Professional Learning

When I first wrote this post in March 2020, schools were scrambling. We all were, right?

Teachers needed ways to reach students. Districts needed platforms they could turn on yesterday. Companies responded with temporary free access, extended trials, emergency licenses, and a dizzying assortment of “remote learning” resources. That was then.

Six years later, the conversation has changed. Digital learning isn’t something we turn on when students can’t get to school. It’s woven into everyday teaching and learning. A student reviews a recorded explanation. A teacher checks understanding during a lesson. A class collaborates on a digital whiteboard. Students create videos, graphics, books, and presentations. Families receive translated messages. A teacher grabs a printable worksheet for tomorrow morning without creating another account.

The better question today isn’t:

What technology can I use?

It’s:

What tool will help students learn this better?

It’s an important distinction to make.

From Remote Learning to Digital Learning

The original version of this list was built for an emergency. This one isn’t. In 2026, useful digital learning tools should help teachers:

• Give students one dependable place to find their work
• Make learning more interactive
• Check for understanding and provide feedback
• Support creation rather than passive consumption
• Work across Chromebooks, tablets, laptops, and phones
• Offer accessible and multilingual options
• Communicate clearly with families
• Protect student information
• Provide useful offline or printable alternatives
• Use AI in ways educators can review, manage, and explain

That’s a better starting point than collecting fifty apps. Let’s look at what belongs in a practical digital learning toolbox today.

1. Start with a Learning Hub

Before adding another app, give students one dependable place to begin. A learning management system or classroom hub should answer three questions:

1. What am I learning?
2. What am I supposed to do?
3. Where do I turn it in?

Popular options include:

• Google Classroom – A straightforward choice for schools using Google Workspace for Education.
• Canvas – A full-featured learning management system used in K-12 and higher education.
• Schoology Learning – An option for districts using the PowerSchool ecosystem.
• Microsoft Teams for Education – Brings assignments, files, conversations, meetings, and collaboration together.

The exact platform matters less than consistency. If students have to search email, three websites, five apps, and yesterday’s chat message to figure out what they are supposed to do, technology hasn’t simplified learning. It has complicated it.

2. Use Live and Recorded Teaching When They Help

Video conferencing isn’t the centerpiece of digital learning anymore, but it remains useful. Live instruction works well for:

• Discussion
• Conferencing
• Demonstrations
• Tutoring
• Office hours
• Collaborative work

Recorded explanations have another advantage: students can pause, rewind, replay, and revisit them. Current options include:

• Google Meet
• Microsoft Teams for Education
• Zoom Workplace for Education
• Screencastify
• Loom

One update worth noting: Zoom’s older education licensing reached end-of-life in 2026. Schools using Zoom should look at its current Zoom Workplace for Education offerings rather than older pandemic-era EDU plans.

And remember: recording a forty-five-minute lecture doesn’t automatically make it digital learning. A focused five-minute explanation students can replay may be much more useful.

3. Make Students Do Something with the Learning

Watching a screen is not the same as learning. Students need opportunities to retrieve information, answer questions, explain their thinking, make predictions, compare ideas, revise responses, and receive feedback.

Several familiar tools continue to support that work:

• Nearpod – Interactive lessons, activities, and checks for understanding.
• Pear Deck – Interactive lessons with real-time student responses and feedback.
• Edpuzzle – Adds questions and interaction to instructional video.
• Wayground – The platform formerly known as Quizizz, supporting assessment, practice, lessons, and interactive activities.
• Kahoot! – Useful for retrieval practice, review, and quick formative checks.
• Formative – Designed around real-time assessment and evidence of student thinking.

Don’t use all six. Pick the one or two that fit the learning goal and that students already know how to use.

The goal isn’t novelty. The goal is evidence of learning.

4. Give Students Something to Create

Digital learning gets more interesting when students stop consuming and start creating.

Students might explain a process, build a visual, annotate an image, tell a story, organize evidence, record an explanation, or collaborate on an idea.

Tools worth considering include:

• Book Creator – Multimedia books, comics, portfolios, reports, and explanations.
• Canva Education – Presentations, graphics, video, whiteboards, classroom activities, and increasingly a broader collection of teaching and AI-supported learning tools.
• Adobe Express for Education – Graphics, presentations, webpages, video, and multimedia projects.
• Padlet – Collaborative boards, timelines, maps, discussions, collections, and sharing.
• Wakelet – Resource curation, collections, portfolios, and student work.

5. Sometimes You Need a Resource, Not Another App

One problem with digital learning lists is that everything starts to look like a platform. Sometimes a teacher doesn’t need another dashboard, login, AI assistant, or subscription. Sometimes you just need a good resource.

Consider these:

• Khan Academy – Lessons, practice, and instructional support across multiple subjects.
• CK-12 – Digital textbooks, simulations, practice, and customizable learning materials.
• PBS LearningMedia – Videos, interactives, lesson resources, and primary-source materials.
• Common Sense Education – Digital citizenship, media literacy, AI literacy, professional learning, and classroom technology resources.
• GetWorksheets.com – A free K-12 worksheet library organized by topic, making it easy for teachers and parents to find classroom-ready materials without subscriptions, accounts, or paywalls.

That last category deserves more attention.

Don’t Underestimate a Good Printable

A worksheet doesn’t stop being useful because it isn’t an app. A printable may be exactly what you need for:

• Independent practice
• A substitute teacher packet
• A learning station
• Small-group instruction
• Homework
• Intervention
• Review
• An unplugged activity
• Students with limited connectivity
• A quick formative check

GetWorksheets.com organizes resources across areas such as math, science, reading, writing, grammar, geography, social studies, vocabulary, preschool, and special education. That’s useful because sometimes the best digital workflow is:

Find it online → print it → teach.

Not every learning experience needs another password.

6. Keep Families in the Loop

One lesson from 2020 still matters:

Don’t make families monitor six different communication channels.

Choose a dependable system and use it consistently.

Options include:

• TalkingPoints – Multilingual school-family communication.
• Remind – Messaging for classrooms, schools, students, and families.
• ClassDojo – Classroom and family communication, especially common in elementary settings.
• Your district’s existing SMS, email, parent portal, or student information system.

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7. Access and Accessibility Still Matter

The digital divide didn’t disappear when schools reopened.

Good digital learning still needs to account for:

• Students sharing devices
• Unreliable home internet
• Mobile-only access
• Language differences
• Visual or hearing needs
• Reading level
• Assistive technology
• Downloadable materials
• Printable options
• Offline access

The federal Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) ended in 2024, so old school resource pages that still direct families to ACP enrollment need updating.

The federal Lifeline program remains one resource for eligible households.

Schools may also have local options such as:

• Hotspot lending programs
• Library connectivity programs
• Community Wi-Fi
• Downloadable assignments
• Printed learning packets
• Offline-capable applications

Low-bandwidth design is still accessibility design. So is offering another path when the technology doesn’t work.

8. AI Is No Longer a Separate Category

In 2020, an AI section would have seemed unusual. In 2026, AI features are showing up inside presentation tools, learning platforms, assessment systems, video tools, productivity suites, and creativity applications.

That’s exactly why “Does it have AI?” isn’t a very useful evaluation question anymore.

Ask instead:

• What student information does it collect?
• Is student content used to train AI models?
• What ages is the tool intended for?
• Can administrators manage AI features?
• Can teachers review and edit AI-generated material?
• Does it cite or reveal sources when appropriate?
• What happens when the AI produces inaccurate information?
• Does it improve student learning?
• Does it make student thinking more visible—or replace it?
• Is the AI feature solving an instructional problem?

That last question matters.

Faster isn’t automatically better.

And “AI-powered” isn’t an instructional strategy.

What Should Disappear From the Old List?

Updating a digital learning toolkit also means removing things.

Retire or replace:

• Flipgrid/Flip – Microsoft’s standalone Flip apps have been retired.
• Google Jamboard – Discontinued.
• Quizizz – The platform continues, but its current name is Wayground.
• Temporary COVID licenses and giveaways – Remove offers that expired years ago.
• National Emergency Library references – These belonged to a particular emergency period.
• Temporary internet-provider promotions – Replace them with current local or federal connectivity resources.
• Pandemic-specific school-closure guides – Keep useful practices, but lose the emergency framing.
• Duplicative apps – If three tools do essentially the same thing, you probably don’t need all three.

That’s digital housekeeping.

And it points to an important reality:

Products change. Links rot. Pricing changes. Companies merge. Features disappear.

Instructional practices last longer.

Build a Smaller Digital Learning Toolkit

If I were helping a teacher build a digital learning toolkit today, I wouldn’t start with fifty tools.

I’d start here:

Need	Start With
Learning hub	Google Classroom, Canvas, Schoology, or Teams
Live instruction	Google Meet, Teams, or Zoom
Recorded explanation	Screencastify, or Loom
Interactive lesson	Nearpod or Pear Deck
Interactive video	Edpuzzle
Formative assessment	Wayground, Kahoot!, or Formative
Student creation	Book Creator, Canva, or Adobe Express
Collaboration	Padlet, Wakelet
Printable practice	GetWorksheets.com
Family communication	TalkingPoints, Remind, ClassDojo, or your district system
Open learning content	Khan Academy, CK-12, or PBS LearningMedia
Digital and AI literacy	Common Sense Education

Then stop. Learn those tools well. Create predictable routines. Make sure students know where to go and what to do. And add something new only when you can answer this question:

What learning problem will this tool help me solve?

Keep the Learning First

In 2020, educators needed emergency technology. In 2026, we have almost the opposite problem:

Too many tools.

The best digital learning environment isn’t the one with the longest app list. It’s the one where students can find their work, understand what they are learning, interact with ideas and people, create something meaningful, get useful feedback, and show what they know.