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pdsounds.org offers a free sound library with a variety of interesting sound effects from a German bar to writing with an ink pen. The sound volunteers utilize recording equipment to capture hundreds of sounds for copyright free, public use and tag them with a set of tags that help in the search process. You do not need a membership to access the free sound files, and you are able to submit sounds to be added to the catalog. These sound effects are perfect for incorporation into presentations and videos. In my high school business education classroom, these sound effects will enhance our projects. For instance, if a student created a marketing video with still images of tea products, the tea pouring sound effect would be helpful. In commercials, the effects can be used to make the situation more lifelike...birds in the background of a kitchen scene, or cars in the background of a busy sidewalk. Students will enjoy searching the clip options and finding just the right combination. I give this site a 4 on a 1-5 scale, because of the variety of clips, the ability to post clips, and the ease of searching via tags and simple downloading. To improve, I would like to see thousands of sounds available for download.

FreeSFX offers over 450,000 sound effects, available for free MP3 download. The site requires a free membership to download, but no other costs are associated with the use of these sound effects. The effects are easy to navigate, as they are organized into alphabetized categories. In addition, a search bar makes locating a specific desired effect quick and easy. The enormous collection is sure to offer sound effects for teachers of all grades and subject areas.

Resources on this site are protected by International Copyright laws. Users are advised to refer to the End User License Agreement page in this site for when, where, and how you may use sound files - see: http://www.freesfx.co.uk/info/eula/

www.videezy.com is a site with 20 to 90 second video clips that are free for download.  The categories include water, culture, sports, and animals along with many other areas that could be beneficial in a video based project.  The video clips do not have sound and they will integrate into narrated projects very easily.   Teachers can use the video footage in their flipcharts to engage students into the content.  A video clip of the Hindenburg disaster lasts about a minute, but gives students a visual of what actually occurred.  These video clips can also serve as backgrounds for text pages as students create videos.   Even with the great free choices, the site will pull up clips that are not free.  Working with video is always more challenging than photos and so this will be better for older students to work with.  High school and maybe upper level middle school students would benefit from this site the most.

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. This site provides free music, photos and videos. The second criterion is it had to be a repository. Repositories are large storage spaces for indexing, retrieving and managing visual information. The user may find a database using any of the text-based meta-search engines. These were extremely helpful in locating the three sources used for evaluation. The third criterion used to evaluate online video and photo repositories was whether or not the content progressed into developing a visual information retrieval system. Some of the methods for retrieving digital images and videos were easier than others. Some queries used features such as colors, textures, shapes, motions and spatiotemporal compositions (Chang, Smith, Beigi, & Benitez, 1997). Lastly, the fourth criterion used to evaluate the online photo repositories was whether it had multimedia features. The repository databases classify information according to the domains that use them. For example, online repositories used by museums, libraries, archives and photo stock differ by the following features: 1) automation, 2) abstraction, 3) content collection, and 4) generability and categorization.

Users of this site should be advised that resources are royalty free. Please check the legal details on the following page: http://www.pond5.com/legal/

8 Helpful Assistive Technology Tools for you classroom

Soundbible.com is an audio source that provides copyright free sound effects and clips. It also provides royalty free sounds at only .10 per sound. This site would be great to explore if teaching a 10th grade world history or 11th grade U.S. history class. (It has sounds from specific war weapons/planes, etc.) However, it can be used with many other grades and students of varying abilities. It offers nature sounds, animal sounds, etc. These sounds can be used in a PowerPoint or other presentation and the sounds offered are great quality. Be sure to read the following before using their photos: http://soundbible.com/about.php .

The link provided is the hidden search engine provided by Google that will enable the user to search for copyright free images. This search engine can be used with a member from any audience but definitely those in the teaching sector. The wonderful part about this search engine powered by the Google Analytic team is that it searches multiple sites like http://www.teachnet.com/how-to/..., http://www.sxc.hu/, http://gallery.schoolcenter.com/, http://www.pics4learning.com/, and http://www.musicgraphicsgalore at one time. Once visited the search tool can even be added to your Google homepage or a blog or webpage. This feature is highly effected and can be utilized by the Advanced search tools in the regular search engine Google also provides. There is no fee to use or add this resource deeming it very effective and a needed resource. Suggested for K-20 sectors.

Sound Jay has an assortment of great sound clips to use in flip charts, presentations, or videos.  The sound clips are extremely realistic and so practical.  Students and teachers can really enhance their products with these well-placed sound bites. Did you know that fire had a sound?  Need a certain sound for a website button?  Students and teachers could use these very realistic sounds to accompany their video clips that do not have sound.  A literature class could have an audio assignment where the students create a scene from the book and these sounds would be the perfect addition to the podcast. The downloads are available in wav and mp3 format and they download very quickly.  The clips are typically very short and students might struggle with extending the sound in a loop.  The downloads are free, but there are a lot of advertisements and other "pay" options that might confuse younger users.  I would recommend this site for middle or high school students.

This is one of the best as a "copyright free" site for image files I found. The only restriction is that these items can not be contributed to other photo libraries (online or off line). The site is originally from England. There are several topics: animals, buildings, nature, places, technology, etc. All items are clear and appealing. (EX. Nature category has 92 pictures of mountains, rivers, flowers, plants, etc.) The file format is jpg with high resolution. A problem might occur when the image is linked to the URL or embedded because the website owner may delete or change the image at any time without notice. I recommend saving the image before using it. Lesson example: Science for 5th grade: 1. Direction: Examine the photo carefully and state how these stones were formed. What history do you see behind these stones? You need to observe the colors, shapes, and sizes of the stone. A group needs to gather knowledge learned in class and use it as evidence to support a group's decision. Resources are to be cited at the end of your paper. 2. Rubric: Final conclusion (2 points), Explanations and reasons well supporting the conclusion (5 points), Resources (texts or images used as evidence) (3 points) 3. Standard: S5CS6: Students will question scientific claims and arguments effectively. (GPS Scientific habits of the mind for 5th grade) A citation of the image I used for a science lesson is as follows. Stones. (n.d.). Coloured stones on a sandy beach. Retrieved from http://www.copyrightfreephotos.com/gallery/nature/3/104852203/

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free-music-program/ Royalty free music is a paid website that allows educational institutions free access to their website through their Free Music for Education Program. The major obstacle in using this website would be getting over the hurdle or having technology services approve the website and have a link placed on the school's website for students to obtain access. Teachers can use the website to teach students about the copyright rules and laws Once approved students of all ages would have a huge catalogue of sound effects and downloadable music and from a variety of genres at their fingertips. .

Educators who wish to use resources from this site need to visit this page: http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free-music-resources.html

Animation Factory is one of my most favorite animation related websites. It contains a variety of .jpg, and .gif. Users can set up an account for free however, they will have to pay for a membership. Once they have access to the objects, the user is able to use graphics at will for their needed purpose. It is royalty free as the author is not expected, other than their membership fees, to make additional payments if in fact they make money from their website, project, etc. that they produce. The intended audience are professionals in a plethora of fields. There are graphics displayed that are related to business, technology, education, healthcare and a number of other fields. There are three levels of membership. A gold membership is 59.95 and you have access to Animated Clipart, Media Elements, and Tiled Backgrounds. A platinum membership is 99.95 and users have access to all tools on the Gold level and Power Clipart, PowerPoint Backgrounds, PowerPoint Templates, and Video Backgrounds. Lastly, the pro membership is 199.95. The user has access to all tools on the gold and platinum level, and access to Flash, HD Video Backgrounds, Sound Effects, Sound and Music, and Video Elements. Each membership payment is good for one year from the start date. The quality of the graphics is phenomenal and can be used continuously on website, reports and etc. due to the high resolution provided by the website's download tools.

Users of resources on this site are advised to refer to the policy, web site terms, and licensing pages: http://www.animationfactory.com/en/company/policies.html, http://www.animationfactory.com/en/company/terms.html, http://www.animationfactory.com/en/company/licensing.html

Soundzabound is website that has royalty free music for schools. offers a variety of music, audio themes, and sound effects for all levels of education. Such music can be used for podcasts, PowerPoint, videos, video yearbooks, digital storytelling, web design, and so much more. There are different types of license that can be purchased. A school for purchase a site license for teachers and students or a the district make a purchase for everyone in the district to use. Middle schools and high schools would benefit from this site because they can use such sounds to create a product for competitive events.

This site provides free, stock video footage for users to download for commercial or personal use. This website though offers a different kind of stock video as well, motion graphics. Videvo offers a large library of basic motion graphics that are fantastic small additions or final edits to a video project. This site provides stock motion graphics that on the surface, seem very simple, yet are very complicated to build without knowledge of a program such as After Effects or Motion. The best audience for this site would be a high school broadcasting or a graphics class in which some high schools offer with basic skills of the programs previously mentioned. The quality of the video offered on Videvo is for the most part extremely well done. After some research on the site itself, some of the motion graphics do not always have great color detail or motion detail as you would expect in basic motion graphics. Those critiques though should not take away from the great graphics and stock video that is in fact offered on this site. Finally, although the footage and graphics are royalty-free, the website does require that the user attribute the Creative Commons License 3.0 to the author of the content where it is required. Basically, this means that not all of the content on this site requires any attribution whatsoever, but some do ask that users attribute through the Creative Commons License.

University of Iowa might move to Unizin, a data management and learning software that allows professors to share technology more fluidly. Unizin is also university owned and recreates the idea of educational software by skipping the large corporations

Freeplay Music is a wonderful site for downloading copyright-free music. It allows people to search by CD title, style of music, or feel/mood. Users can preview either a short snippet of the song (usually 30 seconds) or the song in its entire length. If the user doesn't like that particular song, s/he can continue scrolling through the suggested titles or click on other search options offered under the songs themselves. Once the person finds the song s/he wants to use, s/he has numerous options for download. All songs are downloaded as an MP3, but it is up to the individual to determine how much of the song s/he might want. The benefit of this site is its vast library. There are thousands of songs to choose from. The site states that all songs, with the exception of the Indie Artist section and the Sound Effects library, are available for educational use. The downside for the students is that it is mainly instrumental music. Students will try to search for contemporary "radio hits" and will come up short. I usually explain that those songs, while popular, often can be distracting to the video, slideshow, or website the student is creating. Freeplay Music offers a great selection of "background" music for educational projects. This site is perfect for middle school or high school. It could used by all subject areas as a supplemental component to almost any technology- based or Web 2.0 project. I can see Freeplay Music providing songs for Glogster, Prezi, Weebly, PhotoStory 3 for Windows, MovieMaker, or several other possible programs/sites.

Resources on this site do have restrictions for use. Please read the details in the terms of use page: http://freeplaymusic.com/licensing/termsofuse.php.

The United States Department of Agriculture image gallery provides public domain, high-quality images of animals, crops, food, field research, plants, and more. These images are generic in nature; they are more like stock photo images. This gallery is great for teaching young children about the different occupations in agriculture, the different animals on found on the farm, or the different type of crops we grow. Due to the simplicity of the photos, they would not be as effective with student past 5th grade. Whenever you go to download an image, there is a form asking how you plan to use it. This form is optional; you can download the image without using it.

National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library contains photographs of marine life. The content of this website would best be suited for High School and Jr. High School science classes. One area of interest on the website contains images of the human impact on marine life which could be useful for an Environmental Science class educating students on the effects of humans on our environment. The collection found on this website contains still images and some videos. The website lists that permission is granted to "any and all users (public domain)" for "unlimited uses." The images also include descriptions of the photos to help the user better understand the purpose of the photo.