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The 13 Best Online Learning Tools

No one would deny that the pandemic robbed students and teachers alike of valuable learning opportunities. But the silver lining is bright. By forcing educators to reinvent their approaches, the worldwide crisis inspired the creation and refinement of the best online learning tools to date. We are excited for the next chapter of education. It promises to be an exciting one, combining new technology with more traditional methods.

However, in this embarrassment of riches, the number of options can be overwhelming. In order to help you navigate them, we’ve put together a list of the best online learning tools as well as some qualities all educational technology should possess.

What is an online learning tool?

The term “online learning tool” encompasses a wide range of applications. In addition to video conferencing platforms, it includes everything from learning management systems (LMS) — software that helps teachers design courses and track student performances — to tools with highly specialized functions.

But there are some things that great elearning tools have in common.

5 important features for any online learning tool

In reviewing the best online learning tools, we’ve discovered that they all have these five qualities. You want tools that are:

Flexible

The next generation of classes will combine modalities. Current technology allows educators to supplement traditional in-person schoolwork with online learning.

Some of these internet interactions will follow the pattern of in-person learning, bringing groups together at an appointed time. Others will allow students to consume course content at their own pace and on their own schedules.

You need tools that lend themselves to this multifaceted pedagogy. You will want to record lectures and classes, distribute materials, facilitate face-to-face conversation, and manage varied schedules.

The ability to foster different types of course interactions is also important. You may need to hold office hours, full-class discussions, or small-group sessions. In addition, students may want systems that allow them to communicate independently about assignments or even things not directly related to the course.

You want tools you can customize to meet the needs of your students, your class, and your education brand.

Intuitive

No matter how sophisticated and flexible the application, it isn’t very useful if students and instructors struggle to take advantage of its features. We believe that well-designed tools need to be created for the people who will use them.

The interface of the tool should be intuitive. It should allow students to move between functions and devices with ease. Teachers should be able to manage different groups and applications within the software.

Interactive

While there’s a place for live stream or recorded content, educators need to take advantage of the interactivity provided by software such as video conferencing platforms. They enable the dynamic communication at the heart of good pedagogy. Students don't just passively consume material. They are invited to engage with it, asking questions or raising their own points.

Collaborative

One of the hallmarks of the best online learning tools is that they integrate easily with other tools. You don’t want applications that are hostile to collaboration at any level.

Teachers and schools may wholly adopt a blend of software suited to their purposes. Or an instructor may discover that a certain lesson requires a more specialized tool. Elearning industry leaders should compete to provide the best experience, not the most circumscribed one.

Secure

Protect your students’ information and secure remote learning against disruption. Elearning vendors should be transparent about their security measures and data-privacy policies.

However, remember that strong security requires full buy-in from the whole team. Everyone needs to adopt best practices — such as the creation of strong passwords — in order to keep your students as safe as possible.

Best online learning tools

Now that you know the traits for which you should look, let’s discuss some of the options available to you. Regardless of your needs, we’re confident you can find a solution right for you.

1. Zoom

During the beginning of the pandemic, Zoom became a household word as an available video conferencing platform that allowed schools and businesses to get back to work as quickly as possible. It even became a group-calling and meeting tool that friends and families could use to connect while staying safe.

Zoom popularized many of the features common to other online learning tools such as breakout rooms, screen sharing, and recording capabilities. It also performs well across devices, allowing students to connect with mobile or desktop devices.

Strengths

Zoom integrates seamlessly with most LMS and a long list of other tools.
Unparalleled brand familiarity appeals to some students reluctant to learn a newer tool.
The company has expanded its range of education-focused capabilities with features such as a digital whiteboard and real-time polls.
Zoom can accommodate a large number of users.

Weaknesses

Its prevalence has led to security issues such as Zoom bombing, data leaks, and software corruption.
The movement between breakout rooms and full-class discussion is clunky.
Many students have suffered from “Zoom fatigue” due to wide use and the software’s inability to replicate social learning experiences.

Bottom line

A popular video conferencing platform that works well for formal meetings.

2. Nooks

Nooks is designed for more spontaneous conversation and collaboration within a virtual office. It provides teams with personal desks, dedicated coworking spaces, hangout rooms for informal conversation, and rooms for specific projects.

It’s easy to keep work apps and project management tools to hand or in certain “rooms” to enable information-sharing and simultaneous work.

Strengths

Its interface provides for social, casual interactions as well as scheduled meetings.
Fun backgrounds and customizable environments allow users to personalize their experiences.
A personal desk gives each user their own space to store notes, files, etc.

Weaknesses

Nooks is designed for the corporate rather than the academic world, and its features bear out this focus. While good for teamwork and group projects, it doesn’t lend itself to a more traditional class-like structure.

Bottom line

A wonderful tool for projects and group work that, nonetheless, shows its business focus.

3. Class

Class aims to make the Zoom experience more classroom friendly. It adds several of the best online learning tools, including applications to track focus, administrate coursework, and measure student participation. It substantially expands the number of things that instructors can accomplish through Zoom.

With Class, educators can manage courses, monitor multiple breakout rooms, grade assignments, and set up individual sessions. It also provides a “Teacher Podium” that puts the teacher at the front of the screen.

Strengths

Class expands Zoom’s educational potential for remote and hybrid learning.
It visually identifies teachers — both instructors of record and, when applicable, teaching assistants — and places them in the most prominent positions, making it easier for students to follow lessons.
Class’s learning experience is both more interactive and more flexible than Zoom provides on its own.

Weaknesses

By using Zoom’s API, Class adopts many of Zoom’s faults as well as its virtues.
Its lack of options designed for informal interaction denies students the opportunity for spontaneous interactions and more social learning.

Bottom line

A strong supplemental tool that makes Zoom more education-friendly.

4. Gather

Gather works in much the same way as Nooks, but Gather facilitates the creation of virtual schools as well as offices, conferences, and social events. Interactive spaces give participants the ability to move between groups, and informal gathering areas supplement online classrooms.

You can hold class in small seminar rooms or large auditoriums, or you can have office hours in a less formal, more collaborative space. In addition, Gather allows you to design common areas such as hallways and libraries, and students can host their own club meetings or study groups.

Gather’s retro videogame-like graphics and user avatars will likely charm some but alienate others.

Strengths

The variety of formats allows schools to build full-scale virtual campuses with different types of classrooms, study environments, and spaces designed to let students relax.
Students can use Gather in order to pursue social activities and extracurricular interests.
Participants can move their avatars freely within virtual spaces.
The inclusive array of avatars gives people the ability to choose one like them.

Weaknesses

Users report varied experiences and problems in trying to customize and save their environments.
It’s more difficult to engage and monitor multiple small groups at once than it is in many of its competitors’ platforms.

Bottom line

A highly stylized virtual campus that could be more user-friendly.

5. Google Meet

Google Meet is Google’s Zoom-like offering. It provides the same type of video conferencing experience, complete with screen sharing, polls, and breakout rooms.

While free, limited accounts are available, more advanced features require a Google Workspace subscription. In addition to Google Meet, Workspace for Education gives you access to a suite of tools including:

Gmail
Drive
Classroom
Assignments
Calendar
Chat
Jamboard
Docs
Sheets
Slides
Keep
Tasks
Forms

All of these applications integrate with Meet in order to allow real-time collaboration and communication.

Strengths

Google devotees will love Meet’s easy integration with other Google tools.
Google Classroom comes with course management and grading tools to help teachers.
Meet’s security measures outperform those of Zoom.

Weaknesses

Maximum class size is smaller than it is on Zoom.
It can be harder to connect non Google accounts for file-sharing purposes.
While Google Chat provides users with a more spontaneous communication option, the Google Workspace lacks the kind of campus-like, social tools of some of its competitors.

Bottom line

Google’s answer to Zoom, designed to be used with Classroom and other Google tools.

6. Teams

Microsoft joins Google and Zoom to provide its own digital hub, joining the list of the best online learning tools. Microsoft Teams aims to help teachers with both administrative and classroom tasks.

Teams has video conferencing and chat capabilities and is designed to be used with other Microsoft applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It allows teachers to create classrooms and assignments and to collaborate with other staff members.

Microsoft provides a large number of education-focused applications, some of which are free with Teams. For example, Immersive Reader provides translations on demand as well as tools designed to aid reading comprehension in all students, including those with learning differences such as dyslexia.

Strengths

Microsoft provides more, better applications directed towards K-12 learners.
It appeals to those who already use Microsoft 365 software in coursework.
Teams has proven to be more secure than Zoom.

Weaknesses

It requires full-scale Microsoft adoption.
Flexibility and customization are both limited.
Teams can be prone to technical difficulties and connectivity issues.

Bottom line

A Microsoft option with an impressive array of applications targeting K-12 learners.

7. Engageli

Engageli is built around the study group experience. The company’s goal is to enable group interaction and peer-to-peer teaching without disrupting the broader classroom.

Students separate into various “study tables” of anywhere between two and ten. This small-group approach allows for a scalable virtual learning environment, specifically designed for higher-education courses, which often feature high enrollment numbers.

Instructors can choose between moderated and unmoderated discussion modes. They can also broadcast synchronized video clips to the whole class and incorporate features such as polls and quizzes into their lesson plan.

Strengths

Study tables allow seamless movement between full-class and small-group communication without the need for breakout rooms.
Recording and interactive play-back features allow asynchronous study for students who miss class or require additional reinforcement.
Scalable design allows schools to open up enrollment numbers without adding additional class times.‌

Weaknesses

Engagement analytics may not appeal to participants wary of surveillance, and claims of optimizing diversity in breakout rooms raise questions about the metrics involved.
Static study tables isolate students within set groups.
As a newer platform, Engageli may lack the brand familiarity and extensive integrations of older tools.

Bottom line

A scalable platform designed for seamless movement between full-class and small-group interactions.

8. Canvas

Canvas is an LMS designed for use within K-12, higher education, and business courses. It has hundreds of integrations as well as native applications to help educators design and manage every element of their classes.

Canvas is mobile-responsive and links up with the major providers of video conferencing software and the most popular education productivity tools. In addition to communication and collaboration, it can help instructors with rubrics, analytics, and a speed grading app.

Strengths

The LMS comes with a dizzying number of native applications for both students and teachers.
It integrates with the best online learning tools including plagiarism checkers and video conferencing software such as Zoom and InSpace.
Canvas boasts strong connectivity and customer support.

Weaknesses

Canvas has its fair share of glitches, including issues in audio recording and assignment due dates.
The grading tool makes a good beginning but requires more work to help teachers across the board.

Bottom line

A strong LMS equally suited K-12 and higher education.

9. Blackboard

One of Canvas’s main competitors, Blackboard is an LMS that prides itself on its reliability and the freedom it affords educators as they design courses in any format they choose. Students benefit from the notifications the LMS provides, reminding them when they have work due.

Blackboard also has a strong suite of assessment and communication tools that — like those of Canvas — can be used on mobile devices as well as desktops.

Strengths

Students can submit assignments with ease, and both instructors and students can collect student work in one central place.
Blackboard comes preloaded with anti-plagiarism as well as accessibility tools.
It’s easy to import content into the LMS.

Weaknesses

Blackboard doesn’t export content well, forcing instructors to transfer student data such as final grades manually.
Many users knock the LMS for poor design — both in terms of aesthetics and ease of use.

Bottom line

One of the most popular LMS on the market, Blackboard has both fans and detractors.

10. Miro

Miro replaces one of the staples of traditional classrooms and offices: the whiteboard. As an online whiteboard that integrates with video conferencing platforms such as InSpace, Miro gives teachers a space to illustrate concepts. Students gain a place to brainstorm and plan.

Strengths

Miro comes with more than 120 templates to facilitate group work. Users can choose between a variety of structures, including mind maps, Kanban boards, and roadmaps.
The app combines polished aesthetics with easy-to-use functionality.

Weaknesses

The controls frustrate some users.
There are no limitations that prevent some team members from dominating the discussion.

Bottom line

The app to use if a high-quality virtual whiteboard is a priority.

11. Panopto

Panopto can help you improve your video content. Universities swear by its quality recording, searchable content libraries, and accessibility features.

Primarily designed to capture lectures and demonstrations, Panopto increases course flexibility, allowing students to engage videos when they can. By making content available outside class, it also opens up possibilities for flipped classrooms, learner-centered classes in which class time is reserved for interactive discussion and problem-solving.

Strengths

Faculty appreciate straightforward and simple setup for both recording and content management.
Content is automatically uploaded to its designated course.
It integrates well with most LMS.

Weaknesses

Some reviewers want more from its video editor.
The inability to simultaneously record and video call frustrates some instructors.

Bottom line

A good option for those looking to supplement video conferencing software with more robust recording capabilities and storage capacity.

12. Slido

Whether their lectures are live, remote, or hybrid, Slido enables lecturers to engage their students with live polls and surveys. They can also gauge class comprehension with quiz questions that show what percentage of listeners have mastered key concepts.

The tool also allows students to post questions either anonymously or not. Instructors can then track the number of students who have similar concerns through the number of upvotes any question receives.

Strengths

Designed to work with most presentation applications, Slido allows presenters to toggle between their presentation and immediate feedback.
Instructors can track the progress of the class as a whole, and students can ask for clarifications without the fear of embarrassment.
It allows a greater percentage of audiences to participate in lectures.

Weaknesses

Anonymity is double-edged and also allows people to troll or waste time.
It can be difficult to track related questions, leading to redundancy.

Bottom line

A specialized but effective tool that allows lecturers to better engage their audiences.

13. InSpace

Created by professors and educational technology pioneers, InSpace seeks to humanize the online learning space with a “socially sensitive” video conferencing platform. It draws on the freedom of movement, organic forms of engagement, and visual cues that characterize in-person learning.

In addition to full-class discussions, chat threads, and presentations, participants can open up and move between breakout rooms as needed. However, teachers still can control spaces with public, private, and guest-list-only options. They can also personalize spaces with their own background images.

One of InSpace’s most innovative features is the availability of proximity-based audio, which mimics real-life conversations by changing the relative volume of participants. Participants can move their icons closer to or farther from groups in order to hear and be heard by people closest to them in informal “hallway” spaces. When viewing a presentation, they can sit next to friends, creating small groups in which they can talk during breaks.

Strengths

Flexible movement and proximity-based audio provide the opportunity for organic social learning.
Teachers can assign breakout rooms randomly, enabling people to benefit from different perspectives.
Full suites of accessibility and security features create a safe and inclusive learning environment.
A custom API keeps InSpace safe from Zoom’s security concerns.
Machine learning keeps an eye out for potentially harmful or toxic messages.

Weaknesses

InSpace is a newer platform. As such, participants often don’t have preexisting familiarity as they might with older tools.

Bottom line

An education-focused platform for the next generation of remote and hybrid learners.

The right online learning tools for you

In order to find the perfect suite of tools, you’ll need to take stock of your needs, which will differ between educators. Ultimately, the best online learning tools will provide your staff with a flexible space that promotes interactivity and collaboration through intuitive and secure features,

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