Five tools for the world's best teacher

There are a variety of online tools available to teachers. And though they all focus on something slightly different, they can help make classroom instruction more effective.

Most online tools for teachers provide the option to both create and keep a grade book. Teachers can upload assignments and keep track of their students' attendance. The tools also let teachers share grades with parents. And since the syllabus and assignments are online, students will have access to the class resources no matter where they are. The classroom is truly anywhere the teacher (or student) wants it to be.

The majority of online teaching utilities are designed well. They guide teachers through the process of creating a grade book, uploading content, and making that information available to parents and students. The learning curve isn't steep.

If it's instruction help they're looking for, teachers can join social networks to find best practices or video sites to get class instruction ideas.

Here are five teachers' aids that stand out from the rest.

Top 5 teaching tools

Blackboard makes it all available to students.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

Blackboard
Blackboard is one of the most capable teaching tools in the space. Educators can upload grades, monitor student performance, and administer tests. Teachers can also input assignments and manage their syllabus.

Students can access all the information their teachers add to their class page, check their grades, and complete assignments. Blackboard combines all those features with an outstanding design to deliver a fine tool for the student and teacher, alike.

Classroom 2.0
Classroom 2.0 is a social network for teachers. Educators can chat, send messages, and exchange ideas on how to best educate students. I found Classroom 2.0 to be an ideal place for teachers to find best practices to create a more effective educational environment. Many of the educators discuss ways to use the Web to enhance classroom instruction. And since it's such a lively community, I'm sure most teachers will find at least something to bring into the classroom to enrich their students.

Engrade
Engrade provides students with a place to monitor grades and see how they've performed on quizzes. All that information is provided by the teachers, who can also customize their Engrade grade books, input scores from anywhere they have Web access, and create instruction plans for students to download.

Engrade is a powerful tool that's easy to use for both students and teachers. And unlike most other services in the market, Engrade is free. That shouldn't fool you into believing it's not as capable as its competitors. Quite the contrary, Engrade is the best grading tool I saw.

MyGradeBook lets teachers modify grading scales.

(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)

MyGradeBook
MyGradeBook is an impressive utility. Once the teacher buys a license (prices range from $30.95 to $39.95 per license per year) he or she will find one of the most powerful teaching utilities on the Web. With the option to create online assignments, manage grade books, administer quizzes, communicate with parents, and provide access to students, MyGradeBook literally creates a virtual classroom online.

Though it's a powerful tool, I was impressed by MyGradeBook's simplicity. Teachers won't have any trouble populating their class page with content. Students will find it simple to access all the information they need. MyGradeBook is a full-featured educational tool that teachers shouldn't miss.

TeacherTube
TeacherTube is a video site for educators. Teachers can upload instruction videos, which can be viewed by anyone anywhere in the world. Videos can show classroom instructions on topics ranging from biology to Shakespeare. There are no limits on the content. I was impressed by the wealth of knowledge it provides.

Though its name might suggest otherwise, TeacherTube also lets students showcase their work. Most students are featured displaying their artwork, engaging in classroom activities, or showing off their special talents to the Web. In any case, I found the site to be a great learning tool for teachers. They can incorporate some of the ideas displayed in the videos in the classroom. And it's also a unique way to bring the Web into the educational process.

See also...

If you're looking for more grading tools, check out ClassBuilder, GradeNetwork, and SnapGrades.

Those teachers looking for other full-featured teaching utilities might also want to consider Digication, EdHelper, and WiZiQ. YouTube EDU is another video instruction site, similar to TeacherTube.

[j_ten_man]

Blackboard is far from intuitive. Blackboard was designed before the Web 2.0 kick got in and it is not user friendly. I disliked using it as a student and have heard teacher's complain as well. It's time to move away from Blackboard to save your students.

[stevenmarx]

I have to agree with you, as an educator who has used it extensively and been driven crazy by its poor, non-intuitive interface. It makes me wonder how much time Mr. Reisinger could possibly have spent with it. My wife, who is still a professor, continues to be plagued with its interface glitches and has to spend some of her class time teaching her students how to do what should be relatively simple things.

[adam.white12]

I also agree as a Student. I was in college for about 6 years and saw several version of BlackBoard, they were all terrible. Not only were they confusing to students, but it seemed they were more confusing for professors. There was also a lack of knowledge on blackboard's "training staff" part. I went with a professor to one of the BB training sessions once and the consultant was attempting to teach most of the professors basic JavaScript. In sum, both students AND professors hated it. It's nice in theory, but in practice it's just plain terrible.

[Angmarr]

I believe that all Middle school, High school, College students will agree. Blackboard definitely is farrr from being perfect. I might even go as far as to say that it is not even all that useful - just so happens that its what many teachers.professors use.

[mrmjct]

Blackboard is currently 2 products. One, a re-branded version of the old learning management system WebCT, the other, the latest version of the original Blackboard software.

I have used the WebCT line extensively and agree with other commenters that it lacks intuitiveness. Alternatives such as the opensource Moodle would certainly be worth considering over this.

[joeythibault]

I'm shocked that Moodle missed the list, it's beating up on Bb because it's free and open source, yet it does all that Bb does.

Anyone at a school thinking about Bb should also at least review the docs and resources available with Moodle, there are enterprise editions, professional support and development to make the system better and lots of already developed content available on the web. Not to mention that it doesn't cost $500 per classroom.

[jeffmcneill]

Seriously? Wow. Someone had a deadline approaching. As a university instructor who has used all of these tools, they are not for the "world's best teacher" by any means. Those folks create magic in a classroom and then simply video podcast it out to the rest of the world. Good instructional tools? Mediawiki, YouTube, SlideShare, Google Docs, and MindMeister.

[scout2i]

I think the article should be titled the Five Tools for the World's RICHEST Teacher since all of the seem to cost. I personally like the free apps and websites like Classroom2.0 was a great suggestion. Here are some others I like.

www.tokbox.com and www.skype.com for video conferencing

Google Apps: For the office suite

www.spellingcity.com: for cool games to learn your spelling list

www.phunland.com: teaches physics by building your own 2d projects

Create your own classroom wiki: www.wikispaces.com or www.wetpaint.com

See other ideas at www.classroomnext.blogspot.com

[Richard_Byrne]

To endorse Engrade in this list is a disservice to your readers. Last fall Engrade suffered long service outages locking students and teachers out of their gradebooks. Numerous emails to Engrade went unanswered. You can read about the problems here http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2008/10/engrade-disappears-at-crucial-time-for.html
To call it the best gradebook service you have seen shows a lack of experience with other gradebook services

[zenwaves]

ARD 3 - Apple Remote Desktop allows me to have students demo their work to the rest of the class' screens, install software, help students remotely, etc.

WorkGroup Manager - allows me to set specific desktop appearances, application settings for specific grades and classes.

[Icer5k]

I use SchoolTube in my class instead of TeacherTube. All the ads on TeacherTube make it hard to use the site...

[beacantor]

I can't believe anyone still thinks technology in schools is keeping an electronic gradebook. Students don't learn from looking at their grades; they learn from creating something on their own.

Mr. Reisinger, I think you should take a look at the LoTI framework for technology integration in schools.

http://loticonnection.com/lotilevels.html

[remtheory]

I agree with all the above comments. I really think the author should consider redoing this with a bit more thought. TeacherTube is a trainwreck because of the ads. I wish more would push YouTube as a teacher site so that we can move away from blocking them in schools. There's got to be a way to use it without censoring in the classroom. I'd vote for gCast, definitely Moodle, and Google Apps (which includes Google Sites). There's a new site called betterlesson.org in public beta that will be a great teacher resource too, sharing lesson plans online.

[ahmedakhalil]

I think you are missing a great FREE online tool that i used last year to teach my courses:
http://www.edu20.org/
it contains allot of tools like: blogs, wikis, class grades, assignment manager, quizes, embedded video and links, export to excel, message boards, chat, message system, resources, notifications. and all for free. I enjoyed using it allot and so did my students.

[Jake_OL_Team]

How about including an online document management application? Microsoft's Office Live Workspace is a free storage location that securely holds your uploaded files. A teacher can upload important documents and give access to students, therefore eliminating the need for paper handouts, worksheets, reading assignments or project descriptions. You don't even need to download or install anything because it is a web application used through your browser's interface. See for yourself at www.officelive.com .

- Jake

MSFT Office Live Outreach Team

[KarenMaginnis]

Thibault nailed it! MOODLE! Edmodo even! But Blackboard? Why endorse an adequate commercial product when there is such a superior (OSS!) free alternative like Moodle? Let's have Brian Tong do a blow-by-blow comparison and see who comes out alive from that smack down! I'm in my sixth year of double happiness, problem free, never down Moodle groovin' and going strong.

[krossbow--2008]

I can't believe anyone in education would include Blackboard in this list.

[GardnerCampbell]

I'm frankly astonished by this list. Putting Blackboard on the list at all, let alone at the top, is shocking by itself. But then to omit any of the resources committed to open education, or emerging from Web 2.0, or connected to social media generally is inexcusable. Teaching and learning are about far more than managing class administration or tracking grades. "beacantor" has it exactly right, in my view.

Sadly, I must agree with several of the commenters here that the wrong reporter was assigned to this story.

[geoffcain]

Blackboard is at the top because CNET is a corporation. How were the "Top 5" chosen? Are there guidelines? A rubric? A contest? A poll? Research? There is no information given in the "article" - it is a declaration of some kind. The man who has "written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems" as decided it to be so and some editor (who probably also has no background in education) decided to run this. What corporations like Blackboard do is try to guess where things are going - blogs and wikis for instance, and then figure out ways to lock down, monetize and render those tools useless. If the author and editors had any interest in education they would research this first before they jeopordize their own journalistic credibility.