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7 Free Classroom Apps to Try This Fall

8/13/2015

36 Comments

 
While the leaves haven't started to change their colors yet, fall is right around the corner.  And with it, the start of a new school year!  Although my guess is, a few of you have probably already started...

I wanted to put together a list of 7 great and free apps I have discovered over the past few months, and hopefully there is a little something here for everyone.  If you've got other favorites that you've found,  please share them in the comments!

1 | Otus: The Complete Learning Management Systems for the K-12 Classroom

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If you're not familiar with Learning Management Systems, they are basically an online environment where a teacher can manage all their course needs.  From creating and assigning tasks, to providing feedback and grades, LMS are designed to take care of it all.  Otus is awesome because not only is it completely free for teachers and students, but it is jam-packed with features.

From standards-aligned assignments, to blogs, and even to seating charts, Otus everything you could need.  Plus, it works on all web-enabled devices, so regardless of the technology you have at your school, you'll be good to go.  You can read our complete review of the service on the review's page.


2 | Answer Pad: The Free Student Response System

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I think most teachers are familiar with the classic "clickers" response system, where teachers show a question on their projector, and students use a remote-like device to punch in their answer.  Well The Answer Pad takes that idea to an entirely new and awesome level.  Teachers can send out all sorts of templates and questions to any web-enabled device that students may have.

Then students can answer/draw on/or interact with those questions and send them back in to the teacher for feedback or sharing.  There are tons of other possibilities with this app, and it has become one of my favorites.  Despite the seemingly simple idea behind it all, The Answer Pad has an enormous number of excellent features for creating engaging and data-driven content.  Check out our full review for a complete exploration of all the possibilities.


3 | Bloomz: Community Begins in the Classroom

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If you work in a K-8 environment and you're looking for a way to quickly and easily connect with parents and PTA members, Bloomz is the app for you.  It is an excellent tool for helping create connections and can even be used to help find classroom volunteers and schedule conferences! The app can be used on any web-enabled device and it's incredibly user friendly.

Bloomz is set up similarly to most modern social media applications, so the interface will immediately be familiar.  Parents and teachers can share photos, post updates, and keep every stakeholder in the loop of what is happening in the classroom.  Check out more details in our review!


4 | Chalkup: Learning Together, Learning Better

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Chalkup is another LMS (like Otus) and is also completely free for teachers and students. The goal of Chalkup is to help create a collaborative online environment where students can not only receive and turn in assignments, but where they can interact with each other and engage in discussions.  Chalkup easily integrates with Google Drive and has a simple, intuitive interface.

On top of that, teachers can embed any type of HTML app or activity within an assignment or post. This way, if you're using 3rd party applications to design resources, you can still share them within Chalkup.  You can explore all the features of this LMS on our reviews page.


5 | Remind: Reach Students and Parents

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A lot of teachers (1 in 5 actually) are already familiar with Remind (formerly Remind 101).  For the other 80%, this service is absolutely worth trying. Remind offers an easy, free, and safe way for teachers to keep in touch with students and parents.  You can send out polls, announcements, files, voice clips, or just chat with individual students as needed.

In short, it is a perfect application for keeping in touch with the people that matter the most when they are not in the classroom, and you can easily send SMSs (without giving out your phone number) to anyone who has registered for the service.  For complete details, check out review.


6 | OfficeMix: PowerPoint Gets Interactive

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A quick caveat for Office Mix, while it is completely free, you do have to have PowerPoint (which isn't free), so as long as you've got that, you're good to go.  Anyway, Office Mix is an absolutely wonderful plugin for PowerPoint that lets you create interactive presentations by adding audio and video recordings and incorporating interactive elements.

With Office Mix you can add polls, quizzes, animations, screen recordings, and a whole lot more to your PowerPoints.  The best part is, it's built into to an interface (PowerPoint) that most teachers are already familiar with!  Check out all the details in our review.


7 | GoConqr: Create, Organize, and Study for Free

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Finally, if you're looking for an app that lets teachers and students create, save, share, and embed mind maps, quizzes, flashcards, and notes, then GoConqr is exactly what you need.  It's incredibly simple not only to use, but to share the resources you create with other teachers or students.  For teachers, you can also create classes and subjects to better stay organized.

This app is also one of my favorites because it combines so many useful tools into one.  So many online services focus on just one of these tools (Quizzes OR mind maps.  Flashcards OR note taking) but GoConqr does it all!  Read our full review to see all the details.


And just in case you're still hungry for more, check out last year's post, which cover 8 additional apps to check out for the classroom.

Well, that's it for this post!  Again, if anyone has additional apps and services they've discovered, please share them in the comments!  I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful school year!



-Mike
36 Comments
Saul
8/22/2015 10:36:42 am

THANKS FOR POSTING THESE MIKE!!!

Reply
Mike
9/18/2015 04:56:53 pm

YOU'RE WELCOME SAUL!

Reply
Chelsey H.
9/18/2015 04:21:57 pm

I have to say that all these classroom apps sound amazing. My favorite one would have to be the app that lets you set up teacher conferences and volunteers. I find most parents have a hard time remembering events or have no idea when they can volunteer. This sounds like a great app to increase parent involvement. I am also in love with the one that lets you send reminders and check in on the parents and students. Oftentimes students have events come up and this would help them be successful. Great post!

Reply
Mike
9/18/2015 04:56:40 pm

Thanks so much Chelsey! Glad to hear they were helpful and they're some of my favorites as well! Have a great weekend!

Reply
SSDN Technologies link
9/20/2015 12:29:20 am

Go and get the enjoyment on these apps

Reply
Katie Spencer link
9/20/2015 01:56:41 pm

Hello,
I really appreciate you suggesting Chalk up! I use Google Drive with my students all the time, and I want them to be able to communicate and comment on each other's work without making lasting changes. I think using Chalk up will be perfect! It looks like it will also be a valuable way for posting resources for my students without always needed to put them on my website. Thanks a lot!

Reply
Clat Exam Preparation link
9/28/2015 04:48:59 am

Hello Friend's,
Thanks for providing the wonderful information with free apps to try of this falling apps downloading.

Reply
Clat Exam Preparation link
9/28/2015 04:25:05 am

Great Posts, Thanks for sharing it.

Reply
Nhick link
10/5/2015 08:06:51 am

Haven't tried some of these free apps like office mix and answer pad.. Checking the site now and see what I can do about it.

Thanks for the links and for the very informative tips.

Reply
Mike
10/5/2015 08:41:53 am

You're welcome Nhick! Thanks for reading!

Reply
mohaliarena link
10/13/2015 05:01:43 am

Great post thanx for sharing and nice class room picture .

Reply
marearodz link
10/30/2015 04:11:34 am

I am really appreciated by the article posted by admin.
http://www.learningwithkevin.com/is a resource where you can get impressive articles related to elearning online courses of education industry.

Reply
Charles Garcia link
11/1/2015 05:06:36 am

Hello, thanks for sharing all of these wonderful resources. While there are some app that I have heard of and used, you have exposed me to many new ones. I am currently teaching math in a high school setting, and I have been contemplating using a Learning Management System with my students. The ones you have mentioned above sound great, I was just wondering if you had a favorite, or would recommend what type of features would be the most beneficial for high school math students. Again, thanks for the sharing.

Reply
Mike
11/1/2015 11:01:14 am

Hi Charles,

Thanks for reading and you're very welcome for sharing! I like both Chalkup and Otus, and I think both would be good fits for high school math. I would recommend giving them both a quick try and see if there is interface that you like better, but I think both would be good! If you have more questions feel free to send me an email as well (mike.karlin@gmail.com) and we can chat further!

Mike

Reply
Charles Garcia
11/1/2015 12:19:36 pm

Thanks,
I will give them both a try. You have done a nice job with you blog, looks like I have found a great resources to visit.

Charles

Mike
11/1/2015 01:00:11 pm

Thanks Charles!

Much appreciated and hope you have a good rest of your weekend!

Mike

Reply
Lemay link
11/4/2015 05:18:15 am

these apps are really great and useful, people really should learn that only teaching something is not important, but sharing quality knowledge will improve the child.

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Isabel A link
11/16/2015 05:38:56 pm

Thanks for your suggestions! I have never heard of #6. I will definitely look into it. Schools have so many filters so this might be the answer.

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Mandee C. link
12/29/2015 02:00:50 pm

These look like some amazing apps! I love remind and can't wait to find out more about Answer pad. I would love to integrate that into my classroom!

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Mr. Packer
1/6/2016 07:14:36 am

Thanks for putting this together!

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Jennifer
1/18/2016 08:52:49 am

Thank you for posting, I am looking forward to trying Answer Pad.

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Paul reffill link
2/18/2016 12:37:03 am

This classroom apps will surely change the education environment. Great information collection.

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Kate Yeng link
5/31/2016 02:07:34 am

These apps will help greatly to teachers to instruct students in an efficient way and students will have the liberty of using a convenient app where everything is mentioned clearly. Thus, more output in less efforts, efficient teaching.

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Mike
5/31/2016 04:28:55 am

Glad to hear you think so Kate, and thanks for reading!

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David Mark link
10/29/2016 06:51:36 am

Wow nice info

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Richard Docc link
11/29/2016 09:56:10 pm

Great information, Thanks for sharing this informative post and glad to find your post and thought for improving my skills. really appreciate your post and work :)

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David Walker link
3/6/2017 01:54:20 am

That was great and informative article. This apps is very helpful for education. Thanks for sharing.

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