Copyright Free Resources

This website is of the form of a blog. The material itself is a collection of royalty-free photos. Mostly, I could see these photos reaching a mature level of students in grades 9-12. I also think that these students would have a less difficult time finding resources that they would actually be able to incorporate it into an educational setting. The photos on photos8.com are priced at $5 each. The quality of the work that can be found through categories and sub-categories are well worth the price.

The images (photos and graphics) are available for FREE use within this site which is a teacher-designed resource for by teachers and their students; however, other use must gain permission. A slight risk (especially for minors) is the button that reads "Become an EduPic Host click here for more details" is a potential risk, because physical communication is sought by the web creator. This is an opportunity to have someone come stay in your home and possibly a camera man in order to come capture the scenery and have it posted on Edupic (the host receives a blurb/mentioning on the site). There is a section that allows you to quick search using hotlinks in order to quickly access related lists of images. Once you find a desired image, functions allow you to view a larger image, copy/save the image, copy the image URL, or find the image on Google (so you can find primary source information). There are cartoon-like images and real-life images, which can be used over a wide range of grade levels (K-12). The site also offers information on the Contributor's and provides access to the EduPic Blog.

EduPic Graphical Resource was created by a teacher and is a free image resource for educators and their students. There are over 6,000 different photos and illustrations to pick from. Most of the images seem to be geared toward middle and high school science and history classes; however, there are a few images for other subjects. A few examples of how I can see this resource being used would include a high school US History class studying Abraham Lincoln or washington monuments or a 7th grade Life Science class learning about biomes. The only downside I can see to this resource is that the main focus is on science and history so it would be limiting for certain subjects or grade levels.

School Clip Art: a free educational clipart resource. After reviewing this resource, I see it being beneficial for elementary age students and teachers. Teachers can use the clip art in their presentations, worksheets, and lesson plans. In addition, students can use the clip art to complete their assignments. The images are easy to save for both Windows and Mac users. The clipart is free, teachers and students just have to reference the website in order to use it. There are many categories to pick from and navigating the site is very easy. The only challenge I see is that the clipart would not work well for students over 5th grade because of the cartoon like nature of the images.

WPClipart is a collection of images for students and others that is free of copyright concerns as well as safe from inappropriate images. There are currently 50,526 images on the site. I can see students in grades K-12 using this resource. The site is easy to navigate and search for images. There are tons of categories such as medical images, geography images, historical figure images, computer images, and on and on which is why I see this being helpful to all students grades K-12 and all subjects. Unlike some clipart sites, there are images on this site that are not cartoon like making them better for older students. According to the terms and conditions, the site is Public Domain and the images can be used and edited. No direct user-uploaded images are allowed. The only concern I see is that this site is trying to get donations through PayPal which I haven't seen on other sites.

This resource is for usage of images that could down loaded for the classroom. It could be utilized for making craft projects or graphics for science in the fourth grade. It has graphic photos of animals, insects, plants, and more. It could be useful to other elementary grade levels if they are creating animal or insect habitats and ecosystems. It could be used for other subjects as well. This is a royalty free website where all clip art images are free, with the exception of the banner, and any photographs that will be utilized for resale or pleasure purposes. It is also suggested that the use of more than six of the images not be used on one project. Images may be sold as collage sheets or pintable's as long as the six image rule is adhered to.

This resource is for video usage. All of the videos are for the public domain. The resources are free of use. The videos must not be utilized to imply National Park endorsement of a service, product, organization or individual with permission of the National Park Service. You are free to use these videos without a release from the National Park Service. Most of the videos are downloadable or zip compressed Quick TimeH.264 movie clips. The clips can be video editing applications, websites, and projects. This is a great resource for fourth and fifth grade social studies when teaching about the Civil War and Revolutionary War. It's great to assist in learning about monuments, battlefields and historical sites through video.

This is a resource for music. It will allow usage of videos, music, and images and other content for free. It offers free copyright license that is available for any use. Songs and copies of music could be made for friends. They could also be used in videos. This resource could be used in upper elementary, middle, and high school. It could be used to help students create Animoto videos or digital stories in different content areas with music backgrounds. It legally allows people to share music. There may some stipulations to music that is licensed under a No Derivative Works license which prohibits transforming or changing the music. This resource can be used for anyone. It is a copyright free resource. : 

Olga's Gallery is a site created "as a project to help children learn the history of painting, religion, and literature" by Olga and Helen Mataev. It has over 10,000 images of historic works of art that literature teachers would find immensely helpful. For instance, if you're teaching W. H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts," having access to Pieter Breugel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus is vital to understanding the message Auden's trying to send.  Olga's Gallery Copyright Policy: Use of all artwork on the website is governed by the terms of the Fair Use doctrine of United States copyright law as being non-profit and educational in nature. Our mission is to promote the understanding and appreciation of art worldwide. Olga's Gallery is operated on a strictly not-for-profit basis, and all proceeds from advertising and affiliate sales is used to maintain and expand the gallery. We purposely use low-resolution images on our website to prevent potential unlawful for-profit use of the artwork. 

Discover Yale Digital Content's site contains images from Yale's museum collections. The site describes itself as "a way to search across Yale's collections of art, natural history, books, and maps, as well as photos, audio, and video documenting people, places, and events that form part of Yale's institutional identity and contribution to scholarship." Often literature is intimately connected to history and historical events, art work, geography, etc. Using these images can help students form connections with the time in which a particular work of literature was written, helping to deepen their knowledge.  Discover Yale's copyright policy: "The mission of Yale University is to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge. Increasingly, this knowledge is in digital form. The Discover Yale Digital Content site is intended to promote discovery of digital content from across the University. Yale's policy on open access to digital representations of works in the public domain from museum, library, and archive collections is a commitment to provide unrestricted access to such content as it becomes available through normal work practices. Yale University will not restrict use of items digitized from its museums, libraries and archives collections which have been made openly available through the University's electronic interfaces, and which are no longer under copyright, except where other rights or restrictions apply."

The William Blake Archive is a digital repository of images of the works and paintings of Romantic poet William Blake. Many people familiar with Blake's works, such as "The Tyger" or "Jerusalem" are unaware that the poet was just as much a painter and artist as he was a writer. Blake's images are meant to go along with his works, as he hand painted and produced his own folios. It's just as important for students studying Blake to become familiar with his watercolors as they are with his verse.  The Archive's copyright policy: "The Archive as a whole, its texts, and its images are protected under the copyright laws of the United States and the Universal Copyright Convention. Publication (print or electronic) or commercial use of any of the copyrighted materials without direct authorization from the copyright holders is prohibited. The copying of materials from the Blake Archive is permitted only under the fair use provisions of copyright law. You do not need to acquire permission to use Archive materials for in-class teaching purposes, school projects, and assignments. Nor do you need to request our permission to link to the Archive, or to individual items within the Archive. We prefer that your links to the Archive be targeted to our home page (http://www.blakearchive.org) and that any links to individual items within the Archive be accompanied by a link to this home page."

I re-located this resource, that has been around since the year 2000, while searching for AUDIO files for adding to multimedia presentations for but, the site also advertises that, "you can find over 1,000 pages of free resources, tutorials, PowerPoint templates and backgrounds, graphics, sounds for presentations and much more for everyday use and productivity." The sound clips are simple enough for students in grades 5 - 12 to use however, many of the other resources are probably more appropriate for educators. After brief teacher modeling, middle & high school students could easily click on the midi sound files, listen to the preview that opens in Windows Media Player, right-click on the sound title they wanted, "save-target-as" to a file, and insert the free sound clips into their multimedia presentations. Students will also appreciate the wide variety of clear-quality, relevant sounds, a few of which sound like renditions of background hip-hop/rap music that I believe they would enjoy like, "Dr. Tekno," "Nightfunk," and "R&B Bassbeat." In the "Terms of Use" the owner, Nan Shastry, states that "items marked 100% free" can be downloaded free for "personal or business or educational use" but users may not resell downloads, make available as downloads on your website, or link to items without prior permission. While the sound files and many other resources are 100% free, students who try to branch out and download many of the PowerPoint backgrounds or animated graphics will encounter zip file popups that ask/require them to evaluate "WinRAR" software for a 40-day trial before purchasing it, to continue using the download. Educators could mitigate this problem by distributing a list of preferred download link titles from the site that students could easily access without any difficulty or, by simply instructing them to click "cancel" or "close" on any of the downloads that require purchasing.

This online repository includes hundreds of copyright-free graphics that would be worthwhile for middle-high school students & educators to use to add a multitude of interesting "bells & whistles" to their word documents, multimedia presentations, or websites. In my 5th-8th grade Library Media Center, social studies students are currently completing PowerPoints presenting their research about assigned Middle Eastern countries. I can foresee allowing students who have finished adding all assigned subject content to their slides, use this site to add "spinning globe" bullets, horizontal rule section dividers in the shape of "International Flags" or "Palm Trees," and "Textured Sand" backgrounds. All of the graphics were easy to navigate to from a large table on the index page and everything I experimented with downloaded and inserted easily, the quality of the images was excellent, and many of the animations would be relevant for school assignments. In the "Terms of Use" section, the creators advertise that, "Bellsnwhistles.com graphics are free for your use and if you use them we ask that you PLEASE DOWNLOAD what you need…Do Not link to our graphics." I did not encounter anything on the site that required royalty fees or additional software to load before gaining access. The only problem educators might want to mention to students before using is to make sure they insert only school-appropriate graphics…while nothing on the site was unsuitable for student-viewing, there was a "Foaming Beer Mug" divider and "Dripping Blood" Halloween images that students would need to avoid downloading into projects.

This online database contains very high-quality "Public Domain," "Copyright-Free" photographs that are easily accessible from 10 different category divisions on the "Gallery Index" page; Abstract, Architecture & Cityscapes, Food & Drinks, Industrial & Machinery, Miscellaneous, Nature, Sports & Recreation, Technology, Textures & Backgrounds, and Travel. In the "Terms of Use" statements, the creators state that "Picdrome.com is a growing Public Domain digital photography collection, free of copyright and licensed under Creative Commons…all images are free to download for personal, educational and commercial use, without restriction." They also advise users to check the "Disclaimer" statement link regarding any additional licenses; however, in the disclaimer statement there didn't appear to be any other restrictions listed. Students in upper Elementary school through High school would be able to easily navigate and download these photographs that were relevant to project work they were completing. For example, my Middle School students would greatly benefit from the close-up photos of food from all of the food groups in this repository, when they complete "Family & Consumer Science" class projects that present visual examples of nutritionally balanced menus. The only problematic portion of the website is the banner advertisement located directly below the title/search box and right above the category links…it often advertises products and sites that require purchasing but, the banner looks so much like the website heading that it is easily clicked on by "mistake." Educators would need to forewarn students of this obstacle before giving them free reign of the site's valuable images.

Teacher Tap is much like what this group has collaborated to do. It is an online repository that list several other resources that those in the education field can you to locate copyright free and royalty free images, clip art, text, and music. It can be used for anyone in an education setting and for some personal use. Upon review of the site, all links lead to relevant sources that can be used individually or in conjunction with another. The home page provides the sources in a broken down list format and even identifies the sites that have varying restrictions. I chose this site a something to be used because it provided another list of multiple sources that should be bookmarked. Additionally the content appears to be better for those in a K-12 setting but can still prove very resourceful to those that are in a collegiate setting as well. This is a great source to other sources. There is absolutely no fee for access to the compiled list provided.

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.

It's as simple as joining the team. The Copyright Alliance Foundation has complied a library of free curricula to be used in the classroom that actually teach copyright education and can be incorporated across many subjects and grade levels. This is a wonderful tool for instructors who not only have to be careful with adhering to copyright guideline themselves but should always ensure their students have the same understanding and knowledge to adhere to copyright guidelines in media and literacy. The library of curriculum breaks downs activities by grade levels and is catered for grades K-12. This is a robust tool that gives resources but also gives links where to find more resources from the free curriculum they provide like those suggested at www.isafe.org. . This tool is a must for anyone in the K-12 setting. While the site does request donations they are not mandatory and usage of the curricula do not carry any fees.

This website is a government site, so it is a public domain and provides all resources including photos, videos, animations and podcasts for free to the public. The acronym USGS stands for United States Geological Survey, which means the photos and resources on this site pertain to elements of the geologic structure in the U.S. This site would be useful for all audiences of school age in grades 4-12. I chose that range because with the real-life depictions of our country's geography, it could easily bore and audience that was any younger. They are excellent quality resources and precise photography at our disposal for nothing out of pocket.

This is a very free and very useful websites with various photos. This website could be useful for the out of the box thinkers. I see this website being used especially for teaching the many concepts that we have learned this semester.

Timetoast is a place to create timelines that you can add to your blog or website. You can create historical timelines of important events, or build a timeline of your vacation. Time toast is a website that allows a person to create an interactive timeline. I would use this to show information as an interactive study guide. Or I would use it to post on my blog so that students can review the information that was presented during the course of a particular unit of study. A difficulty of this site is that it may be blocked by the school district technology department.