One of my favourite websites and apps for sharing information with my students, particularly those with poor concentration or issues with working memory, is join.me. Available both as a free and ‘pro’ edition, join.me allows screen sharing between PCs, tablets and mobile phones. I have used it in class – sharing the information from my computer screen and projector onto personal iPads directly in front of key children to reduce memory fatigue and problems copying from the board – but it could also be used for long-distance teaching as you can turn on the audio feature and narrate the screen sharing and ask questions. There is also a chat box feature which can be used to facilitate discussion between students, either during inputs or again as part of a long-distance ‘classroom’.
Tech and teaching should be forward-facing and it’s possible that virtual learning environments, web platforms, and virtual teaching will become commonplace in the future – this is one app I can see working well in this scenario, although it has a place in education (and workplaces!) today.
Best for: supporting students to access tasks and information
Age range: KS2+
Teacher Recommended 