How can teachers use Macbooks to help educate their students? Read on to learn some of the best Macbook apps for teachers in 2020.
Now more than ever, teachers are turning to online resources for help with running their classrooms.
Why? Take your pick of reasons: eco-friendliness, teaching the youngest generation about technology, teaching in an e-classroom due to a global pandemic.
Whatever reason you choose, it all boils down to the same conclusion. Technology is working its way into our schools, and teachers are embracing it with open arms! Here are some must-know Macbook apps for teachers.
Stickies
Sometimes the beauty of an app is in its simplicity. Stickies provides users with virtual sticky notes that they can place on their desktop for easy reference. It’s like putting an actual sticky note on your computer, but without blocking any open tabs you may have.
Stickies is a default application for all Macs, meaning that it’s free and should already be installed when you receive your computer.
So, how can educators use Stickies? They’re great for general reminders, to-do lists, and daily schedules.
Any information that a teacher might need to reference quickly can be put on a Sticky for easy access. They’re also minimizable?
Google Drive
When it comes to collaborative work, nobody does it better than Google Drive. This program (accessible through a web browser) allows multiple users to edit the same document in real-time.
That means that there are no passing computers around for group projects, no more fighting over who gets to type, and no more lost materials as it autosaves.
For educators, Google Drive has been a game-changer. Not only does it make it easy for teachers to give feedback to their students, but it also makes peer-editing in the classroom a breeze.
Zoom
When COVID-19 hit the United States, Zoom quickly rose to become one of the most popular educational apps on the market. A free video conferencing app, Zoom allows teachers to video chat with their entire classroom, making remote teaching much easier than it would be otherwise.
Zoom allows teachers to see students and vice versa. Some teachers even use the camera on their Mac to show a whiteboard, where they work out math problems.
First, it’s super easy to use. Second, it has several extremely useful tools for teachers, such as a mute all members button and a screen share function that allows the class to see the teacher’s screen. This is ideal for those who lecture from powerpoints.
Quizlet
Quizlet is another program that, like Google Drive, is accessible through a web browser. Quizlet has been around for several years now and was originally built to help teachers and students create virtual sets of flashcards.
While that’s still the app’s main function, the people at Quizlet have found several other great ways to help students study. There are word games, practice quizzes, and several different study formats to help students learn the material.
One of the best features Quizlet has to offer is the ability to create a classroom. Teachers can start a class and send an invitation to all their students. That way, the teacher can create study sets and the whole class can easily access them.
Remind
Remind allows teachers and administrators to send messages to students through a secure server. It works just like any other messenger app, so the students receive push notifications on their devices, just like if it were a text.
The advantage of Remind, though, is that there is no personal information (such as phone numbers) swapped between classmates or staff members. This keeps everyone’s information just a bit safer. Plus, Remind keeps a record of all communications so that any student-teacher interactions are fully documented in the case of an emergency.
So, if a teacher needs to send a last-minute message to their class the night before, they can send a Remind message and it will pop up as a notification on students’ (or parents’) phones, rather than an email, which may go unread until the morning.
Schoolwork
Schoolwork is a new app for Apple products like Macbook. It allows teachers to coordinate their classrooms virtually and connect with their students over the internet.
One of the things that Schoolwork has been praised for is its usability. It’s very simple to use, both for the student and teacher, meaning that misunderstandings due to technical difficulties are less likely to occur.
The homepage on Schoolwork shows all of the tasks that students will take on in a given week. Below that portion of the screen is a list of assignments and upcoming due dates.
For the teacher, Schoolwork has even more features. For example, educators can create handouts, guide students in apps, send individual handouts based on a student’s personal needs, check student progress, and give feedback on students’ work (which is all submitted directly through the app.)
All in all, Schoolwork works a lot like a physical classroom. It’s a gathering place, a planner, a drop-off box, a textbook, and a chalkboard all in one.
While Pinterest may seem a little bit out of place on this list, it’s certainly worth considering as an educator! So many great ideas are just waiting to be discovered on this site. It’s also available through your web browser.
Pinterest is particularly useful for teachers who are looking for creative ways to engage their students. It’s chock-full of ideas for assignments, activities, decorations, and games, most of which are uploaded by other teachers around the world.
Pinterest is the ultimate hub for educational ideas.
Macbook Apps for Teachers: Too Many To Count
What’s great about Apple is that they’re always growing as a company. Not only are their devices improving every year, but new apps make their way onto the app store weekly.
While all of the apps listed here are great, there are tons more out there. Depending on your specific needs in the classroom, you can find even more great Macbook apps for teachers. It’s all about exploring and finding what works for you.
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