ClassFlow

ClassFlow is a free lesson delivery platform. With ClassFlow, teachers can create content-rich lessons that feature a mixture of interactive whiteboard presentation and device-based quizzing, polling, and responses. They can then deliver these lessons via an interactive whiteboard or directly to whatever web-enabled devices students might be using. The platform works in a variety of scenarios: remote, blended, 1-to-1, flipped classroom, or in-person. 

The nuts and bolts of lesson creation are quite simple. Teachers create or pull in content from their own resources, from the site's Marketplace, or from web- or cloud-based resources, and then integrate these resources into a series of cards similar to PowerPoint slides. Lessons can be taught via an interactive whiteboard or by sharing them virtually to students' devices. Students join via a class code or URL to participate in real time. Learning activities include flash cards, sequencing, matching, crosswords, and word searches. There are also a variety of assessment options such as multiple-choice, true/false, short text, and creative responses. The site collects and stores this assessment data for teachers' use once the lesson has ended. 

ClassFlow's tools offer students ways to communicate and/or cement understanding and then transfer knowledge, but it's up to teachers to guide them there. Teachers will need to balance manageable chunks of info with engaging interactive activities. ClassFlow can support this, and can help teachers inform or adjust instruction on the fly, but it'll come down to individual teachers' creativity. However, the tools are there to, for instance, check understanding using a quick poll, then use the results to reteach a concept for the whole class and/or create and deliver differentiated follow-up lessons. This process of instruction, feedback, and adjustment can go a long way toward helping students understand what's being taught at the moment. Bear in mind, however, that this push toward a learning process focused on higher-order thinking isn't necessarily baked in or scaffolded for teachers. So while ClassFlow isn't necessarily reinventing instruction, it's usefully refining instructional flow and providing tools that can support positive pedagogical adjustments.

Be prepared for some initial frustration. For some instant features, such as the quick start polls and whiteboard, creating and delivering material isn't  intuitive. The video tutorials help, but teachers may find that they run into dead ends when getting started. Also, it'd be helpful if incorporating activities like polls and quick formative assessment-type questions into lesson cards was more seamless.