FREE TOOLS IN EDUCATION

Free Educational Resources

2017-12-12T06:06:00.000-08:00

Here's another excellent online resource for free educational stuff - Open Learn from Open University - http://bit.ly/2iVFn7S

I am amazed by the comprehensivity of the this free channel. Some of the unique features are listed below:

Range of free tools - videos, articles, games and features
Range of subjects covered - Arts, Forensics, Project Management, Science, Economics and many more
Offers about 800 free courses
Offers digital badges

A channel worth subscribing to !

Free Online tool about English !

2017-12-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

An excellent online site about English, http://bit.ly/2jRvCbW

The site traces the history of english and presents many interesting perspectives on the language. The site/ youtube channel is a part of the Open Learn from Open University.

I watched "The History of English in Ten Minutes" and it was indeed an interesting one.

Nothing much to elaborate on. The best approach would be to visit the site/ channel and get going

Skippy - A wonderful app/ tool for (reading through) Videos

2017-07-19T22:22:00.002-07:00

SKIPPY, www.skippy.ai is an excellent tool o manage the video watching in terms of watching the relevant portions (as per our need and interest). It's an interesting app (at least i found it so!) and could be very useful if used with purpose. Some of the useful features of the app are

control over the video playback. A viewer can skip over the portions of the video through the SKIP button.
Display of the transcript which helps the viewer arrive at the core of the video if he/ she wishes to skip the other portions of the video
Availability of relevant videos segregated in categories. Right now, there are 4 categories available - Inspiration, Social Studies, Art & Culture and Tech & Science.
Features like Bookmark to help save for future reference

This app is not a substitute for any video playing tool such as youtube, ect. It's like a complimentary tool to help the viewer by providing them better control over their video viewing and does save lot of time.

I tried the android version of the app and i am pretty impressed with the nice and easy interface of the app !

Kiddle - A Visual Search Engine for Kids

2017-06-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Kiddle, www.kiddle.co is a nice visual search engine for kids powered by Google. The "co" in the domain stands for "children only" and this itself explains the purpose and objective of the search engine. Kiddle caters to the requirements of K-12. It is a very safe search engine and offers search across five categories - Web, Images, News, Videos and Encyclopedia. To ensure that only kids

specific results are displayed, content on Kiddle is handpicked and checked by Kiddle editors. This ensures blocking of any explicit during the Kiddle search. The users can also suggest more keyword or/ and site blocking which is deemed unfit for kids. To make the search engine more appealing to kids, the search results are displayed in larger fonts and illustrated with big thumbnails.

It's indeed a welcome news for parents and educators as they can rely on this safe tool when the kids browse the internet. The only downside is the "Encyclopedia" which provides the same look and feel as Wikipedia and could surely have been made more visually appealing.

Overall, a wonderful tool to ensure safe browsing for kids.

JPEG Image Optimization free online tool

2017-06-20T00:07:00.001-07:00

All of us feel the need to upload or transfer JPEG files online but at times because of large size the file transfer becomes an issue. Here's a wonderful free online tool which work wonders. The tool is JPEG-OPTIMIZER, http://jpeg-optimizer.com/ I tried various tools but this tool stands apart

because it addresses the basic fundamental requirement of size reduction and that too without any loss of quality whatsoever. The size of my original image was close to 3 MB and i wanted to upload the file with a size less than 100 kb. After trying various other tools which could not meet my requirement, i tried this one and this worked wonder. I was pleasantly surprised to see the size of my file optimized through this tool. The tool did a whopping 98.7% reduction.

The interface is simple and easy. A great tool for jpeg optimization !

Free NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY by MHRD, Government of India

2017-05-18T10:33:00.000-07:00

National Digital Library, https://ndl.iitkgp.ac.in/ is the most comprehensive resource to access free educational material. Be it any subject, any standard, any level or any format (book, video, audio, etc.), the NDL site provides all the answers. The project is a very prestigious project of Government of India and is supported by MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and IIT (India Institute of Technology), Kharagpur

Don't look any further and start accessing the free repository of content - text books, reference books, subject videos, lecture videos/ audios. The beauty of this project is that it goes beyond the typical academic content and offers content much broader in range, going upto the research areas.

Just go ahead and start downloading !

EXPLANIA, an online ANIMATIONS site...wow, what a site !!

2012-04-19T03:02:00.000-07:00

EXPLANIA, http://www.explania.com/en is indeed a wonderful site full of animations, tutorials and instructional videos. It boasts of a very simple to use interface and is a treat to watch.

I viewed a few animations and it was quite useful, in simple language and with lots of clarity. One can also make use of the side bar towards the bottom left to view videos from different relevant categories.

Few other highly useful features include

In case you have a website, blog, wiki, etc. you can embed the animations as well.
Description provided for the animation
Comments feature to provide feedback on the animations, videos
Multi Channels available
Facility to Download the video(s)/ animation(s)

Indeed a highly useful and wonderful site !!!

INTERACTIVE, an online website with free animations in Science and Maths

2012-04-19T02:34:00.000-07:00

Back after a hiatus !!!

Interactive, http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/ is an interesting online website offering great animations in science and mathematics

Interactivate is a set of free, online courseware for exploration in science and mathematics. It is comprised of activities, lessons, and discussions.

Before you start, do visit the link "Guide to Interactive" on home page.

Hope you find the resource useful !!

Tribute to Steve Jobs - The Man with the "Midas Touch"

2011-10-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help writing this post as a tribute to an all time great CEO. No words can explain what he did to all us. He revolutionised the way people use technology. A creative genius that he was, he created magic twice in his life time - first when he founded Apple and second when he returned to Apple. A great visionary and innovator, he ruled the minds and hearts of digital generation - people who grew with technology in their hands. He, for sure, could be credited with bringing in "technotainment" and "edutainment" where the people realised what technology could do for them. Though he may have lost the battle to cancer but for all of us he remains a winner always....Hats off to the Genius !! May his soul rest in peace...Few links dedicated to him..Click on the text to view article

We will miss you Jobs !!

Free Educational Resource/ Website - 2

2011-10-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

Sharing about few genersal educational websites that could be used to engage the children and utilised for project work as well. The sites are

NASA - http://www.nasa.gov/
National Geographic - http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
Discovery - http://www.discovery.com/
Brittanica - http://www.britannica.com/
BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/

Hope you enjoy the sites !!

Free Educational Resource/ Website-1

2011-10-07T11:32:00.000-07:00

Starting with the series "Free Educational Resource/ Website" where I would be sharing about many free interesting, comprehensive and highly useful educational websites that would help and benefit educators and students.

First in the series is Learners TV, http://www.learnerstv.com/ - a wonderful site having a huge collection of videos, courses, presentations, notes and animations. You name it and you will find it on this website. The collection is regularly updated and well thought of.

So, look no further and enjoy the collection on this site !!

World Teachers' Day - 5 Oct

2011-10-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

World Teachers’ Day, held annually on October 5th since 1994 - when it was created by UNESCO - celebrates teachers worldwide. Its aim is to mobilise support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers.

The theme for this year is "Teachers for gender equality"

Wish all a very Happy Teachers' Day !!!

More info on the same is available on the following links

In India the Teachers' Day is celebrated on 5 Sept in memory of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. It is all about celebrating "being a teacher".

Free Plagiarism Tools

2011-09-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a list of few useful Plagiarism tools that i discovered while preparing for a teacher's workshop on the same theme. The list contains tools that not only check for text-lifting but also duplication and blog post lifting. Hope readers find it useful.

Free Software for Students by Autodesk - 30 products for download

2011-02-23T00:45:00.000-08:00

I am back after a hiatus !

Sharing about free softwares for students by Autodesk. The softwares could be downloaded at http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center . There are about 30 softwares available for download from the site. Its out and out meant for students only and cannot be used for teaching. Read the instructions before starting to download/ use the software(s).

Indeed a wonderful range for students.

ONLINE FILE EXTENSION INFO UTILITY

2010-01-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Somewhat related to my previous post on free online utility on file extension, here is another one. FILE INFO, www.fileinfo.com . With very neatly placed categories on the home page, this is a good online utility to find about any file type ( on extension basis).

A good time saver utility !

ONLINE UTILITY TO OPEN ANY FILE

2010-01-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

Got to know about this highly useful utility, OPENWITH, www.openwith.org. There are times when one gets stuck with a file having an alien extension. This is where this online utility would come very handy by providing one with the free programs that would help open the particular file. With the Category and Description option, it is indeed a helpful tool.

A very useful time saver utility indeed !

ANOTHER ONLINE SURVEY AND POLL TOOL

2010-01-17T10:53:00.000-08:00

In my quest for a perfect tool, tried my hands at another online survey and poll tool, Glow Day.
With its range of page based poll options, it is indeed a good tool and i tried in on my website as well. The tool offers the following options

text poll
picture poll
video poll
results in a graph format, which could be embedded in website, blog, etc.

Though the tool may not have a very appealing user interface and not so friendly login/ sign in option, still is useful.

A good tool to try !

STICK FIGURE TOOL - STYKZ

2010-01-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

For all the stick figure animators, Here's another Stick Figure Animation Tool, STYKZ. Must say, its an excellent tool and better than the other stickfigures. A very neat tool and with a rich user interface. It is a multi-platform tool.

The features are just too many to list. So pasting a screenshot from the site itself.

Enjoy the Tool !!!

ONLINE TEACHING TOOL

2010-01-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

EDOBOARD is an excellent online/ live teaching tool with lot of support built in to facilitate teachers/ tutors. Signing and Starting a Class is very simple. The tool/ site offers many wonderful features such as

Web Cam
Chat
Board Captures
Shared Scribble Board
Equations, Graphs, other tools.
Exercises, public and private
Calendar
Shared images and files

Indeed a wonderful tool. So, don't waste time and get started soon.

COMPREHENSIVE RESOURCE ON 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

2010-01-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

These days "21st Century Skills" is the buzz. With every educator talking about building "21st century skills' in learners, it is very important to have a proper understanding and clarity about the same. Mentioned here is indeed an excellent and a very comprehensive online resource on "21st Century Skills".

21st Century Skills is an excellent site with a number of highly useful resources. There are a number of downloadable resources ranging from Frameworks to Guides. The site features various publications and guides to download and use.

A must visit for anybody wanting to know and learn about 21st Century Skills.

VISUAL THINKING TOOL

2010-01-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Sharing about a Visual Thinking website/ tool, WebSpiration, an online site that allows to create various visual tools like Idea Maps, Concept maps, etc. It is a good collaborative tool to visually brainstorm, organise, comprehend, communicate information, ideas, concepts, etc.

A very user-friendly site with lot of support and help for the users. A special section for Educators to highlight how educators could benefit by using the tool. Then there are menu options like 'Visual Thinking' to help you better understand the concept and philosophy behind it, 'Tips and Tricks' which very nicely explains how one can use it for different purposes like Brainstorming, Project Planning, etc. Another menu option is 'Examples' which highlight ready made examples of using the tool.

A good tool to try and use as "Visual Thinking" definitely has a better impact on learning.

ONLINE SURVEY CREATION TOOL

2010-01-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Tried Survey Monkey, a free online survey cum questionnaire tool. The tool is quite handy and useful. Though restricted in many options, the free account still offers a range of features to to help build/ create a good survey or questionnaire.

Be cautious to use the free account in the following ways :

no. of questions as the free account restricts it to only 10
some additional options like splitting, etc. available only with pro version
few more
the survey ( at least the free one) is totally public, no way you can protect it or make it private

The tools does have the collection and analysis option.

Overall, a useful tool.

TOOL FOR QUOTING WEBSITE

2009-12-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

Here'a an interesting tool to quote any website. The online tool is kwout, http://www.kwout.com/

It is quite a simple tool to use. The beauty of this tool is that it allows you to take screenshot of any part of the webpage in the form of an ImageMap. This means the portion sut out from the webpage is retained with all its hyperlinks intact. Simply paste the link of the website you want to quote in the space provided and there it goes to display the mentioned website/ webpage for extraction.

Now, with the introduction of 'kwout everywhere', it surely helps quote anything on the website (blog, etc.) much easier and with a purpose. Look out for kwout everywhere on this blog of mine as well.

HIGHLY USEFUL RESOURCES BY 3M

2009-12-23T20:26:00.000-08:00

Writing about two highly useful reosurces by 3M.

In these times of "Climate Change", it becomes essential that the younger generation understand "living". The first resource is on Sustainaable Living, 3M Worldly Wise. Indeed a great site with separate sections for Teachers and Pupils. "Town Plan" is a great way to make pupils understand various concepts like Carbon Footprints, Renewable Energy, Recycling, etc. The Students also understand the applicability of these concepts in our daily living. It is real fun to browse through the " Town Plan" and understand things that matter to us for a "Sustainable Living". The teacher section has a range of Activity Worksheets to help teacher deliver the concept to pupils.

The second resource is 3M Streetwise, which is about "Child Road Safety" where there are three sections - for Pupils, Teachers and Parents. The resource has a range of options like Quiz, Science behind Safety, games, road safety knowledge, etc.
Though these resource are more applicable to UK and Ireland but still be relevant
for countries like India and others.

Hats off to 3M for such wonderful resources.

FREE CLIPARTS FOR TEACHERS

2009-12-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

Writing about an extremely useful site for free clipart images, www.fg-a.com

The site offers a good collection of free images with multiple categories and sections.

The site offers code to embed the cliparts blog, etc.

A good useful site