1.5 Small interactive tools with big impact
Tools that make it possible to add interactive items to web pages, such as word clouds, quizzes and drag-and-drop exercises are all freely available on the internet. If you have an idea for an online activity that you would like to try, the chances are that there will be a tool somewhere to help you to achieve it.
Lists and comparisons of different tools are available if you search using terms such as ‘online interactive tools’. For example, this is a list [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] produced by a research-based educational organisation in 2021.
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Some of these tools use browser plug-ins that add the ability to use technologies such as Java to generate content for you. If this is the case, you and your students will need up-to-date Java installations for these websites to work properly.
It is worth checking whether the interactive components work well on different kinds of browsers or platforms. For example, do they work on Google Chrome, Safari and Opera, and on a tablet or smartphone?