Top Free Productivity Tools For Teachers

Teachers have a complex job! Beyond delivering lessons in class, teachers spend a lot of time in the background preparing lesson plans, grading assignments, doing administrative tasks, and keeping up-to-date with new developments. The job is not easy, and teachers need all the help they can get to save time and complete their tasks efficiently.

Thankfully, there are now several tools to help teachers save time, automate their tasks, and improve the quality of their teaching. In this article, we will discuss some of the top free productivity tools for teachers in 2023.

Google Workspace For Educational Fundamentals

The free tier of Google for Education (formerly known as G Suite for Education) is a suite of productivity tools designed for teachers and students. It includes the most-used Google applications including Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Google Docs is frequently used to create and share lesson plans and other teaching materials with students. Google Sheets can be used to track student data such as attendance and grades. Lastly, Google Slides is frequently used to share teaching material while Forms can be used to create assessments.

As a cloud-based tool, Google for Education allows for easy online collaboration. Beyond the productivity tools described above, the suite also includes valuable communication tools including Google Meet, Gmail, and Chat. This allows teachers to share documents and collaborate with students in real-time. Lastly, Google for Education is available on most devices, make it easy to access for students.

Trello

Trello is a well-known project management tool that can be used to organize and prioritize tasks. The best thing about Trello is that it is very easy to use, even for those with limited technology skills. The idea of organizing topics into boards and individual tasks into cards is very intuitive, and this makes Trello a no-brainer to use. Teachers frequently use Trello to create boards for different classes, projects, or assignments and then add cards to each board to represent specific tasks. Cards can be assigned to different team members, given due dates, and organized into lists based on their priority.

Trello is a great tool because it allows teachers to stay organized. As we wrote earlier, teaching is a very complex job and it is hard to stay on top of things. By using Trello, teachers can keep everything organized in a single place. Teachers frequently use Trello to track their progress on lesson plans, assignments, and other tasks. Thanks to Trello’s visual interface, it is easy to see what needs to get done.

Canva

Canva is a graphic design tool that can be used to create visual materials, such as posters, infographics, and presentations. Teachers often use Canva to make visually appealing lesson materials that are both modern and engaging. They also use the tool to create custom graphics for their classrooms and school events.

Canva is a game-changing tool that allows anyone to create professional-looking designs without graphic design skills or dedicated software. Unlike more expensive alternatives, many Canva tools are available for free or very low cost. Lastly, Canva includes an extensive library of templates and design elements that makes it easy to create high-quality graphics quickly.  

Evernote

Evernote is a note-taking and organization tool that allows users to create notes, organize them into notebooks, and sync them across devices. One of the most useful features of Evernote for teachers is the ability to create notebooks for each class or subject, allowing them to keep all their notes and resources in one place. Teachers can add notes, images, and files to these notebooks, making it easy to access and organize lesson plans, handouts, and other teaching materials.

Unlike Trello’s focus on to-do lists, Evernote is designed to record and share more complex thoughts. This makes Evernote a valuable productivity tool for teachers, allowing them to stay organized, access their notes and resources from anywhere, and collaborate with others.  Its note-taking and organization features make it a valuable tool for creating and managing lesson plans and teaching materials, while its powerful search and collaboration functionality can help teachers save time.

Docfly

Finally, we could not complete this blog post without talking about DocFly! DocFly provides an enhanced free tier for teachers and students, providing them with 10 free downloads a month (versus 3 free downloads for all other users). Teachers often use DocFly as it simplifies the process of editing and sharing PDF files, which are very commonly used in schools. Thanks to the tool’s many features, teachers can also create professional-looking PDFs such as fillable assignments as part of their teaching materials.

Historically, working with PDF files required paid desktop software. Thanks to newer cloud-based tools such as DocFly, most PDF editing can now be done quickly in the browser without the need to install software. Unsurprisingly, many teachers and students frequently use DocFly for all their PDF editing and sharing needs.