Latest update 29th January 2012 - These are some of the best free
internet resources for education.
If you have more that you think should be added send them to me at sharpstf@gmail.com
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A
o Alice is a 3D programming environment that makes it
easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game,
or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory
computing. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a
more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience.
o Animoto.com is a web application that produces
professional quality videos from your pictures and music.
o Audacity is a programme that
allows you to record sounds straight to your computer (you do need a
microphone) and edit them afterwards. Very popular with languages teachers and
podcasters.
o Audioboo is an audio-blogging site, you can send in
updates through the web, phone or its own iPhone app.
Perfect for blogging on the move, like on a school-trip, or sharing your
class’s opinion about a topic.
o authorSTREAM allows you to publish and share your
PowerPoint presentations. It also allows you to download published
presentations as videos.
o Aviary is a suite of web applications which allow you
to create, edit and manipulate images. They have also recently launched an
audio editing tool called Myna (see below).
B
o BeFunky is
a website that allows you to apply a variety of fun effects to your own photos
or from photo sharing sites.
o Big
Huge Labs is a
collection of utilities and toys that allow you to edit and alter digital
pictures. You can create puzzles, movie posters, magazine covers, mosaics,
calendars, badges, billboards and many more besides.
o Bitstrips is a website that allows you to create comics
and cartoons. There is a premium school version.
o Blabberize.com allows you to animate pictures to make the
people, animals or objects in them appear as if they are talking. It only takes
three simple steps.
o Block
Posters is a web application
that allows you to make full size posters from pictures in your computer.
Perfect for classroom displays.
o Box.net is an online file storage and collaboration
solution. Share content with your colleagues or students.
o Bubbl.us is a web application for creating mind-maps
either on your own or collaborating with others.
o Build your Wild Self is a website by the New York Zoos that allows
children to create human / animal hybrids. It can be used to practise personal descriptions.
o Bundlr is a free tool for online curation:
it allows you to clip, aggregaten
and share web content easily.
o Buzzword is an online word processor by Adobe , and is perfect for writing
reports, proposals, and anything else you need to access online or work on with
others. It looks and behaves like your normal desktop word processor, but it
operates inside a web browser, so there’s no installation required.
C
o Capzles is a free web application that allows you to
combine your photos, videos, blog posts and mp3s into rich multimedia
storylines.
o Cartoonster is a website aimed at children with tutorials
on how to create animations. Perfect to introduce the concept and possibilities
of animation to youngsters.
o Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games,
activities and diagrams in a Flash! The games can then be hosted on your own
blog, website or intranet.
o Comicbrush allows you to create and share a comic using
any combination of your own drawings, photos and ready-to-use artwork.
o Commoncraft is a useful website which explains web
products and services in plain English using short, unique and understandable
videos in a format they call Paperworks.
o Creative
Commons Search allows you
to sieve through massive repositories of media and resources which you are
legally free to use and share.
o Custom
Sign Generator is an image creator that allows you to create free logos,
avatars, comics and many other bits and bobs that you might need for your blog
or presentations.
D
o Delicious is a social book-marking site which allows you
to access your book-marks from any computer. It also allows your colleagues and
students to share your bookmarks.
o Diigo also allows you to access and share your
bookmarks from anywhere. With Diigo you can also
annotate and highlight websites, which is perfect if you want to share
resources with your students after having added your own notes to it.
o Diipo connects
teachers with students by making it easy to communicate with your class. Diipo also connects you with other educators and your class
with other classes. Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Diipo is social networking for the classroom. See also Edmodo ,
below.
o Dipity is a web application that allows you to create
embedable media-rich timelines. Great for research
and history projects.
o DivShare is a service that allows you to upload, store,
manage and then embed any file -including video files- into websites. Perfect
for the teacher-blogger or a classroom blog.
o Domo is a school friendly version of Go!Animate (below) in which all inappropriate content is
filtered out. Domo allows you and your students to create animations that can
be embedded onto blogs, wikis, etc.
o DotSUb is a website that allows you to upload videos
and put subtitles on them. Perfect to share foreign language resources or to
set translation projects to your students.
o Dropbox is software that enables file storage, back
up, sharing and synchronisation online and across
different computers. Premium service with a basic free account.
o Dropmocks allows you to create photo galleries really
easily by dragging photos form your desktop or any folder in your computer and
drop them into your browser to create and share photo galleries.
E
o Edmodo is a micro-blogging service (like Twitter) for teachers and
students. Use it with your students to share information, set and collect
assignments and much more.
o Edublogs.org based on WordPress.com ,
Edublogs is a hosted blogging platform designed for
education.
o Embedit.in is a service that allows you to upload and
embed documents into blogs or other websites quickly and easily. Perfect for a
classroom blog or a teacher-blogger.
o Evernote is a cross-platform note taking tool that
allows you and/or your students to take notes. Text, pictures, voice memos and
more are automatically synced across all your devices: save once, save
everywhere.
F
o Facebook can be used to set up pages and provide your
students with updates about your subject or department. Students don’t have to
be your friends to enjoy the benefits of this facility. Your students are all
on Facebook anyway, might as well make the most of
it!
o Filezilla is a very useful desktop application that
allows you upload content to your web pages or blogs using FTP (File Transfer
protocol).
o Flickr is a web service for storing and sharing your
digital photographs. It also contains a massive collection of Creative
Commons photographs
and pictures which can be used to illustrate presentations or for other
creative tasks.
o Fotobabble enables you to create talking photos in a few
clicks by adding a voice to customisable slide-shows.
G
o Gimp is an Open
Source image manipulation
program. A bit like Photoshop, only free! It tackles tasks such as photo
retouching, image composition and image authoring.
o Gliffy is an online application with which you can
easily create professional-looking flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans and
technical drawings.
o Glogster is a web application tha
allows you to create online posters or glogs. Not strictly blogging, glogging is making media rich online posters that can be shared online or
embeded onto wikis.
o Google , as
well as the search engine, provides a comprehensive suite of web-based and
desktop applications like Gogle Docs, Google Earth,
Blogger, Google Mail and much, much more…
H
o Hot
Potatoes is an application that
allows you to create interactive exercises, such as quizzes, multiple choice
questions and crosswords, which can be added to websites. Free for schools.
I
o ImageChef is a website that allows you to create custom
images by combining text, symbols and photos. Great for classroom displays,
starter activities or homework.
o Instapaper allows you to easily save web pages for
reading later, when you have time, so you don’t just forget about them or skim
through them. Very good research tool.
o iPadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the Internet live,
creating phlogs – live voice-blogs
o iSendr is an on demand file sharing and transfer
system, facilitating the sending of large files between people.
o Isle of Tune allows users to create musical journeys using
street layouts. Streetlights become instruments and passing cars play them!
Great fun for budding composers of all ages.
o iTALC is a free and powerful didactical tool for
teachers. It lets you view and control other computers in your network in
several ways: overview, remote control, lock down stations, send messages to
students etc (available only for Linux and Windows 2000/XP operating systems).
o iTunes whether
you run a Mac or a PC, whether you have an iPod or not. This programme from Apple allows you to manage your music
collection and converts CDs and other sound recordings to mp3.
J
o Jamendo A European podsafe
music site. Download royalty-free, Creative
Commons music in all major european languages.
o Jamglue is a web based application for recording and
mixing tracks. Like Audacity or Garageband but
online.
o JClic is a desktop application that creates
interactive exercises and multimedia educational activities (using Java) fro
your website or VLE.
o Jing is a free desktop application that allows you
to capture your desktop as you work. Excellent for creating video tutorials.
K
o Kerpoof allows children to draw, tell stories and
create cartoons and animations. Very popular website, now part of the Disney
family of companies.
o KickYoutube is a web application that converts YouTube
videos to any format. Simply type in the word kick after the www. in the YouTube url.
o Kompozer is an Open Source desktop HTML editor and web
authoring application.
L
o Languages Online Australia free flash game makers from Department of
Education of the State of Victoria, Australia. This website also contains a
wealth of ready-made interactive language exercises.
o Lingro allows you to view any foreign language
website through its own online browser, allowing you then to click on any word
on the screen to find out its meaning in English or your chosen language. Not
only that, it remembers which words you clicked and then tests you… a fantastic
resource for language learners.
o Lingus.tv Beginner, intermediate and advanced level
videos for the learner of Spanish. Comes with transcript, translations and
grammar points.
o Lingt is a web application that allows you to create
and edit language assignments incorporating voice, video, images, and text.
o Lino allows you you
create online noticeboards and, by creating
a group, it becomes a really useful tool for students to
collaborate. See also Wallwisher, below.
M
o Mahara is open source software that allows you to
create electronic portfolios, weblogs, and social networking systems, among
other things. It provides you with the tools to set up an online personal
learning environment.
o Masher is an online video editor that allows user to
create videos using their own uploaded material or its own library of
resources, including photos, videos and music.
o MediaWiki is a free piece of software that allows you to
install and maintain an infinite number of wikis. Because it requires
server-side installation, you may find it less complicated to get your school
to install it for you.
o MentorMob allows you to create learning playlists, that
is to say you can add specific web pages in the sequence you want your students
to read them.
o Minus allows you to create photo galleries really
easily by dragging photos form your desktop or any folder in your computer and
drop them into your browser to create and share photo galleries.
o Mouse Mischief is free educational software from Microsoft
that allows your whole class to connect to your computer/interactive whiteboard
using individual mice. It integrates into Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and
Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, letting you insert
questions, polls, and drawing activity slides into your lessons. Students can
actively participate in these lessons by using their own mice to click, circle,
cross out, or draw answers on the screen.
o Museum Box provides the tools for you to build up an
argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing
items in a virtual box.
o My Award Maker is a web service for creating your own awards
to hand out to your students. Awards are printable, in .pdf
format.
o Myna is an online audio recording and editing tool
which is really impressive and intuitive. See also Aviary, above.
o Myplick is a free service that lets you share and
embed presentations online. Formats supported are powerpoint,
pdf, and openoffice odp. You can also add
narration or sound effects to your presentation by uploading an audio file. You
can then share your presentation with everyone or only share it within a small
private group.
N
o Ning allows you to create your own public or,
importantly for education, private social networks. Use it to communicate and
share resources with your colleagues and students. Unfortunately, no longer
free but still worth considering.
O
o OneTrueMedia.com produces slide shows from templates with your
own photos and music which you can then post online.
o Online
Photo Tool is a
website that allows you to edit and save your images, screenshots and photos
online.
o Open
Office is an Open Source office suite complete with draw, database,
spreadsheet, presentation and word-precessing tools,
fully compatible with Microsoft. Perfect if you or your students need to
install an office suite but can’t afford (or won’t pay) the licence
fee.
P
o Paint.NET is a very good Open Source image and photo
editing desktop application for computers that run Windows. It features an
intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited
undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.
o PBWorks (previously known as PBWiki)
allows you to create wikis for your classes. Its education edition focuses on
safety and collaboration.
o PDFCreator is a desktop application that turns anything
in your computer (Windows only, I think) into a PDF file, be it word documents,
PowerPoint presentations, web pages… anything. Very good if you want to create
hand-outs or lesson notes quickly and easily.
o Pen.io describes itself as simple online
publishing. This website allows
users to quickly create, publish and share text based web pages. Here are a few ideas about this tool could be used.
o Phixr is an online photo editor.
o PhotoPeach is a slide show maker simple enough for young
children to use independently. It easily allows you to add text to slides for
added impact.
o Photo
Story 3 is a Windows desktop
application that makes film clips of your photo slide shows to which you can
add commentary, soundtrack and transition effects.
o PhotoSynth is a free Microsoft web application that
allows you to take a bunch of photos of the same scene or object and
automatically stitch them all together into one big interactive 3D viewing
experience that you can share with anyone on the web (currently Windows only).
o Photovisi is a web application that turns your pictures
into a collage which you can then download free (high quality
paid versions are also available). Great to illustrate story telling or
just for decoration!
o PicLits is a creative writing site that matches images with carefully
selected keywords, creating a final product that captures the essence, story,
and meaning of the picture.
o Picnik.com is a powerful and easy to use photo editing
web application. Think Photoshop on-line and without the hefty price tag.
o Pimpampum is a collection of web applications that allow
you to work with Flickr photographs and turn them
into books, comics and more…
o Pixton is an online comic creator with an education
section, allowing the creation of safe sharing environments.
o plannerLIVE is a tool that allows teachers to set homework
and and students to submit it, all online (UK only).
o Podomatic is a podcast publishing service. Upload your
audio or video files and they do the rest! Free for the first 500MB
o Poisson Rouge hosts a wealth of flash-based activities to
help you revise, teach and learn about all sorts of subjects, from Music and
Biology to Mandarin Chinese!
o Popplet is an innovative take on mind mapping. Easily
add pictures, text and videos to help you explore ideas in a visual way.
o Posterous is perhaps the simplest easiest and most
intuitive of all blogging platforms. I use Posterous
to keep live blogs of school trips and residential visits because I can simply
email updates and Posterous does all the rest!
o Prealoader is
a web based photo editor that claims to be the best way to upload and optimize
photos to Flickr .
o Prezi is a web application that allows you to create
stunning visual presentations. Think PowerPoint meets mind map.
Q
o Quizlet allows you to create and share flaschcards. Great to help your students revise material or
for you to create resources for the Interactive Whiteboard.
R
o Random Activity Generator allows you to generate a creative classroom
activity, homework or task instantly.
o RealPlayer 11 is a desktop media player that also allows you
to download .flv video
content. In practical terms this means that you can download video fromYouTube
, TeacherTube or any other such video sharing site at the
click of a button for later viewing off-line. Perfect if your school network
blocks or filters video sharing sites.
S
o Save Skelly is a flash game generator that allows you to create
interactive assessments which can be uploaded to a website or stored in your
computer as a .swf file. Great for Interactive Whiteboards.
o Seeqpod allows you search music and other media and
then produce customised, embeddable music players
from your selections.
o Seesmic is a video blogging service which allows its
users to post and share video updates. Similar to 12 Seconds (above).
o Sclipo If you have something to teach the rest of us,
you post it here. Alternatively, go and learn something new.
o Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy
to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and
share your creations on the web.
o Screenr is a screencast tool
for Twitter that allows you to easily record your screen
and share it with your followers.
o Screentoaster is an online screen recorder that allows you
to capture and share what goes on in your computer screen. Perfect to record how to videos or record presentations as they unfold.
o Scribd is a document sharing service that allows you to store and share
almost any document format for easy viewing online. It also offers the
possibility of embedding a document viewer into your website, blog or wiki.
Very handy to share resources with staff and students.
o Scribus is an Open Source desktop publishing
application that allows you to create professional documents and page lay-outs
and then exports them into PDF format. Perfect for newsletters and worksheets.
o ShareTabs is a simple and efficient way to share links
with pupils/students or colleagues. Send one single personalised
url containing all your
links conveniently displayed in tabs.
o SimplyBox allows you to capture and share the web with
groups of students. Students can also use simply box to reasearch
and store the information they find on a given topic.
o SketchUp is a desktop application from Google that
allows teachers or students to create and share stunning 3D models easily and
intuitively.
o Slatebox allows you to create collaborative mind-map
style idea visualisations. Perfect for embedding into
a website or view on the interactive whiteboard.
o Slideshare allows you to upload and share your PowerPoint
presentations. Presentations can then be embedded into blogs or wikis.
o SmashMash.tv is a web application that animates pictures
and photographs, but it does require you to download and install a plug-in and
is more complicated to work than Blabberize, for
example.
o Smilebox is a website where you can create e-cards,
scrapbooks, slideshows and photo albums from digital photographs.
o Songbird is a free and open-source customizable music
player. Think of it as an open source iTunes .
o Spicynodes allows you and your students to create visualisations, mindmaps or
organizational chart which can then be embedded into websites, blogs and wikis.
o Stixy allows you to share and collaborate on
flexible, web-based bulletin boards. Users can create tasks, appointments,
files, photos, notes, and bookmarks which can then be then be shared with
friends, students and colleagues.
o Storybird helps you or your pupils to create short,
visual, digital stories which can then be shared and embedded into blogs and
wikis.
o Stupeflix.com is a web service that allows you to create
videos by combining image and audio. A very easy way to get into video
podcasting.
o Switchzoo allows users to create new animals by
switching their parts. The site features animal games,
music performed using animal voices, a reference section about all of the
animals in Switch Zoo, lesson plans, and poetry, stories and artwork created by
students and visitors.
T
o TagGalaxy is a web application that allows you to search Flickr tags and displays the results in a stunning
visual way. Perfect to introduce topics on the IWB or to get discussions going.
o Tagul is similar to Wordle.
Both create customisable word or tag
clouds, the difference is that Tagul’s clouds
are embeddable into other websites such as blogs or wikis.
o Tagxedo is another app following Wordle’s
footsteps. Tagxedo, however, allows for greater customisation of the final images, including a large
variety of colour schemes and the ability to change
the shape of the could. Word clouds can then be saved
as .jpeg or .png image files.
o Textorizer allows you to turn a logo (web app) or a
picture (free desktop app) into text by substituting colours
with the text you supply.
o Timeglider is an web application
that allows you to create visual time lines of events. Perfect for History, but
useful for any subject exploring a sequence of events.
o Timetoast also allows you to create interactive time
lines, which can be shared anywhere on the web.
o Tinychat allows you to create private video
conferences. You can have up to twelve people in a room with HQ video,
protected by passwords and moderators, share your desktop with them, and your conferences can be recorded and embedded on
your website.
o Titanpad is based on Etherpad and does exactly the same thing. It allows
multiple users to collaborate on a document simultaneously.
o Toondoo is a web application that allows you to create
your own comic characters and comic strips.
o Tubechop allows you to cut and edit YouTube videos so that you can concentrate on the
interesting bits or remove offending scenes.
o Tumblr is a simplified blogging platform that allows
you to post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos, from your browser,
phone, desktop or email. See Posterous, above.
o Twitter is a micro-blogging service. Sign up and join
the ever growing network of teachers and educators sharing their experiences
and practice (I’m@josepicardo
on Twitter, follow me to get started and then see whom I follow and who
follows me).
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