[1]This listing is divided into two key groups - tools intended specifically for educators, and general applications intended for everyone.
We’ve made an effort to provide a worthy set of resources in each of these categories (and to avoid resources that seem of lesser quality or functionality). All of these applications are free (some have both free and paid versions). Some sites may require registration. If you know of any similar quality tools that you think deserve consideration, please drop a comment below.
This listing benefits greatly from reader input, so don’t hesitate to share! Thanks.
RESOURCES DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY FOR EDUCATORS
Activity & Materials Creators
- Awards Certificates: www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/index.shtml#awardCertificates [2]
- Bookmarks and Book Plates: www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/index.shtml#book [3]
- Calendars & Classroom Organizers: www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/index.shtml#book [3]
- Flash Cards - Create Your Own at StudyStack (have to register): www.studystack.com/CreateStack.jsp [4]
- Flash Card Exchange (register for adv. functions): www.flashcardexchange.com [5]
- Form filler (have to register): www.fillanypdf.com [6]
- Holiday & Seasonal Worksheets: www.abcteach.com/directory/seasonal/ [7]
- Puzzle Maker (lots of types - word search, math squares, mazes, much more!): puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com [8]
- Word Search Puzzles (lots of them): www.thepotters.com/puzzles.html [9]
- Worksheets (lots of preformatted worksheets): www.superteacherworksheets.com [10]
Communications Tools (Print & Electronic)
- EducationWorld Newsletters & Parent Communications: www.educationworld.com/tools_templates/index.shtml#newsletters [11]
- TeacherFiles: www.teacherfiles.com/resources_newsletters.htm [12]
Course Management Systems & LMS alternatives
(You have to register to use these tools, so you can save your own personalized content. Note that these tools are generally more involved than many of the other resources on this page. Some of them offer both paid and free functionality)
- Blackboard’s “CourseSites”: coursesites.blackboard.com [13] (this is a secure site and you may get notification of this as you attempt to access it)
- EctoLearning: www.ectolearning.com [14]
- MyiCourse: www.myicourse.com [15]
- rCampus: www.rcampus.com/help/about/course_and_learning_management_system.cfm [16]
- Schoology: www.schoology.com [17]
- SchoolRack: www.schoolrack.com [18]
Clipart
- DiscoveryEducation: school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart [19]
- School-Clipart: www.school-clipart.com [20]
- TeacherFiles: www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm [21]
Educational Videos
- Seven Online Classrooms Teachers Can Use to Augment Their Own [22]
- A Dozen Free Online Video Lecture Sites: www.emergingedtech.com/2010/02/a-dozen-great-free-online-video-lecture-sites [23]
- Seven Online Classrooms Teachers Can Use to Augment Their Own: www.emergingedtech.com/2012/01/seven-online-classrooms-teachers-can-use-to-augment-their-own/ [22] (some overlap here with some of the listings in above article)
- Watchknow: www.watchknow.org [24]
Interactives (for White Boards, or Powerpoint)
- 4 Free Digital Whiteboard Apps for the iPad [25]
- ABCTeach: www.abcteach.com/directory/interactive [26]
- Promethean Plant (have to register): www.prometheanplanet.com [27]
- SMART Exchange: exchange.smarttech.com [28]
- TopMarks: www.topmarks.co.uk/Interactive.aspx [29]
iPhone, iPad, and Android Apps
- 15 Favorite iPad Apps As Selected By Teachers [30]
- 100 free iPhone Apps for Educators [31]
- Free iPad Apps for Educators (and Parents) [32]
- Attendance [33](for Android)
- Grade Book [34] (for Android)
- Grade Rubric [35] (for Android)
- Grade Ticker [36] (for Android)
Lesson Plans
- AtoZ Teacher Stuff: atozteacherstuff.com/Lesson_Plans/index.shtml [37]
- Discovery Education: school.discoveryeducation.com/lessonplans [38]
- LessonPlansPage: www.lessonplanspage.com [39]
- Scholastic: www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp [40]
- Teacher.net: teachers.net/lessons [41]
Open Educational Resources
- Curriki’s Resources and Curricula page: http://welcome.curriki.org/resources-curricula/ [42]
- OER Consortium: oerconsortium.org [43]
- OER Commons: www.oercommons.org [44]
Presentation Tools
- Teacher’s recommendations for academic uses of 5 fun free presentation tools: www.emergingedtech.com/2012/01/teachers-recommendations-for-academic-uses-of-5-fun-free-presentation-tools/ [45]
Quizzes & Tests
(These types of sites require sign up)
- Easy Test Maker: www.easytestmaker.com [46]
- Quizstar: quizstar.4teachers.org/indexi.jsp [47]
- Huge free sets of practice SATs, ACTs, AP exams, and more: http://www.varsitytutors.com/practice-tests [48]
Rubrics
- 4Teachers: rubistar.4teachers.org [49]
- Rubrics4Teachers: www.rubrics4teachers.com [50]
- iRubrics: www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm [51]
Social Learning & Collaboration
- Edmodo: www.edmodo.com [52]
- Edutopia: www.edutopia.org [53]
- Room21: room21online.com [54]
- TakingITGlobal: www.tigweb.org [55]
OTHER/Miscellaneous
- Announcing the 2012 Free Education Technology Resources eBook from EmergingEdTech [56]
- Do You Know About The Many Free Resources For Education Available from Apple? [57]
- FlippedTextBook.com [58] (create your own ‘flipped’ text book - in beta)
- FreeTech4Teachers [59] (Richard Byrne’s excellent blog, with lots of free resources that featured daily).
- Google Apps for Education [60]
- Microsoft Live@EDU [61]
GENERAL RESOURCES (not intended just for educators)
Animation
- GoAnimate [62]
- Voki [63]
Blogging
Document Management
- Google Docs [67]
- Zoho [68]
File Management
- Dropbox [69]
Group Projects
- EnterTheGroup [70]
iPad Apps
Literature Summary/Analysis
- CliffNotes [72]
- SparkNotes [73]
Mind Mapping
- Bubbl.us [74]
Note Taking
- Evernote [75]
Online Interactive White Boards
- 4 Free Digital Whiteboard Apps for the iPad [25]
- Dabbleboard [76] (link wasn’t working as of 1/27/12 – not sure if this is temporary or permanent)
- Scribblar [77]
Picture, Photo, & Image Editing & Organizing
- Aviary [78]
- FotoFlexer [79]
- Photofunia [80]
- Picasa [81]
- Pixenate [82]
PowerPoint
- Watch this video [83] to learn about creating your own Custom Animations, and learn about many other free resources.
- This tutorial [84] from Online Tech Tips explains how to create slide transition automations using easy pre-configured tools in PowerPoint.
- Click here to access a preconfigured s [85]earch [85] of Microsoft’s Office Site, set up to return dozens of articles with hundreds of free templates for PowerPoint.
- PresentationMagazine.com [86] provides tons of tips, articles, PowerPoint templates, and more
Screencasting & Presentations
- Fotobabble [87]
- Glogster [88]
- Jing [89]
- OneTrueMedia [90]
- Prezi [91]
- Screenpresso [92]
- Screenr [93]
- Screencast-O-matic [94]
- Slideshare [95]
- ZohoShow [96]
- Voki [63]
- 4 Great Twitter Applications for Teachers Using Twitter In The Classroom (these each have some free functionality, and some higher end paid functionality): www.emergingedtech.com/2011/10/4-great-twitter-applications-for-teachers-using-twitter-in-the-classroom/ [97]
Other/Miscellaneous
- Google Image Search [98]
- Random.org [99] (a true random number generator that some teachers have said they find useful).
- Read it Later [100]
If you have a resource you would like to see added to this list, please comment and tell us about it.
About Kelly Walsh [101]
Kelly Walsh is Chief Information Officer at The College of Westchester [102], in White Plains, NY, where he also teaches. In 2009, Walsh founded EmergingEdTech.com. He frequently delivers presentations and training on a variety of related topics at schools and conferences across the U.S. His eBook, the Flipped Classroom Workshop-in-a-Book is available here [103]. Walsh became the Community Administrator for the Flipped Learning Network [104] in June of 2016. In his "spare time" he also writes, records, and performs original music ... stop by kwalshmusic.com [105] and have a listen!
[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, or those of other writers, and not those of my employer. - K. Walsh]