Starting a new topic soon, or is the course getting stuck into a tricky subject? Explaining new areas can sometimes require more time than you have in lessons, so how can you prepare your class in advance? Knowmia Teach allows teachers to upload lesson plans, presentations and videos, and easily share them with students or the public. You can even record yourself drawing a chart and talking through your process. Great for: Getting students up to speed, and recapping last week’s lesson. * Socrative Teacher/ Socrative Student: FREE, Android and iOS With this app pair you can easily survey students on any topic you can think of. Want to set homework you can assess from your phone? Want to test your students’ knowledge, without having to mark multiple tests? Socrative Teacher allows you to set a number of different question styles and quickly check on your students’ responses. Your class will be given a room name, and once learners have it they can log in to the Socrative Student app, and take part in the quiz. It’s really easy to use, and gets students involved on the device they use most. Great for: Assessing every student, not just those who feel confident enough to speak up in class. * Nearpod: FREE, iOS and Android Another great app to brief your students on upcoming classes. Nearpod allows teachers to create their own multimedia presentations, share them with students to work on during the lesson, and monitor progress on an individual and class level. Teachers can also control student activity in real time, so once they have completed the initial task they can tackle the quiz. This app also makes it great for any distance learners you have, and lets you set interactive homework projects. Great for: Switching up your teaching style, and making homework more engaging. * TeachView: 99p, iOS Starting a new school year, or even moving to a different school altogether – learning your students’ names and working styles must be high on your list of priorities. In secondary schools especially, you can be working with multiple classes in different year groups, all with different needs and abilities. TeachView allows you to take a photo of your teaching room and mock up your seating plan ahead of term, with student information. Students can be colour coded based on their performance, making it easy for you to track progress and easily rearrange students based on exam results and behaviour. Great for: An overview of your classrooms, which is easy to share with both peers and supply teachers. * Notability: £1.99, iOS Revision and exam preparation can be a stressful time for both teacher and student. And of course, late night cramming can be made even more difficult with hard to decipher or incomplete notes. Notability is the note taking app – even Apple uses it. Notability allows teachers to combine handwriting with images to bring revision and lessons to life. It’s really easy to share too, so your students can catch up if they’ve been out of lessons, or just want to revise. Learners can even add comments, so you can guide their revision with feedback and advice. Great for: Collaborative revision and producing a clear study aide. * Show My Homework: FREE, iOS and Android Designed specifically for students and parents already using the popular and successful Show My Homework system, this innovation neatly takes the concept to the next level, allowing users to access their calendar and manage home learning tasks wherever they are and at any time. The crisp, clean design and intuitive feel of the main website works brilliantly on pocket-sized screens, and having all the information they need at the tips of their fingers allows young people to feel fully in charge of their work and progress, which has got to be good for maximising attainment. Great for: Setting, tracking and generally keeping on top of home learning. * AkademiaPro: Free to download, paid licence keys required, iOS Bringing the student and staff planner firmly into the 21st century, this is the first app of its kind specifically developed for the UK education market. Teachers and learners can use it to manage timetables, subjects, classes and homework; evaluate understanding and plan revision accordingly; and collaborate together – it is a two-way communication channel allowing distribution of lesson key notes, assignments and merits. All with a user-friendly, intuitive interface. Great for: Replacing traditional staff and student planners.
