Group items tagged

This website has an abundance of royalty-free material available. The material resources offered range from photos, illustrations, as well as video clips. This website could best reach a wide-spread audience from K-12, and I mainly say that due to the variety that is offered. Also, there is an option to search by photographer or artist. So, if there is a particular style of art or artist that an educator may be most supportive of, or comfortable choosing work from, this will help filter out all others. The photos are arranged in a form of galleries which makes searching for photos much neater and concise, and the price range is from $2.50- $10 depending on the size. The qualities of the resources are superb. They contain great color quality, photo/video aspect, and variety.

This is a group at MIT that produce educational and entertaining Science videos. They also have a youtube channel with more videos posted. These instructional videos can be used in all grades, though they do seem to focus more on the high school level. These would be great to use to introduce new concepts or to complement a larger lesson. Some limitations with this would be the choice of content and the depth of content. They look like they haven't been making videos for very long, so the selection is limited. They also go fairly in depth into the subject matter, so it may be beyond the scope of a lesson that you are intending.

Originally shared by Julia Hollins on 15 Jul 13. The original post was removed and this one shared instead, due to technical issue with the original post. Webtools and resources for online educators. Digital images and video were the first two forms of this communication and have played an integral part of human interaction. The ease of creating and capturing digital imagery has enabled proliferation, making our interactions with online learning sources largely visual. With that being said, the content to express ideas through music, visuals or other forms of art has contributed to the proliferation of online repositories (Chang, Smith, Beigi, & Benitez, 1997). Visual imagery and information is assessed and evaluated according to multiple forms (e.g., still images, video, sequences, computer graphics, animations and stereoscopic images), which extend to multi-view devices and 3D videos. This was one of the reasons why the following websites were selected for this discussion and evaluation (Chang, Smith, Beigi, & Benitez, 1997).

In completing a work-related project, I found some great sites that assist educators in locating open educational resources. The Orange Grove Digital Repository is one of those resources. If you have not used it before, it is a repository of instructional resources. It can be integrated with a Learning Management System and educators can import resources directly from a teacher's LMS. The collection of resources consists of open textbooks and open courseware. There are resources for higher education and K -12, both of which contain categories that are easy to navigate. Among the available content: videos, presentations, audio, spreadsheets, syllabi, assessments, and images.

This website is designed or educators and students of all levels. The videos are all under five minutes so a teacher can find a video related to the discussion of the lesson and the video will not drain the attention of the students. The benefit of this website is the variety of videos, there is something for everybody and every subject with it all being free. There is also a search bar with topics that makes it more convenient. What I found that made it difficult is the search bar on top blends in to the background so it will not stand out right away when you look to search for a topic.

Pics4Learning.com has free images for educational use.  This site is useful for K-12 and has many different categories of images.  The images have photographer information, location, and date taken.  There is even a citation available in the image information to assist students with the proper information to give the photographer credit.  This would be extremely useful for younger students to learn how to cite their findings.  The site also allows easy download for Windows, Macintosh, Android, and iPad devices.  Users can also save directly to Google Drive.  Our system now has Google Drive accounts for all of our students and so there is no need for flash drives any more! The images found here would be great for foreign language classes.  Students and teachers alike could use these specific images to work with vocabulary presentations or reviews.  Science classes could use the animal images for classification.  Teachers using flipchart software could create containers for the images to be moved to by the students. The only issue I can foresee with this site is the number of images available.  Users might not be able to find exactly what they are looking for.  Fortunately, educators are able to take photographs and contribute them to the website.  This could be beneficial to teachers and students.

Pics4Learning is a safe, free image library for education. Teachers and students can use the copyright-friendly photos & images for classrooms, multimedia projects, websites, videos, portfolios, or any projects in an educational setting. I can see Pics4Learning being used for all grades. There are pictures of animals which would be good for science classes, pictures of countries that could be beneficial to social studies classrooms, and pictures broken down by subject including math and reading. Students could use these pictures for any of their projects, videos, or portfolios. I can also see teachers getting ideas from the "education" section under popular collections. I do not foresee any problems or challenges with this site. The pictures are easy to download and the option to cite each image. You just select whether you are downloading for Windows, Mac, iPad, or Android.

8 Helpful Assistive Technology Tools for you classroom

KidsKnowIt is a copyright free video and audio repository that provides users with a variety of free educational videos and resources. No membership is required to access any resources. The website is user-friendly and provides videos and resources for grades 1-8, in several different content areas. Therefore, this repository will work best in a 1-8 educational setting. In addition, it will be extremely helpful in a science classroom, to assist with introducing acids and bases.

This resource specializes in stock footage from around the world. All of the video clips are free to download and to use. There is no subscription or user login required in order to use the footage. This feature makes it ideal to use for educators looking to provide their students with a ready source of footage that they can use for their multimedia presentations. Students interested in media production and editing could create some fantastic presentations, especially if they have access to editing software and a green screen. The more advanced applications of the video clips could be used by high school students, but I could also see middle school aged students utilizing various clips to help with creating presentations for World History or Biology classes. For example, in my 7th grade Life Science class we do a project on the biomes of the world. Students could use the video files from the "Animal Footage" section to incorporate dynamic visuals into their reports. Students could also use footage from different continents to visually identify the various biomes for the class. Modeling of how to download, edit and embed the videos would be necessary to ensure that the students experience success with this resource, but that is just a matter of scheduling instruction time prior to the final projects being completed. The website is very easy to navigate and all clips are easily imported into any editing platforms. This feature makes it easy to use for educators who may have a variety of software on their school computers, depending on which school system they work in.

To use resources from this site, you will be required to pay an annual fee - at the time of this entry, $25.

WatchKnowLearn is a copyright free video repository that provides users with a variety of free educational videos. Users do not have to signup for a free membership, unless they wish to upload and share videos. The website is well organized and provides videos for grades K-8, in several different content areas. Therefore, this repository will work best in a K-8 educational setting. In addition, it will be exceptionally beneficial in a math and science classroom to introduce new concepts.

SHMOOPDOTCOM:At Shmoop, they work for kids, not just the bottom line. Founded by David Siminoff and his wife Ellen Siminoff, Shmoop was originally conceived to generate a love of learning in kids, who were still learning with the same tools that they had used when they were in school. Every day we provide 10 million + users consistent, reliable support for their 21st century educational needs. This is currently a Channel on Youtube.com They have 524 videos on varying topics ranging from elementary to ACT and SAT prep. This is a great resource. One challenge in using this resource is of course taking time to find what you need. This might be a challenged for the overworked educator. The owners of this Channel are working on organizing the videos to be useful to its users. Math teachers, English teachers look out this resource is full of videos to be used in your classroom. We used the following video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAai4HTxYZM in class this week when discussing Irrational Numbers in Math. More resources can be found a www.shmoop.com 1 post for the UWG Photographers

Motion Elements provides some nice background stock footage, some computer generated background footage and some title imagery. Examining the site in closer detail, I would describe the target audience for this site to be fairly universal. While scanning through the vast offerings I did not see any content that I would deem "inappropriate". I would suggest, however, that older students have an easier time with the general concept of video production that younger students, so this site may benefit them more. The free videos are of very good quality, but there are only about 5 pages of them. If you want to diversify your options, then videos can cost from $20 to $50, so I would stay with the free ones. One the plus side, the free clips do contain high definition (HD) content. If they have something you can use, you will be highly pleased with the quality. From a technical standpoint, the video clips that I downloaded to try were all in .mov format. .mov is an extension associated with Apple and its QuickTime platform, so use of these clip on Apple products, Macs for example, is certainly possible. However, I was able to easily add downloaded clips into Windows Movie Maker for editing as well with absolutely no hiccups, whatsoever. This means that not only will teachers and students benefit from easily downloaded clips covering a vast variety of subjects, they should have no difficulty using the clips on any computer platform they may be limited to in their educational setting.

This is a copyright free/royalty free website that has a nice collection of free videos for all subject areas; these resources are appropriate for K-12. They are arranged by subject area so it makes it easy to find what you are looking for. While there are numerous free videos at your disposal, you also have the option of signing up for an account for a small yearly fee. This gives you access to even more resources such as lessons, quizzes, games, and puzzles. Also, with a subscription comes the ability to create presentations using images from their collection.

Science Daily: This site offers libraries for a very large variety of science topics. The site is intended to extend research on science topics. Depending on the particular science concept, I feel that the content offered in this site is suitable for middle school aged students and high school aged students. This site only focuses on science concepts so it would only be good for the subject of science. The photo's and videos are royalty-free. When you email the videos, they will email the URL that will take the viewer to the webpage for the video. The actual .mp4 file will not email. It is more so available for free streaming purposes and not downloadable purposes. Needless to say, the content is still very useful for education.

Edupics offers free downloadable coloring pages, pictures, and photographs.  The website images are clearly classified and easy to navigate.  There are word search and crossword puzzle image downloads, which would benefit primary and middle grades. There is even a collection of school appropriate animated videos. The color online tools available appear to target the primary age group, however, there is a variety of content appropriate for making any subject interactive. The only limitation I see to this site, in comparison to others is the limited content available.

Free coloring pages, crafts, drawings and photographs. Children can use these images to learn about many different subjects. Pictures for educational use. This site is loaded with pictures, ways to create coloring pages, already created coloring pages, puzzle maker, games, and crafting ideas. This site is geared to the k-5 education setting. You can do a multitude of activities with this site and the resources available. The pictures can be used for any activity. There is no fee listed, and you do have to create a login.

This website is loaded with opportunities for teachers. It is a very well organized, searchable website that contains pictures that may be colored, photos, black and white printables, crafts. This site is Great for all grade levels pre-K through high school. For social studies teachers, it has religious categories, history, famous people... Science- animals, energy, environment and more... Language arts- emotions, fairy tales, film and television...

This is free educational blogging site. It could be used for any subject and grade level, but it is probably best for students ranging from 3-12 and higher education. It contains images, videos, audio, and visuals. This online resource allows students and teachers to collaborate, share thoughts and ideas, and so much more! There are tools within this site that allow you to upload quizzes, set due dates, and post assignments or required readings from the web. This website can be used to facilitate discussions about lessons you teach in class. For example, after reading a story or book with your students, the teacher can pose an open-ending discussion question on the blog. Students would then be asked to answer the question during center time or even for homework. Other students in the class will be able to read and respond to each other's posts to create a rich discussion. Teachers can also use the blog to post upcoming events, tests, or quizzes in the classroom and parents can use it to stay informed. Teachers can also use the website to post videos, podcasts, and documents they create. Students are able to view these things at home. This is especially helpful when parents are unsure how to help their child with homework because they do not understand the concept you taught that day. For example, if you introduce a new concept in math and assign homework that night, parents and students can watch a lesson you recorded to get a better understanding of the material. Using Edublogs is a safe and easy way to integrate technology in the classroom! As I reflect, I think about the possible difficulties this resource could possess. Being that it is not a program you can purchase and install on your computer, problems could occur with the being able to connect. Since it is a resource that anyone could use, a lot of people can be on the website at one time and cause it to "crash" or free up. Also, I think about routine maintenance or updates that must be d