KEY CONCEPT
Technology with a Purpose
“Essentially, blended and online learning is a highly targeted and engaging learning experience. It’s a purposeful look at the curricula, the needs of students and teachers, and subsequently, what learning modality or support can best help a student meet unique learning goals…The purposeful use of technology, paired with effective teacher-led instruction and student interaction, is what makes blended and online effective.
The Blended Recipe
It’s difficult to get the “Blended Course Recipe” exactly right the first time, but with feedback, reflection and practice, blended classes can be highly successful for student learning. Two of the biggest errors when creating a blended course are:
Online Learning Tools
The common assumption is that to be successful, online learning must involve the use of complicated or multiple modes of technology. While there is a range of external technology tools that are great for motivating student learning, an educational tool should be used for a specific purpose. So, when deciding to use a certain tool, ask yourself this: will it help my students learn, and does it help to achieve my desired outcome? Student ability to use technology can also vary, so be prepared to support students in using external technology and perhaps start your course with a low-stakes online assignment to get students acclimated.
TIP: Be cautious about where student information is stored, and be sure to provide a low-tech alternative option if a student can’t use a certain tool or is reluctant to sign up for a tool that requires a separate account. Be sure to include in your syllabus (or on FOL) policies governing the use of external tools in your course and the minimum technical requirements needed to be successful.
Below is a curated list of some of the most popular tools for learning, but new tools emerge all the time.
| Tool | Description |
| Hypothes.is | Use Hypothesis to annotate anything online with classmates, colleagues, or friends. |
| Kahoot | Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. *Contact ODL for a college licence and use |
| Padlet | Collaborate with other users via text, video recordings, drawings, and more. |
| Quizlet | Quizlet is a web tool and a mobile app that boosts students learning through a number of study tools that include flashcards and game-based quizzes. |
| Socrative | Socrative is a quiz-based, formative assessment tool with multiple features that can enrich teaching and learning. |
| VoiceThread | VoiceThread is an interactive collaboration and sharing tool that enables students to build online presentations by adding images, documents, and videos, and other media to which other users can add comments for discussion. |
| Survey Monkey | Online survey tool |
| Canva | A free web-based Graphic Design creator |
| WordPress | Create your own website or blog |
| Nearpod | Nearpod helps educators make any lesson interactive, *Contact ODL for a college licence and use |
| Google Forms | Easily create and share online forms and surveys, and analyze responses in real-time. |
| Google Docs | Create and collaborate on online documents in real-time and from any device. |
| Google Slides | Create, present, and collaborate on online presentations in real-time and from any device. |
| Google Sites | Google Sites is a free web site creation tool |
| H5P | H5P is a free, open-source tool that allows users to create web-based interactive learning activities. Faculty have access to H5P built directly in FanshaweOnline.*Contact ODL and/or your EST for help getting started. |
| Audacity | A free sound editor which can be used for voice recordings and podcasts |
| Screenpal | Screen capture tool that helps you easily create, edit and communicate with videos and images. *LLS has a licence to the full version. Contact your EST for help getting started. |
| Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams is a collaborative, communication tool contained in the Office 365 platform available to all faculty and students at Fanshawe College. |
| Trello | Trello is a cloud-based project management and collaboration tool that you can access from your computer, tablet, or phone. |
| Wakelet | Wakelet is a digital curation tool, so it offers a way to collate online resources in one place, called a wake. These wakes can then be shared with a link to be accessed online, easily, by anyone. |
| Adobe Express | Adobe Express is a free tool used to create digital media, such as graphics, scrolling web pages, and short slide show-based videos. *Fanshawe College has a licence for Adobe Express as part of the Adobe Creative suite For access, please refer to the Fanshawe Connect site. |
| Edpuzzle | EdPuzzle is a free assessment-centered tool that allows teachers and students to create interactive online videos by embedding either open-ended or multiple-choice questions, audio notes, audio tracks, or comments on a video. |
| TED-Ed | TED-Ed is a “lesson creator” platform that allows you to structure an assignment around a video and assess students’ engagement with the material. |
| Mentimeter | The tool allows presenters to include polls, multiple-choice and open-ended questions, quizzes, and scales that audience members can interact with live. |
| Poll Everywhere | Poll Everywhere is an online interactive polling platform that allows the audience to respond in real-time to questions displayed by the presenter. |
| AnswerGarden | Answer Garden is a free web-based tool that can be used to instantly collect short (up to 40 characters) text-based feedback from students. |
Fanshawe Connect
Fanshawe Connect from the IT Services Department provides information on faculty access to the various software and services available to employees, including Microsoft Office, college-licenced apps, and the Adobe Creative Suite. Fanshawe is a licensed Adobe Creative Campus.
Additional Resources
Below is a list of additional resources for online technology tool use:
- What is Teaching with Technology? – Carleton University
- Technology Tools for Teaching in Higher Education – OER
- Online Tools for Teaching & Learning – University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Digital Teaching and Learning Tools – U of Guelph
- Digital Education Tools – University of Oxford
- Tools and Trends from Teach.ca
- 150 Tech Tools for Teaching in the Classroom or Online
- The Virtual Teacher’s Guide to Online Teaching: Tools, Strategies, and Resources
- Introduction to Online Teaching Tools
