the answer? Well, it depends on what you are going to be covering in your classes, how much time you have to invest in these new tools, but ultimately, how innovator or exploratory do you want to be? There are certainly many tools, platforms, and features to test out and explore around for your classroom – and I am not saying you have to use them all. However, you want to see what works for you, your students, and the overall community you want to engage in.
Here are the five tools (or platforms) you may want to test out for yourself:
- Slack: If you are working with a few classes, research projects, or theses/dissertations, this may be the platform for you. Most of the work I am doing (in terms of research) involves a lot of collaboration and correspondence. Slack is a great tool for you to use for your classes as well as a suggestion if you are assigning group projects – it puts all of the communication functions in one place. Here’s a great post by Matt with Hootsuite about Slack you may want to check out as well.
- PiApp: This is a very cool classroom engagement app – and I am currently using it for my classes this fall at the University of Louisville. This is a great app for students and professors to correspond with each other to answer questions, get assistance from fellow classmates about topics covered in class, as well as setting up groups for collaboration on assignments. I am still experimenting around with it, but it operates very similarly to Facebook. You are able to upload files, make announcements, and save updates. Make sure to check them out and follow them on Twitter @piapp!
- Emojis: That’s right – I said emojis. These are not just for text messages for friends, but could be a good example of visual communication that can be applied to various fields. These can be incorporated into presentations to class lectures, to even discussion sessions. Looking for some ideas – you need to check out Kimberly Yu’s great LinkedIn post on emojis in the classroom! Questions about what a certain emoji means? Check out this resource.
- Blab: This is basically Google+ and Periscope rolled into one. Instead of having one person as the focus of the live streaming, you have a group of people. How could this be incorporated into a class? A panel of guest speakers? Meetings with students and group members? Listening into conversations with social media / PR professionals who are broadcasting their talks? Live streaming an event your students are working on from different angles? There are a lot of possibilities here that could be utilized here.
- Hootsuite: I am a BIG fan of Hootsuite. Love the platform and community behind Hootsuite University – they have some amazing people working for the company and they are all very supportive and helpful for professors when it comes to using their platform for classes. Plus, they have a great Hootsuite Ambassador program for professors to be a part of. If you have questions about other assignments you could use in the classroom with Hootsuite, you can listen to my webinar from this summer about incorporating social media into the classroom.
In summary, as mentioned, you do not have to use all of these tools for your classes. There are going to be some cases where you may use one or all of them, but it really depends on what you want to accomplish with your students and what tools will help you create a dynamic and energetic classroom. Personally, I am a fan of technology and I have been using all of these in my classes.
What are some tools you all are using this semester?
Hope you all are having a great day!
Best Wishes,
