10 Must-Have Tools for Online Learning

A while ago, we wrote a post covering the challenges of after-school education and online learning in general. We mentioned the difficulty to find the right technology for remote education as one of the key hurdles.

While accessibility and ease of use are still out of reach for many online learning platforms, in this post, we put together a review of 10 relatively straightforward tools that empower remote learning.

Virtual classrooms

Right now, most teachers and professors somehow get by with Zoom or Microsoft Teams — but they feel the limitations of both platforms. It’s difficult to maintain high engagement in large classrooms and there’s no way for students to spontaneously interact with each other during class.

Alternatively, educators start exploring virtual classrooms — spaces that add gamification and freedom to online learning.

1. oVice

oVice is a customizable virtual space platform that gives educators the freedom to make learning engaging and fun. Teachers and students use oVice to host online classes, art lessons, lab events, or study group sessions.

Why you should try it:

• Increased mobility: unlike a Teams or Zoom meeting room, students can move around a virtual classroom, giving teachers more creative freedom.
• Made with group projects in mind: the platform allows hosting multiple discussions in the same space making dividing the class into groups easier than ever.
• Control over the classroom: teachers can keep the classroom in order and lessons structured by implementing hand raising and chat-based questions. This way, there are fewer distractions and students get to save extra energy.
• Full customizability of the classroom opens up branding opportunities for K12 and college.

2. Vedamo

Vedamo is a virtual classroom that combines video conferencing with learning management. The platform allows educators to create courses, schedule classes, and track learning progress.

Why you should try it:

• Interactive video conferencing sessions
• Easy-to-use whiteboard for presenting concepts and ideas
• Breakout rooms for group activities and individual tasks
• Integrations with other education tools like Moodle

3. LearnCube

LearnCube helps teachers and tutors connect to students through high-quality video conferencing and interactive whiteboards. Also, educators can upload materials directly to the platform and share them with the class in one click.

Why you should try it:

• In-browser video conferencing
• Interactive whiteboard
• Lessons are recorded
• Custom branding (though limited) for the classroom

Online quizzes

Knowledge assessment is one of the pain points of online education. Since students often turn their cameras off as they sit (supposedly) in front of the screen, teachers have no contact with the classroom and fewer ways to pinpoint the early signs of struggle.

That’s why ways to gauge feedback and run quick pulse checks are a must-have for a successful online classroom.

4. Socrative

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Socrative is an easy-to-use quiz and feedback collection tool that helps teachers check concept retention and transparently grade their students. The platform supports a ton of activities and question types: open-ended questions, multiple-choice quizzes, matching, and others.

Why you should try it:

• Creating a quiz takes a few clicks
• All tests are personalized: teachers can shuffle questions or create several versions of the quiz to introduce variety to the assessment
• All assignments are graded automatically
• Available on all devices: computers, smartphones, and tablets.

5. Kahoot!Assessment

Kahoot offers teachers a variety of ways to assess student knowledge and skills — from pop quizzes to self-paced monitoring. The platform gives educators a detailed analytics dashboard for understanding knowledge retention patterns and classroom needs.

Why you should try it:

• Wide range of question types: polls, word clouds, multiple choice quizzes, and others.
• A system for identifying and following up on difficult questions.
• Real-time grades and class leaderboard.
• Teachers can share reports with colleagues

6. Quizizz

Quizizz puts a fresh spin on quizzes by combining multiple-choice questions with an interactive, gamified interface. The platform supports both presenter-led and self-paced learning.

Why you should try it:

• Full control over tests: quiz creators can set deadlines, add questions of all types, and identify each student’s problem points.
• Integrations with video conferencing tools: Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
• Detailed reports are generated and can be exported in any format.

7. SurveyAnyplace

SurveyAnyplace is another easy-to-use tool for classroom and workplace surveys. One of the platform’s signature features is the ability to incentivize test-takers with gift cards, promo codes, and other rewards.

Why you should try it:

• Quiz personalization with customizable end-screens and questions.
• Gamified leaderboard incentivizes students to perform better.
• The results of a quiz are instantly converted into a presentation and can be presented to the class.

Producing learning content

The shift to online learning put extra pressure on educators, as they have to work harder on creating engaging explainer videos, handouts, and lecture slides.

The good news is there are a lot of e-learning content creation solutions that help cut the amount of time needed to design learning materials that hammer concepts down.

8. Gomo Learning

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Gomo Learning is a learning content creation platform that allows teachers and professors to work on learning content together. Also, compared to more advanced tools like Adobe Captivate, this one is easier to navigate.

Why you should try it:

• Web-based content editor
• Collaborative editing
• Integrations with widely-used learning management systems
• Supports content in over 250 languages

9. iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite is one of the most straightforward e-learning content creator tools on the market. It has a familiar interface with somewhat Microsoft Office vibes, a catalog of customizable templates, and a variety of content types: quizzes, narrations, and animated introductions.

Why you should try it:

• It’s free.
• Supports over 20 learning content types
• Has a robust template gallery
• Easy to use and familiar interface

10. Docebo

Docebo comes with an all-in-one toolset for online learning. It allows educators to create presentations, quizzes, and handouts that connect to students of all levels. The platform heavily relies on AI to generate detailed reports and customize learning needs for any classroom.

Why you should try it:

• AI-based translations help reach international audiences
• Easy to use video editor for engaging presentations
• Easy content sharing across social media and other platforms

Setting up a virtual learning environment is, first of all, about finding the right technology to replace and improve upon real-life interactions: classes, quizzes, and discussions. A lot of e-learning technology is new so a single one-size-fits-all tool doesn’t exist.

Having said that, through research and trying different platforms out, you will undoubtedly find the technology that works for you and helps your students reach their peak performance.