18 Remote Learning Resources For All Ages

person learning online

Introduction

2020 saw the way we educate, communicate and socialize change overnight. The everyday things we once took for granted were gone, forcing us to adapt and readjust to new technologies. With schools being forced to close, and homeschooling becoming a more popular option for families, it's important to have reliable online resources to continue educating ourselves and our children. Around the globe, people have been adopting technology in a way we never have before, with video-conferencing applications and subscriptions being some of the most popular purchases and downloads of last year. In this article, we are going to run down 18 of our favorite remote learning sites and apps, hopefully giving you the tools you need to stay on top of you or your child's educational journey. Let's begin.

Resource List

No doubt you have probably heard of Zoom by now. Over the last year, this video-conferencing site has become the 'de facto' way for people to communicate, with friends and family, schools and tutors. There are plenty of online courses, tutorship programs, and school structures set up to continue teaching and educating students. See what additional courses your local educational center has to offer.

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The Khan Academy is a free online resource for students, teachers, and parents alike. The site offers lessons in math, science, and humanities beginning from kindergarten level, right through to early college level. Students can take advantage of the hundreds of exercises, quizzes, and instructional videos to further their education in an array of different subjects.

That's right, Spotify. As well as being the world's leading music streaming service, Spotify has a tonne of different learning tools, including audiobooks, audio documentaries, as well as educational music. With lots of beneficial content being uploaded to the site every day, explore the application and find what works best for you.

You may know Netflix as the ultimate video platform for binging some of your favorite comedies and dramas, but it's way more than that. The site hosts a wide array of documentaries, educational programs, and thought pieces, many of which deal with hard-hitting issues and modern debate topics. Next time you're thinking of binging that new series, take a look at the documentary category and see what you can learn.

With over 400,000 students and 95,000 teachers utilizing their educational products, twig has spent the past decade revolutionizing classrooms worldwide.  Their team of filmmakers, writers, and editors collaborate with experts and practicing teachers to create engaging resources that are guaranteed to captivate students' imaginations. They offer full lesson materials, teacher training, videos, illustrations, and much more in over twenty languages. Twig will help educators bring their classroom truly into the 21st century.

The prodigious institute has been producing fantastic video lessons on a wide variety of subjects, including over 100 math and science lessons, all freely available to teachers as streaming video and Internet downloads. Students can learn about how modern technology like GPS functions, what sea-level changes could mean as well as the science behind delicious kimchi. A true treasure trove and fun content.

Often, our own bodies can be a mystery to us; now matter how old we are! The Human Body, by Tinybop, is a brilliant tool that breaks the parts of the body into useful and easy to navigate guides, and shows how things like digestion and respiration work. A useful resource for those biology lessons.

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Inspired by the likes of Temple Run and Nintendo’s Mario, this highly addictive treat is the best way to trick children into learning their sums! A math game that's actually fun, Number Run features 52 levels covering addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as our brave hero chases down the dastardly Baron von Count, who has stolen the 4 Mathemagical crystals. Good for the brain and reflexes.

This branch of Ted Talks offers a range of short, snappy, and as ever, informative presentations on many unusual and intriguing topics. Better for teenage learners, and interesting for all, within a few short minutes, you could learn why bats don't get sick, the history of the world's most stolen painting, and even the mysteries of dandruff.

Another learning resource for modern students, BrainPOP offers educator-focused content, including learning games, animated movies, and traditional courses in a mix of languages. Mobile accessible and available worldwide, BrainPOP has over 20 years of experience engaging pupils with their creative and curiosity-based learning. Their constantly evolving and future-focused resources are well worth exploring.

After being missing in action for thirty years, the globe-trotting super thief Carmen Sandiego is back to teach kids about the world. Google Earth and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt released three new Carmen Sandiego games in 2020 -- The Crown Jewels Caper, The Tutankhamun's Mask Caper, and The Keys to the Kremlin, giving kids a fun and exhilarating way to learn geography and strengthen their clue gathering abilities. Netflix has also produced a well-received and slickly animated show as well.

It's never too early to get children into coding, and thanks to the team at Code Monkey, there's a game-based environment where kids can learn to code without any prior experience. There are resources for both parents and teachers and ready-made courses and apps to use at home.

Know someone who is struggling with spelling? If so, look no further than this subscription-based app. Easy to use - and most importantly - entertaining! Spelling Stage allows users to select their level as well as customize their own character in order to make learning truly immersive. The words are updated regularly to keep things fresh.

While maths and the sciences are crucial to a child's development, let's not forget about the beauty of creative writing! Night Zookeeper is an online writing tool, class blog, and has a library of interactive lessons - the perfect package for home learning. Based around a series of enchanting story books, Night Zookeeper is aimed at children aged 6-12 to develop their writing, reading, and creative thinking skills. Over a million users have already been put under its spell.

The audiobook industry has grown beyond recognition over the past decade. At Audible, over 1 billion hours of audio are enjoyed by customers the world over each year, the latest best sellers and hit podcasts are available within just a few clicks. There’s tonnes of great educational content available too as well as some children’s and YA classics to enjoy.

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For thirty years, Sid Meier's Civilization games have been a must-own for any history lover. Educational and fun, these turn-based titles are centered on building a civilization on a macro-scale. From prehistory to the modern day, you can build cities, focus on what technologies your communities should be investigating, and even diplomatically negotiate with other players.

Coding for kids has become THE big trend in recent years, and perhaps no one does it better than codeSpark. Learning to code is essentially teaching you're teaching kids another language, and codeSpark makes doing so fun with its cute characters, The Foos, games, and word free interface. It's even subsidized for schools. With us now living in a digital age, coding is an incredibly valuable life skill for youngsters to possess.

Learning how to play an instrument, or simply surrounding a child with the world of music can greatly help their learning capacity and creativity. Mazaam is a musical game app that supports and encourages the cognitive development of children from 4 to 6 years old. It’s time to make some noise!

Casey Wise

About the author

Casey Wise

Casey Wise is a British journalist, creative copywriter, and music creator with a deep passion for language, travel, and technology. Based in Barcelona, his work extends from local start-ups and newspapers to university radio and the British NHS.