I have been using a tablet to give classes online for almost two years, and it has been amazing. I cannot complain because I have used a stylus to write things on the screen while sharing documents, which makes the experience much like an onsite classroom.
Let me tell you the importance of making the classes different instead of just following a fixed path. But most importantly, these tools are for teachers’ back office work and not too much about using them in classes with students.
Why I use these apps?
I want to be clear with this: if you see some apps that you may have already used and think that this is nothing new for you, well, it doesn’t need to be new; the same app but with different uses changes everything.
The use I give them may vary from the one you have, and if one app that you use does not appear here, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t work; it’s just that I haven’t used it or decided not to use it.
Some teachers prefer to have an app that can be an all-in-one; however, I do not like those kinds of apps, except one that you will see on the list below. Most of the apps are basic because I have managed to have everything in a simple way and not complicate myself.
My Apps
The idea of giving online classes is to provide comfort to both ends: the teachers and the students. However, there are many challenges, especially for teachers, beyond the “connection issues”.
I have written a post on how we, as teachers, can improve and have better online classes using technology, and well, you can take this as a second part because I am going to share the tools that I use and why I use them.
One of the apps, well, is not an app but a website I use a lot: Classroom Screen because it gives me the option to have an online whiteboard on the browser without downloading an app.
ClassroomScreen
This is the app I mentioned that is kind of all-in-one because of its many features. It may be the only one that is completely different from the others.
This combines the flexibility of using an online whiteboard along with other features like timers, stopwatch, sharing media (videos and pictures), polls, allows you to rapidly choose a student randomly from a list, you can draw and add stickers, it even has a “dice” option so you can create fun activities with your students.
It makes sense that online teachers use online whiteboards, but not necessarily only boring whiteboards. The free version allows you to do many things and you can make the most of your online lessons by using an online whiteboard that looks and feels different to others.
ClassroomScreen is an alternative if you don’t have Microsoft Whiteboard or Zoom Whiteboard. Those two are very powerful tools, but ClassroomScreen has the advantage that it is a web-based app, meaning that it does not require many resources from your computer to run and you can open it through any browser you use.
Google Workspace
Yes, I know. You may think I am outdated or that I need to switch to Microsoft or start using other apps. To be honest, I have tried Microsoft and didn’t like it. PowerPoint, Word, and Excel are the most office-known apps, but I don’t use them because I decided to have everything in a single platform.
I started with a mix, using Zoom to give classes and presenting using PowerPoint, keeping track of my students using Excel, and saving files on OneDrive. However, there was a time where I switched to Notion and started using it as an all-in-one platform.
That was a huge game changer because Notion allowed me to have complete control of my business without me having to move around different apps. I had a CRM, a billing system, a Grades and Attendance Tracker in a single app. After a couple of years of using it, I decided to leave it.
I went for something more practical and I decided to give an opportunity to the Google Business Suite or Workspace as they call it now and I don’t regret it.
I use Google Meet to give my classes, Google Docs to write my blog posts, and to help me create the tests on Google Forms. The Drive is similar to many others, but the Gemini integration in all the apps is great.
I can use everything online, and I don’t need to download apps on my computer, and the integration with my Android device is very important for what I do. Nowadays, I do not require a complex system like Notion and certainly don’t like using Windows, hence I don’t use the Microsoft Suite.
Google Workspace allows me to do everything I need for now. I use Google Slides, Meet, Docs, Sheets, Drive, Calendar, and all the apps it offers. To be honest, it’s very similar to Microsoft, but as I mentioned, I simply don’t like Windows. I have had several problems with the system, and I don’t even need a high-performance PC nor a laptop to give classes.
WhatsApp Business
The communication with your clients or customers is really important, and there is no better way to have a special channel just for that. I have always liked to have a separate number for my work and one for my personal life so they don’t mix and keep track of my work messages.
WhatsApp Business offers some really useful features, especially the “Categories” or “Lists”. This allows me to separate my actual students’ chats from the “Follow-ups” or “Ex-Students” and I know who is texting me.
I can have a link to my Instagram and webpage, which makes things easier for my leads to look for some more information. I do not send my students to other platforms like Telegram or Instagram chat because the majority use WhatsApp to communicate, even the ones in the U.S.
I saw one teacher moving his students to Discord. It is not bad to have your own community there, but if my students already use WhatsApp as their main way of communication, why should I change it? Again, that’s my way of seeing things. Probably, you think differently, and that is perfectly fine.
AI and Human Intelligence
I mentioned I used all the Google Apps, right? Well, I use the Gemini Gems to help me create tests, activities, and even personalize the classes to each student. Don’t tell me that AI is bad; if you know how to use it, it really is a game changer.
I used to create the tests manually, meaning that I had to invest a couple of hours just to create a test. Why? Well, doing research, setting up the questions of Google Forms or Microsoft Forms. Each test was unique and evaluated different things; well, they still are, but now I only need 30 minutes tops to set up a test.
I set up a Gem that allows me to create personalized tests for each of my students, and it acts like Jarvis from Tony Stark; it creates everything and makes things simpler. Now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t check them; of course, I do. I am in charge of Quality Control and making sure the test is well done and that the questions are according to the topic to be evaluated.
Besides that, I have my own syllabus for Spanish and English, so the Gem recommends me topics to cover with a student every week. Of course, I am the teacher and the one who knows how the student is doing, and I decide if to follow Gemini’s suggestions or not.
To be clear, I don’t blindly follow all that the AI says; I check it first and see if it makes sense, and I always end up doing some personal adjustments because what the AI gives me is a guide, not a fixed path. I am the teacher; I have control.
Invoice Maker
This is an Android app that I have used recently. I used to create the invoices on Notion when I had the billing system, then switched to Google and I found a way to generate PDFs from a Google Docs template and every month it sent automatically an email with the invoice to the students, cool right? Yes, but it was not practical.
I had to use Google App Script to generate a code that would read through a database on Sheets where I had my students and would generate the invoice and send it to the student, that seems cool, but I started having some issues when students decided to change the billing date or wanted to stop for a month and then continue two months after on a different date, it was a mess.
One day I was searching for a solution to that and found Invoice Maker on the Google Play Store, downloaded the app, set up my business and I have been using it ever since. It doesn’t have the automations that I had with App Scripts, but it’s more than enough.
I can create, duplicate and delete invoices, add my clients’ database and the list of items (services I provide), I can send up to 10 free emails per month and it syncs with Google Drive, but doesn’t save all the PDFs on my drive so I don’t end up with a lot of PDFs that may require a lot of space in the future.
The app does what it’s supposed to do, really simple way to create and send invoices and keep track of my business finances without going through code.
Final Words
As you can see, I don’t use many apps and probably you may have a system like Odoo, Connecteam, or something built within Notion to run your business. That’s completely fine, because each of us is different and to be honest I am starting to like more Pages from Apple than Google Docs, just for the aesthetic, looks so clean and it’s free.
Anyways, what I am trying to say is that the apps or systems I use are meant to help me organize myself better. Sure, I have backups on other platforms, but the ones I use for my daily drive are really simple and straightforward. I do not need to complicate myself and my students with fancy chatrooms or crazy presentations; I need it to work and make my workflow more efficient and personal.
What apps do you use? Why did you decide to use them? What do you like the most about them?
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