A Guide to Tools and Technologies During Coronavirus 2020

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A Guide to Tools and Technologies During Coronavirus 2020

With the outbreak of the Coronavirus, tech companies have rushed to create various options for those transitioning to online classes or working from home. Whether you’re a student or in the workforce, you’ve almost certainly experienced a shift in your regular environment.

The following apps, tools, and websites are all technologies during Coronavirus that can support your productivity and workflow. We’ve divided them into categories so that you can sort and download as needed.

Video Conferencing Platforms

  • Zoom When it comes to technologies during Coronavirus, Zoom has rapidly become a household name. In the face of the pandemic, schools, colleges, and companies have all turned to this video conferencing app for meetings and class sessions. Because most operations have switched to remote work, Zoom has announced that students or teachers who fill out a form using their school email addresses can have any accounts associated with their school’s domain gain unlimited temporary meeting minutes. Zoom allows teams of up to 100 participants to meet at a time, share screens, share a whiteboard, and  annotate, making it easy to hold class sessions and work presentations. 
  • Google Hangouts / Google Hangouts Meet – You might be more familiar with this name from seeing it on the side of your Gmail inbox. Google has made G Suite membership free until July. G Suite includes Google Hangouts Meet, which is an upgrade from the regular Google Hangouts. This version includes larger meetings up to 250 participants per call, live streaming for up to 100,000 viewers within a domain, and the ability to record meetings and save them on Google Drive for later use.

Online Learning Tools

  • Khan Academy – If you’re looking for technologies during Coronavirus that help you with specific subjects or SAT prep, the Khan Academy app and YouTube channel provide free online courses covering various subjects. These include math, physics, chemistry, history, grammar, economics, literature, and more. The app also offers video lessons tailored specifically to suit the syllabus of your AP courses as well as help you learn material for the SAT and SAT subject tests. Its highly organized interface allows you to quickly navigate between topic libraries and take practice tests. You can also download and save videos to watch offline at any time.
  • Google Classroom – You’re probably already familiar with Google Drive, which offers easy access to file sharing. Google also offers Google Classroom, an app that helps teachers assign, grade, and distribute work easily to students. Originally created to streamline sharing files between teachers and students, Google Classroom can make life easier for teachers and students during the quarantine period.
  • Duolingo – As you’re quarantined, you might be interested to pick up a new language. Or, you may be overwhelmed with French or Spanish homework and have no one to practice with. Either way, if you’re looking for technologies during Coronavirus that can help you with foreign languages, download Duolingo. You’ve probably heard of this free, easy-to-use app. It comes with bright colors and user-friendly graphics that can help you brush up your skills in over 30 languages and can be personalized according to your skill level.

Productivity and Time Management Tools

This is a pretty broad category when it comes to tools and technologies during Coronavirus. As you transition into online classes or working remotely, you’ll want to quickly settle into a pattern that suits your productivity. We’ve outlined a few apps that can improve your workflow as you navigate this new territory:

  • Todoist Todoist is a list-making app that allows you to put tasks into different groups such as “assignments” and “Biology.” In these lists, you can add sub-tasks that you need to complete, such as “study for test,” or “create presentation.” You can also assign notes and deadlines to each sub-task so that you can stay on course.
  • Noisli – As you try and complete your assignments from home, you might find surrounding sounds highly distracting. Noisli is an app that helps block out unwanted noises and gets you in the zone to concentrate on what needs to get done. You can play around with different noise settings to make your environment fill up with sounds of steady rainfall, blowing wind, coffee shop chatter, and even birds chirping in a forest. If you don’t want any sound that could be distracting, Noisli also has a white noise feature.
  • RescueTime RescueTime is an automated time tracking software, which works in the background of your electronic device to monitor how you’ve spent your day. All the websites you visit and tools you use are automatically logged into RescueTime and categorized so that you can see where your time goes. The app also produces weekly reports to show the distribution of what has held your attention the most, how much time you spend in meetings, answering emails, and on social media, and when you’re most productive during the day. 

Note-Taking Tools 

  • Goodnotes / Evernote / Microsoft OneNote – As you attend lectures or meetings, you could be looking for technologies during Coronavirus that allow you to quickly write down important points. Enter apps such as GoodNotes, Evernote, and Microsoft OneNote. Each of these is equipped to help you organize your notes according to subject or topic, as well as use various tools such as pens or highlighters, to stay on track. Whether you want to add photos to your meeting notes, or navigate easily across your different courses, note-taking apps have your back. 

Workout and Mindfulness Apps

You’re probably going to be sitting at your desk for hours. When you break, you’ll want to stretch and get some exercise. Even though you can’t go to the gym, the following apps can help guide you through getting a workout into your day:

  • Wakeout With the tagline of “exercise for busy people” Wakeout has become one of the most downloaded apps as people switch to working from home. With humorous home-centric workouts such as “pillow toss,” to more situation based exercises such as “desk chair head tilts” and “desk push ups,” Wakeout can be a beneficial download at a time like this.
  • Shine Shine is a guided meditation app geared towards alleviating stress. We’re all undoubtedly experiencing a very anxious time right now, and many people use Shine as a method of self-care. This app features a library with over 500+ meditations, bedtime stories, and ambient music covering various topics such as calming anxiety, reducing stress, building confidence, improving sleep, combating burnout, creating motivation, and more.
  • Yoga With Adrienne – You might be disappointed to miss out on your weekly yoga classes. Luckily, there are thousands of yoga videos and channels on YouTube, and Yoga With Adrienne is one of the best free options. There are over 500 videos on this channel – many of which feature Adrienne’s dog. You could try one of her 30 day challenges while you’re stuck at home, or view her “office break yoga” videos when you want a breather from your daily schedule. 

    New Programs Developed to Manage the Coronavirus

    Alongside apps that help the transition to online learning and remote productivity, the pandemic has also resulted in the development of tools and programs that support the healthcare industry during the Coronavirus outbreak. Below is a rundown of a few of these new tools: 

    • DocClocker DocClocker allows patients to receive the real-time wait-time at medical providers, encouraging them to get an estimate of how long the line is, and avoid staying in medical waiting rooms for too long.
    • Covid-19 Risk Index by Carrot Health – The Minneapolis based company has created a predictor that indicates populations and communities that are most susceptible to the negative impacts from the outbreak.
    • Orion Health’s Remote Patient Management – Easily found on Orion Health’s website, this platform allows healthcare services to remotely monitor patients while the latter are in their own homes. It uses AI to identify the most-at risk patients.
    • Orbita COVID-19 Virtual Assistant – This chat bot offers easy access for anyone quarantined at home to ask Coronavirus-specific questions. Orbita developed this tool to assist the overwhelming demand for testing and screening at hospitals.

    It’s obviously a very unusual time, especially if you’re used to taking courses in the classroom or working from an office. While circumstances certainly aren’t ideal, technologies during Coronavirus have made it a little easier to improve your daily workflow. Whether you need a chair workout or you want to create lists of what you need to do, these programs are there to help you. And while using apps for work is definitely important, we hope that you can also find the time to use tools that can help you take care of yourself and maintain your wellbeing.

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