TOP PICKS | 35 TOOLS

Best Apps and Websites for the Flipped Classroom

Be more mentor than teacher by turning traditional lecture-based instruction on its head. These great flipped-classroom apps and websites help students gain new knowledge at home so that they can come to class ready to put it to use. The resources in this list -- everything from interactive lesson apps and instructional videos to whiteboard apps -- help teachers create, curate, and deliver content that students can experience at their own pace, freeing up classroom time for clarification, exploration, and creation.

If you're planning on flipping your classroom, or have already, you might be interesting in our tips and resources for classroom management or using video in the classroom.

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Instruction, Classroom Management, and Communication Tools

Remind

Teachers' text reminders keep students -- and parents -- up to speed

Bottom line: Well-designed, highly effective messaging tool has the potential to keep students and families connected with their schools.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free, Paid Remind is free, but if you use it to fundraise for events, they charge a fee of $0.50 per transaction. School and district plans are also available.

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Kiddom

LMS offers tangible options to differentiate learning

Bottom line: An excellent option for monitoring individual progress toward goals, but teachers will need to be deliberate when selecting and assigning content.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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Nearpod

Interactive slideshow tool engages students, promotes collaboration

Bottom line: This effective tool leverages the capabilities of 1-to-1 environments and offers both teacher- and student-paced learning.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid The Silver edition is free for up to 30 students, the Gold edition is $120 per teacher per year for up to 50 students, and the Platinum edition is $349 per year for up to 75 students. In-app purchases are available for additional content, and schools and districts can receive volume discounts.

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Screencast-O-Matic

Create and share high-quality screencasts without breaking the bank

Bottom line: A well-designed screen and video recorder that lets teachers and students focus on creating engaging content from the get-go.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid Free accounts include recording, trimming, captioning, saving, and sharing features as well as three music tracks and 2GB bandwidth per month on the site. Deluxe and Premier plans cost $1.50 and $4 per month, respectively, and include additional recording and publishing features, video editing tools, and more.

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Versal

Slick course creator is full-featured, but lessons remain traditional

Bottom line: A great option for putting your course materials online in a clean, attractive way, but don't rely on it for all your instruction.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid $5 per month or $50 per year for Pro features (progress tracking, private courses), or $7 per student annually for institutional features.

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VoiceThread

Easily collaborate and create with voice, video, or image

Bottom line: A powerful tool for kids to create, collaborate, and share all kinds of multimedia.

Grades: K–12 Price: Paid A single educator account runs $15 per month or $79 per year for one teacher and up to 50 students. A school account starts at $450 per year, depending on the number of users and desired services; district packages are also available.

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PlayPosit

Simple design makes it easy to jump into interactive video

Bottom line: With features that are both basic and useful, it's an easy tool to learn; adding interactivity to video is a snap.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free, Paid Basic accounts are free. Optional premium features are $96/year and include the ability to copy and edit other teachers' content, the ability to crop video, more question types, student-created content, printable worksheets, grade exporting, and advanced student data.

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Edpuzzle

Crop, customize, and remix online video content with interactive tool

Bottom line: As a flipped classroom or student creation tool, there are lots of opportunities for use, but teachers will need to be creative if they want students to engage.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid The basic version is free. The Pro Teacher plan is in development but is slated to cost $6.50 per month. The Pro School plan starts at $55 per month (call for quote).

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Educreations

Enliven lessons and presentations with easy-to-use whiteboard tool

Bottom line: An easy, functional way to create presentations on the fly.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free Basic version is free but only supports one project and 50 MB of storage. For $11.99 month-to-month ($8.25 per month if billed annually), teachers get unlimited drafts, 5 GB of storage, and more. School subscriptions cost $1,495 per year.

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Explain Everything Whiteboard

Powerhouse tool for creating stellar multimedia presentations

Bottom line: Teachers and students can make dynamic presentations that involve different types of media in this innovative, fun app.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free to try, Paid There's a 30-day free trial. The Education Plan is $4.99 per user, per year (minimum of 5 users). Individual plans are $24.99 per year.

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Google Classroom

Simplify communication, collaboration, and document sharing

Bottom line: Google Classroom is a great way to manage and organize learning, though teachers who need more features may need to look elsewhere.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Kahoot!

Game-like student-response tool can spark competitive fun

Bottom line: Effortlessly fun quizzing that can lead to productive formative assessment and student reflection if implemented effectively.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid While Kahoot! is free, there's a Plus version for teachers priced at $1 per teacher per month, which includes a shared folder for quizzes, co-creation and co-editing of quizzes, and advanced reporting. A $3 per month Pro version adds an image library.

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LessonUp

Flexible interactive presentation tool engages kids at school and home

Bottom line: LessonUp is for teachers who like designing unique lessons to reach every learner.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Free basic subscription and a free 30-day trial of the teacher license; contact for the annual subscription cost.

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Loom

Create, present, and assess with free, effortless screencasting

Bottom line: This intuitive tool is excellent for recording and responding to screencasts of any length.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Screencastify

Easy screen-recording tool facilitates outside-the-box instruction

Bottom line: If you have access to Chrome, Screencastify is an easy instructional tool that lets teachers and students communicate in new and creative ways.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Free version offers up to 50 watermarked videos per month and a maximum length of 10 minutes per video; premium version ($24 per year) removes the watermark and unlocks more features, including trimming and exporting capabilities. Bulk pricing is available for groups of teachers and districts.

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Spiral

Provide instant feedback with collaborative, multimedia assessment tool

Bottom line: Engaging, easy-to-use tool that supports both formative and summative assessment while allowing for student collaboration.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Spiral Teacher is free and covers up to five classrooms. The Pro Teacher subscription is $39 per teacher per year and offers unlimited classrooms, student accounts for home use, and progress reports. The Pro School subscription is estimated at $3 per student and offers Pro Teacher features plus additional ones, including full integration with the school's LMS.

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TES Teach with Blendspace

Create multimedia lessons with engaging but not-so-interactive style

Bottom line: Allows you to incorporate lots of multimedia resources, but be discerning with content and assessments to avoid lazy teaching or learning.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free

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Actively Learn

Empowering reader keeps kids actively, independently engaged

Bottom line: Far beyond the average e-reader, this tool helps students connect and stay engaged while teachers easily measure progress.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free, Paid The free version has 3,000 texts, Google Classroom integration, and simple custom assignments. The paid Prime version adds more data, reporting, and differentiation. There's also an Unlimited plan with addition school and district supports. Contact for a demo and pricing.

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ClassFlow

Robust lesson-creation, presentation tool offers built-in assessment

Bottom line: This powerful tool supports connected and blended learning from instruction to assessment, though it's best used to enhance already great instruction.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free

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Edmodo

Manage classes, content, and communication with social LMS platform

Bottom line: This free platform allows for teacher-monitored classroom communication but lacks excitement.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free This website is free to use for all features, but it does contain advertisements on the teacher side.

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Verso

Flip the classroom, gather student feedback with easy-to-use tool

Bottom line: Promote better discourse, participation, and accountability -- across devices -- with this thoughtfully designed platform.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free to try

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GoClass

Deliver interactive lessons right to kids' mobile devices and tablets

Bottom line: Support learning in and out of the classroom with this multi-faceted content-delivery tool.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid Basic Account, Free; Premium Account, $99.99/year

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Google Hangouts

Communication, learning, and fun converge nicely in Google's slick platform

Bottom line: It runs like a dream, works on all devices, and can be used in so many ways to enhance interactive learning.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free

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WordPress.com

Solid blogging tool and content management system offers DIY blogs

Bottom line: This is a great tool to get kids blogging and creating online content.

Grades: 9–12 Price: Free, Paid Basic accounts are free, Premium sites are $99 per year, and Business sites are $299 per year.

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Instructional Content for At-Home Learning

PBS KIDS

One-stop shop for a wealth of fantastic PBS KIDS educational content

Bottom line: Amazing collection of valuable learning resources covers an impressive array of topics.

Grades: Pre-K–6 Price: Free

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NOVA

Compelling science videos have high-quality classroom applications

Bottom line: Stellar simulations, teacher guides, and other activities can stand on their own, and they're enhanced with high-quality video content.

Grades: Pre-K–12 Price: Free

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Redbird Mathematics

Excellent adaptive math for flipped or blended classrooms

Bottom line: If you're looking for courseware for your classroom, this is based on solid research and proven technology.

Grades: K–7 Price: Paid Contact developer for pricing information.

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Khan Academy

Missions boost learning with balance of focus and freedom to explore

Bottom line: A solid resource for math and science instruction as well as foundational knowledge in a number of other high school subjects.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free

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Newsela

Absorbing daily news stories offer kids just-right learning content

Bottom line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles meet students right at their level: Use this robust tool to bolster students' nonfiction reading practice.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free, Paid There's a "Pro" subscription targeted at schools, but pricing information isn't public; interested teachers and districts can contact them for more information.

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