If virtual learning has taught us anything, it has certainly promoted the idea that many digital tools exist and, as educators, we need to learn more about them! Web 2.0 developments can help teachers connect with students, enhance learning and collaborate easily. But, there are so many to wade through and not all are created equally. I have three great ones below for you to learn more about - and hopefully find value in!
This site contains many articles for students to read and have learning assessed throughout engagement with the text. You can also upload documents, videos and media for the students to read and answer questions about. The site has easy integration with Canvas and Google Classroom.
Ease of use – Free and premium accounts offered, but currently they are upgrading everyone’s accounts to Premium during COVID-19 (ends July 31). Users can access from any browser with no downloads. Once you have set up your classroom, you can assign lessons with one click. Students can get assignments through a link and sign in with their usual student accounts.
Site support – There is a Help Desk with a search bar as well as well-organized categories and subject topics within each category.
Appropriate for what audiences – Appropriate for all ages. Lessons can be searched via grade levels, reading levels, curriculum unit, genre, theme, Lexile level and standards.
Is there an educational version? Yes, the entire site is meant for classroom use and educational purposes.
Strengths – The site contains tons of lessons that you can use and teach to many different standards. You can quickly find lessons based on many different categories and assessments are already built in. Whether you have a little or a lot of time, this site offers options. You can tweak the teaching parts of existing lessons, add questions to assess learning or make your own assignment using their tools. This website is already integrated into our county’s online learning platform so incorporating lessons and assigning them to students would be simple.
Weaknesses – Some assignments can be printed but most are online, therefore a device is necessary.
Ideas for use – I can imagine many standards being taught with lessons from this site. They even have multiple subjects to toggle through including ELA, Social Studies and Science, and so many different formats and ways that you can annotate and really make an assignment your own.
Actively Learn. Actively Learn, 2020. www.activelylearn.com. Accessed 3 July 2020.
A tool for classroom management and communication with students and parents, the application also functions to motivate students and assess learning.
Ease of use – Free for all teachers, the site operates a little like a social media platform. So, depending on your familiarity with those, you might find this very easy or only slightly challenging to master. No download – all browser and application based.
Site support – There is an extensive help desk option on the site with hundreds of categories as well as an option to email for support. The “help desk” page is very well organized and provides instructions on many features of the site.
Appropriate for what audiences – Appropriate for all ages, the site seems geared toward integrating parents into the educational process.
Is there an educational version? The website and application are specifically for a school classroom; they offer teachers free accounts so this is the educational and only version.
Strengths – Easy to use, no download required and confirmed account with one click from an email. Seems easy to take photos and send out, on a public forum or to specific parents and students.
Weaknesses – Must use a device to communicate so this could make it difficult if all students do not have devices – they might not be able to check the class dojo points and updates. All parents must have devices as well in order for them to receive messages and communicate back to the teacher.
Ideas for use – Motivate students by awarding points within the site; motivate and reward classes with dojo points that build to rewards. Easily communicate class events, field trips and other reminders to parents and students alike with one easy posting. Easy to set a time when messages will be sent so you have control over communication.
Class Dojo. Class Dojo, Inc., 2020. www.classdojo.com. Accessed 4 July 2020.
This is a free, open source tool that you can use to collect and share research materials, as well as create citations. A quick, downloadable Firefox extension, this tool senses research and makes it very easy to save with just one click. Collect, organize, cite and collaborate, all in one easy space!
Ease of use – Free and open source so you can access it and modify it to have it do what you need. Easy to download – it's an extension on a browser – so no account or separate software is needed. You also do not need to download to computer.
Site support – Public forum with Zotero developers and experienced users answering questions and troubleshooting with users.
Appropriate for what audiences – Appropriate for all ages. Software can be complicated so some scaffolding might be needed with younger grades. I imagine a good target could be middle school and high school students.
Is there an educational version? Yes - School version supports distance learning, assessments, and interactive lessons.
Strengths – No account required, keeps citations and resources all in one area.
Weaknesses – Can be complicated at first so there is a learning curve. The web library you create can be accessed online if you create an account, but if you want full functionality, you should download to each computer you use. This is not a weakness if you generally use one computer.
Ideas for use – Use to introduce students to research sources and how to cite them. They can curate a collection of good sources to use for research and cite them. Also introduce students to www.zbib.org, a place where they can create a quick bibliography if they want something quicker and more simple.
Zotero. Digital Scholar, 2020. www.zotero.org. Accessed 3 July 2020.
Final thoughts and comparisons
Differences – These tools and websites are quite different. While most can be used with all ages, Zotero works better for older grade levels. Class Dojo is an app primarily used to connect parents to the classroom, likely more beneficial for elementary teachers. And, Actively Learn can be used across all grade levels for teachers to assign lessons to be done online, so primarily students will be logging in and utilizing this site.
Similarities – All of the tools are education based and obviously meant to be used in a school setting. They are all teachable from
In conclusion – I really love the site Actively Learn and I am not surprised. My son told me about it and loved using it during Virtual Learning. He said it made him write a lot, but he enjoyed reading the text and having questions in which he could measure his comprehension of the text while he read. There are many Web 2.0 tools available and I hope these will bring you some value!