We are excited to share some great online tools that are 100% absolutely FREE!
We will break them down into categories and explain the functionality of each tool.
First, bear in mind that these tools are not downloadable, which means you don’t need a PC if you’re a Mac user or a Mac if you’re a PC user – All you need is an internet connection and a web browser like Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Chrome.
Ready? Let’s begin!
FREE BLOG TOOLS
WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 25 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home”.
Free! (www.wordpress.org), or click here.
Whether you're starting your blog or just think it's time to give your existing blog a facelift, Blogger's user-friendly editing tools help you easily design a great-looking page. Rich with templates, custom colors and fonts – Blogger makes it easy and fun to create blogs.
Free! (www.blogger.com), or click here.
FREE VIDEO EDITING TOOLS
JayCut is a browser based video editor. It uses the same features found in Windows Movie Maker and iMovie plus lots more!
Join JayCut's online community to get free access to your own personal video studio. Upload videos, photos and music to create and share new masterpieces. Engage your audience with the world's premier online video editor seamlessly integrated on your website, or edit your own videos on JayCut's community.
Free! (www.jaycut.com), or click here.
Create & share Timelines through social networks. Capzles allows you to combine your videos, photos, blogs and mp3s into rich multimedia storylines.
Free! (http://www.capzles.com), or click here.
MONEY SAVING TOOLS
Let’s face it; Adobe® Photoshop® is pricey… For those of us who like using the program, but can’t afford it – There’s an alternative!
Sumo Paint is a browser based online image editor and drawing application. It resembles Adobe® Photoshop® in many ways. It offers similar tools, plug-ins and much more! Community and sharing features is for registered users.
Free! (www.sumopaint.com), or click here.
Avoid printing unnecessary web pages with this great online editor.
PrintWhatYouLike.com allows you to format any web page for printing in seconds.
Free! (www.printwhatyoulike.com), or click here.
CELL PHONE TOOLS
The fastest way to create stylish real-time experiences for events using mobile devices
Poll Everywhere replaces expensive proprietary audience response hardware with standard web technology. It's the easiest way to gather live responses in any venue: conferences, presentations, classrooms, radio, TV, print — anywhere. It can help you to raise money by letting people pledge via text messaging. And because it works internationally with texting, web, or Twitter, its simplicity and flexibility are earning rave reviews.
Free! (http://www.polleverywhere.com), or click here.
The easiest and most entertaining way to collect feedback from your audience:
Project polls or message boards on a large screen, have everyone send their input via their cell phones and see results instantly!
Free! (http://textthemob.com), or click here.
SOCIAL WEB TOOLS
These web tools are designed mainly for school educators and students. They offer great ways to communicate with one another, share ideas and work together.
Schoology is a social network and learning management system (LMS) that makes it easy to create and share academic content.
Schoology provides an enterprise level learning management system and configurable social network. Instructors and students can easily create, share, and manage academic material through a social networking interface.
By incorporating learning management tools into a social environment, Schoology provides a means for teachers, students, parents, and administrators to seamlessly communicate and collaborate on academic issues.
Free! (www.schoology.com), or click here.
Scribblar is a online collaboration tool that features live audio, chat, whiteboard and image sharing capabilities, amongst other things.
The virtual whiteboard offers a great way to share ideas in the classroom.
Free! (http://www.scribblar.com), or click here.
Wallwisher is an online notice board maker. Discussing a new idea? Taking notes? Giving feedback? Voicing opinion? Wishing a happy birthday?
Yet, another great tool to share ideas in the classroom.
Free! (www.wallwisher.com), or click here.
Join.me is a free tool from the creators of LogMeIn.
Get your people together, without actually getting them together. Just instantly share your screen so everybody's on the same page. No need for a plane, a projector or a sandwich platter. Just gather at join.me.
So what is join.me exactly? It's an impromptu meeting space that happens wherever, whenever. It's getting a second or third pair of eyes on your presentation from across the hall or across the continent. It's sharing your screen instantly with anyone or everyone to get stuff done, quickly.
Free! (https://join.me/), or click here.
YOUTUBE TOOLS
Synchtube allows you to create public and private rooms where you can watch synchronzied YouTube videos with up to 50 people. Everyone views the same video at the same time. Teachers and students can chat and comment about specific videos in private rooms.
Free! (http://www.synchtube.com), or click here.
YTInstant is a really great tool for finding YouTube videos very quickly.
In a similar way to the new instant search results from Google, YouTube Instant shows the videos below the search box as you type your query. Very powerful!
Free! (http://ytinstant.com), or click here.
Have your own inspirational tale to tell? Now’s your chance!
Google recently launched the Search Stories Video Creator, so now anyone can create and upload his or her own Search Story in just three easy steps.
All you have to do is enter 7 search terms and choose what kind of search Google will perform for each term – web search, maps, image etc. –, then you pick from a set of soundtracks and that’s it! You can change your search terms and soundtrack before uploading the video to YouTube. Obviously you have to have a YouTube or Google account to be able to upload the video.
Free! (http://www.youtube.com/searchstories), or click here.
Download and save streaming videos directly from Youtube, Google, Metacafe, and more. Simply copy and paste.
Free! (http://keepvid.com), or click here.
Let’s say that there is a video on YouTube you like to share with someone, but the clip has some explicit content. TubeChop allows you to easily chop a section from any YouTube video and share it.
Free! (http://www.tubechop.com), or click here.
quietube: Video without the distractions
To watch web videos without the comments and crap, just drag the button below to your browser's bookmarks bar. On any of the supported video pages, click the bookmark button to watch in peace.
Free! (http://quietube.com), or click here.
SEARCH TOOLS
SweetSearch is A Search Engine for Students. It searches only credible Web sites approved by Internet research experts.
SweetSearch helps students find outstanding information, faster. It enables them to determine the most relevant results from a list of credible resources, and makes it much easier for them to find primary sources. We exclude not only the spam sites that many students could spot, but also the marginal sites that read well and authoritatively, but lack academic or journalistic rigor. As importantly, the very best Web sites that appear on the first page of SweetSearch results are often buried on other search engines.
Free! (http://www.sweetsearch.com), or click here.
RedZ.com is a visual search engine which utilizes the Spacetime 3D technology.
This search engine is great for teachers and kids.
Free! (http://redz.com/home), or click here.
Middlespot.com is an online productivity tool to help you manage the activity of search.
Built to support the activities of searchers, middlespot provides a number of features to make managing search easier. A user can interpret their results more effectively by seeing their results as screenshots and text, and interrogate these results by panning and zooming in for more detail. A user can then save and manage each result in personalized workpads, where they can retrieve these collections at their desired time. A user can also share a workpad collection with anyone they choose, allowing for collaborative management of search efforts.
Middlespot supports the activity of search by maintaining a number of details of your search activity, including categorizing your recent searches, providing access to your workpads from multiple browsers and devices, and allowing you to capture a site to a workpad even when viewing that site outside of the middlespot interface.
Free! (middlespot.com), or click here.
Boolify provides learners with a manipulative mental model for Boolean Search contruction. It can be used to teach and learn Boolean in a variety of settings.
Great search engine for teachers and students.
Free! (http://www.boolify.org), or click here.
Wolfram|Alpha gives you access to the world's facts, without searching. See what everyone is talking about.
Founded by Stephen Wolfram in 1987, Wolfram Research is one of the world's most respected software companies—as well as a powerhouse of scientific and technical innovation. As pioneers in computational science and the computational paradigm, we have pursued a long-term vision to develop the science, technology, and tools to make computation an ever-more-potent force in today's and tomorrow's world.
Free! (http://www.wolframalpha.com), or click here.
You were given an assignment to write a report on wildlife. There are some great articles online that you can copy, cut and paste on your report. But how do you know if what you’re copying isn’t copyrighted?
With Creative Commons you can use copyright materials legally.
Creative Commons licenses provide a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors, artists, and educators.
Free! (http://creativecommons.org/), or click here.
Thanks for visiting our page. We hope you find this information useful.
We would encourage you to leave comments, and feedback.
If you happen know about other free educational web tools not listed on this page, please share them with us!
