5 Best Interactive Teaching Tools

Interactive teaching is a style where the teachers involve students actively during the learning process. Teachers engage students through regular teacher-student interaction, student-student interaction, use of hands-on demonstration and use of audio-visuals. In this approach, the emphasis is on meaning and understanding, contrary to conventional rote memorization. There are very many tools that can be used to facilitate interactive teaching. While some are difficult to learn, others are simple and have minimal requirements. The best interactive teaching tools, like ezTalks Meetings, play a crucial role in saving time, hassle and increasing the effectiveness of instruction. Below are some of the tools currently available for this purpose.

  1. ezTalks Meetings

ezTalks is by far the most reliable and highly popular interactive teaching tool currently available; it present many benefits to both students and teachers. Teachers can utilize the tool to instruct students live on the web, deliver open live classes and conduct online lessons. It is affordable, simple to use and suitable for both small and large classes of up to hundreds of students. The tool comes with very many useful, powerful and hence attractive features that include interactive whiteboard sharing and screen sharing allowing teachers to share crucial information with students with a lot of ease. Its instant messaging feature enables instructors and students to chat freely with each other. Teachers can even record lessons and save on their computers so students can review later on.

  1. Elluminate

This tool provides a unifying learning experience for all students. Thanks to its easy-to-use design developed as an interactive learning environment, Elluminate facilitates interactive learning allowing students to participate actively. The tool even provides various products that suit any institution, regardless of its size. The java file necessary to utilize the tool is easy to download; it takes just 60 seconds, and immediately you download the platform launch you into a “classroom.” The tool supports interactive learning for Windows, Linux and Mac Operating Systems. It also allows you to share applications, documents, files and desktops with your students.

  1. GoToTraining

GoToTraining is an interactive learning tool that enables individuals to come together online to share web cams with High Definition video, view each other’s screens and use modern collaborating tools to interact together. Teachers can also administer tests, avail materials to students online and facilitate training. GoToTraining comes with a broad range of options to foster the learning process for teachers, students, and administrators. Some of its useful features include the ability to record training, secure and efficient sharing of notes and handouts. With this tool, a teacher can group students into smaller groups, give them an assignment thus encouraging them to interact and learn from each other.

  1. Skype

Dubbed one of the best VoIP solution providers, Skype provides instant messaging, video chat, and group chat and collaboration functionalities, among much more, that play a crucial role in interactive teaching. While there is a free service offered to users who would like to utilize its basic form, packages come in a broad range of prices with the most affordable costing as low as 2 dollars per month. The paid service nonetheless provides interactive teaching for as many as 250 individuals, compatibility with Micro Soft Office tools, integration with several third-party apps and stringent security through elaborate verification and encryption measures. Tutors can use Skype to facilitate participation by students, who are outside the classroom. Consequently, students who, for one reason or another cannot come to school have the option of actively following the lesson over Skype or having the same recorded so they can review at their convenience.

  1. Zoho Show

With this tool, teachers can create and share teaching materials with students via an internet connection. Besides being one of the free interactive teaching tools Zoho Show is user-friendly, has minimal requirements and provides an updated means of interacting with students. The teacher can use the tool to create presentations at their convenient time and forward the same to the students without emailing them to the school computer. Students, on the other hand, can create exceptional school projects and, later on, present to the teacher for grading. Users can save the projects online so that they can quickly pull them up and modify at any time and in any location of their choice. Besides, the fact Zoho Show allows users create, give or watch presentations in real time makes it a handy interactive learning tool.

Conclusion

The above interactive teaching tools, beneficial to both teachers and students, play a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of learning. They foster the ultimate goal of interactive learning which is to empower students with increased ownership in their learning. The tools allow teachers to act as facilitators as they guide student activities. Keeping the learning process at the forefront, practical, interactive tools, such as ezTalks Meetings, promote sound pedagogy.