This document provides recommendations for 12 digital tools and 1 low-tech tool for language education. It summarizes each tool, including how to set up and use passwords with LastPass, using Google apps like Drive and Docs for planning, collaboration, and feedback, using Padlet as an online message board, using link shorteners, using Evernote for note-taking, using Dropbox for file sharing and collaboration, using Weebly to create student websites, using VLC and Audacity for audio tools, using Twitter for finding resources, using Scoop.It for curating resources, and using Plickers for low-tech classroom polling. The document is intended as an introduction and guide to these tools for language educators.

1. Digital tools
Basic educa*on technology
for language educa*on

2. 12 tools plus 1
• getting started
• writing and feedback
• collaboration and sharing
• audio and video
• social media
• low-tech classes

3. Getting started
1. passwords
2. online office suite
3. message board
4. link shorteners

4. 1. Passwords
LastPass is a password manager that saves
your passwords online and lets you access
them from one master password (the *last
pass*word you’ll need from now on). It can
generate secure passwords, but I don’t risk
this (if you have connectivity problems you
can’t retrieve these from memory). Instead I
create my own passwords with a keyword
system and save them to LastPass.
I suggest this as my first tool for learning
because it’s the obvious first hurdle to using
almost any platform, tool, or application and I
find until students or trainees are confident
logging in and out of multiple sites, it’s
difficult to build up confidence or expertise.
An associated tool is Xmarks, which lets you
synchronise bookmarks across browsers and
devices, which I also find useful for moving
between machines, though if you share
computers it might not be so relevant.

5. 2. Google apps
Once you have your password manager set up, my next recommendation is Google Drive, where you have e-mail
(Gmail), online storage (Google Drive), online wordprocessing (Google Docs) and spreadsheets (Google Sheets),
as well as Calendar, Slides, and Forms (for online surveys, questionnaires, and tests). Also worth a look are Sites
for building your own websites or getting learners to do so, and Communities for working with groups.
I find these work well for planning my teaching, administration (attendance, grades), giving feedback on student
writing (Docs), or collecting links to sound files, for example (Forms). We have run telecollaborative projects on
G-Drive, using a private folder to save student-teacher video selfies, with sub-folders for class tandems to share
their learners’ productions and prepare collaborative papers and presentations.
If you have multiple Google accounts it’s worth associating one account with one browser (work gmail on Firefox,
home gmail on Chrome, for example) to avoid problems signing in and out. I have never found the offline
functionality anything close to effective, so only for use with good internet connectivity.

6. 3. Padlet
The next most useful tool for
language teachers is an online
message board like Padlet.
This platform allows you to create a
single page and add short texts, links,
audio files or PDFs like post-its.
Teachers can use it to prepare
resources to share during class or for
homework, and learners can post
assignments or collaborate in
brainstorming activities.
The platform offers a range of
options, including private and public
boards.

7. 4. Link shorteners
Once you begin sharing links to
resources with your learners, you
soon need a good way to
communicate addresses quickly and
easily.
Tools for making long urls shorter
can save a lot of trouble. Just copy
your long link to generate a much
shorter one which learners can copy
without mistakes.
• goo.gl
• bit.ly
• ow.ly
• is.gd
And if you find you need to copy a clean
link found via Google search without the
Google redirect, try duckduckgo.com

8. Writing and feedback
• Google docs
• Evernote

9. 5. Google docs
Google docs is useful for your own
writing, but also for use with
learners. They can edit their own
documents, prepare translations in
groups, or submit work for
evaluation and you can set access to
private (sign-in), public (no sign-in)
or an intermediate option with files
accessible only via link.
I find the Docs interface (there is also
one for Sheets, etc) less easily
navigable than Drive. Also be aware
that you need a computer for full
functionality – on smartphones and
tablets comments are not accessible,
for example.

10. 6. Evernote
Evernote is very useful for taking
notes offline and saving all sorts
of bits and pieces which you can
tag and sort into Notebooks or
leave unorganised to search. The
search function is great and it
works offline.
There’s an app for your phone
but the free version limits the
number of devices you can
connect to 2, and I use Evernote
on my laptop and home
computer.

11. Collaboration and sharing
• Dropbox
• Weebly

12. 7. Dropbox
After Google apps perhaps the single most
useful tool, Dropbox lets you save files
and synchronise across devices. I use it to
save teaching materials (slides, handouts)
but also for collaborative research writing
with colleagues in other countries.
Accessible offline, syncs in the
background, usable like a drive or folder
on your own computer.
One thing to be careful about: the default
drag and drop which copies a file from
one drive to another in other
circumstances moves the file on Dropbox.
So if you download a file from a shared
folder you delete that file for others.
Doesn’t work well on an external drive;
you must save your local version on your
local hard drive.

13. 8. Weebly
This free website platform lets
you make your own website with
images, media, and other links
very easily and intuitively.
It has the advantages over
Google sites of
a) letting you create classes with
your students’ names and e-
mails, and
b) making comments on pages
easy to see.

14. Audio and video
• VLC
• SoundCloud

15. 9. VLC
For language teachers, you need
the digital audio player VLC,
which plays any format you can
imagine.
Another useful digital audio
editor is Audacity. Most
language teachers use this tool to
create short audio clips for class,
and it is also good for editing
learner recordings.

16. 10. Soundcloud
This open platform is a good
place to share audio files, which
you or your learners can upload
and save privately, share to a
select audience, or open to the
world.
With adult learners you can
outsource the recording
(smartphones), uploading
(SoundCloud), and sharing
(Google Forms) so you can focus
on the feedback.

17. Social media
• Twitter
• scoop.it

18. 11. TwiOer
I use the microblogging site to
find and communicate useful
resources for teaching (educator
blogs, tools, pedagogical
resources) and research
(conference and journal calls for
papers, new publications).
Many teachers find Facebook a
more convenient alternative;
Twitter may suit those who
prefer to keep professional and
personal networks separate.

19. 12. scoop.it
I save online references to curated sites to
help me keep track of resources and tools.
The advantages include the possibility of
• tagging for future retrieval by me or others
• highlighting key information and posting
comments
• immediate sharing on networks.
My sites are here:
• Teacher Education in Languages with
Technology
• Learning technologies for EFL
• au service de l’innovation
pédagogique
I notice service for the free version of Scoop.it
has fallen off and it may not be worth starting
there now, though you can still find many
useful resources.

20. Low-tech classes
Finally, special mention for
technology you can use in class
without technology: with
Plickers, learners hold up paper
cards to answer pre-set or
spontaneous multiple choice
quizzes, and the teacher records
them via smartphone.

21. Shona Whyte
itilt2.eu
2017