Google Classroom is one of the most well-known LMS. However, the system is known to be a bit hard to use, especially when many teachers are not techies and not every teacher needs all of its features.
There are a lot of alternatives on the market, many of which are much more simple to use and offer more interactive classroom activities for your students. The Google Alternatives tool is also great for teaching soft skills to students, organize debate games etc…
Here are the best Google Classroom alternatives to support your teaching.
- 1. Canvas
- 2. Edmodo
- 3. Moodle
- 4. Microsoft Teams
- 5. Classcraft
- 6. Excalidraw
1. Canvas
Canvas is one of the best all-in-one learning management systems in the edtech industry. It helps connect teachers and students online with video-based learning, collaboration tools and interactive activities to make lessons more engaging. Teachers can use this tool for designing modules and courses, adding quizzes, speed grading and live chatting with students remotely.
You can easily create discussions and documents, organise courses faster compared to other edtech apps and share content with others. This means that you can conveniently share courses and files with your colleagues, students, or other departments in your institutions.
Another impressive feature of Canvas is modules, which help teachers divide course content into smaller units. Students can’t see or access other units if they haven’t finished previous ones.
Its high price does match the quality and features that Canvas offer, but you can still use the free plan if you don’t want to splurge on this LMS. Its free plan still allows users to create full courses but limits in-class options and features.
The best thing Canvas does better than Google Classroom is that it integrates a lot of external tools to support the teachers and it’s more simple and stable to use. Also, Canvas automatically notifies students about the deadlines, while on Google Classroom, students need to update the notifications themselves.
2. Edmodo
Edmodo is another worldwide leader in the edtech field, which is loved by hundreds of thousands of teachers. Teachers and students can gain a lot from this learning management system. Save heaps of time by putting all content on this app, easily create communication via video meetings and chats with your students and quickly assess and grade students’ performance.
You can let Edmodo do some or all of the grading for you. With this app, you can collect, grade, and return students’ assignments online and connect to their parents. Its planner feature helps all teachers to manage assignments and deadlines effectively. Edmodo also offers a free plan, which allows teachers to monitor classes with the most basic tools.
This LMS system has built a great network and online community to connect teachers, educators, students and parents, which hardly any LMS, including the famous Google Classroom, have done so far.
3. Moodle LMS
Moodle is one of the world’s most popular learning management systems, but it’s more than just that. It has everything you need on the table to create a collaborative and well-rounded learning experience, from making learning plans and tailoring courses to grading students’ work.
This LMS really makes a difference when allowing its users to fully customise the courses, not only the structure and content but also the look and feel of it. It offers a huge range of resources to engage students, whether you use a fully remote or blended learning approach.
One major advantage of Moodle is its advanced LMS features and Google Classroom still has a long way to go if it wants to catch up. Such things include rewards, peer review or self-reflection are old hats to many teachers when delivering offline lessons, but not many LMSs can bring them online, all in one place like Moodle.
4. Microsoft Teams for Education
Belonging to the Microsoft system, MS Teams is a communication hub, a collaborative workspace with video chats, document sharing, etc., to boost the productivity and management of a class or school and make the online transition much smoother.
MS Teams has been trusted and used by many educational institutions around the world. With Teams, teachers can host meetings with students for online lessons, upload and store materials, assign & turn in homework, and set reminders for all classes.
It also has some essential tools, including live chat, screen sharing, breakout rooms for group discussions, and apps integration, both internal and external. It’s very convenient as you can find and use many useful apps to support your teaching without relying on just MS Teams.
Many schools and universities buy the plans with access to many apps in the Microsoft system, which provides staff and students with emails to sign in on all platforms. Even if you want to buy a plan, MS Teams offers reasonably priced options.
5. Classcraft
Have you ever thought of letting students play video games while they’re studying? Create a learning experience with gaming principles by using Classcraft. It can replace the features that are used to monitor classes and courses on LMS. You can motivate your students to study harder and manage their behaviour with this gamified platform.
Classcraft can go with daily classroom activities, encourage teamwork and collaboration in your class and also give students instant feedback on their attendance, assignments completion and behaviour. Teachers can let students play games to study, award points to encourage them and check their progress throughout the course.
You can design and customise the experience for each of your classes by choosing games based on your students’ needs and preferences. The program also helps you teach concepts through gamified storylines and upload assignments from your computers or Google Drive.
6. Excalidraw
Excalidraw is a tool for a free collaborative whiteboard that you can use with your students during lessons with no sign-up. The whole class can illustrate their ideas, stories or thoughts, visualise concepts, sketch diagrams and play fun games like Pictionary.
The tool is very simple and minimalistic and everybody can use it right away. Its lightning-fast exporting tool can help you save your students’ works of art much faster.
Excalidraw is totally free and comes with a bunch of cool, collaborative tools. All you have to do is send your students the join code and start working together on the big white canvas!
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