10 Online Applications You Should be Looking At
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Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash |
In no particular order, here are 10 online applications to help you in your classroom or library!
1. Library of Congress
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Ungerer, Tomi, Artist. |
- Link: https://www.loc.gov/
- Grade(s): Middle to High School
- Use: Historical public domain media
- Price: Free
The Library of Congress has a plethora of EVERYTHING. I'm talking audio, newspapers, images, films, music, periodicals, personal narratives, art, and more! It contains a lot of content that is older (aka so old it automatically goes into the public domain — meaning it's free to use), but you can find some gems with what you are looking for. You just have to take your time to conduct a proper search.
2. Public Domain Image Archive
- Grade(s): Middle to High School
- Use: Historical public domain images
- Price: Free
Nicely designed website that allows you to filter through about 10,000 historical images (aka so old it automatically goes into the public domain — meaning it's free to use), but it also links to where its original collection resides. Includes not only additional information about the image, but also allows the viewer to digitally "flip" through the publication the image originates from.
3. Unsplash
- Link: https://unsplash.com/
- Grade(s): Upper Elementary to High School
- Use: Modern photos, free to use with attribution
- Price: Free & subscription is for unlimited downloads and a few other benefits
Professional level photos, illustrations, and digital creations that are free to download and use (as long as you credit the artist). Not only does it have a good search functionality, but it has predetermined search filters that can help students find what they may be looking for quicker. And each photo has helpful tags that can easily expand your search to find new photographs.
4. Doodle
- Link: https://doodle.com/en/
- Grade(s): Elementary to High School & Faculty
- Use: Group polling, meeting coordinating, event organizing, and calendar integration
- Price: Free trial & subscription
Easy group polling, meeting coordinating, event organizing, and calendar integration all in one place without multiple email threads. Allows invites to be sent to multiple email addresses and sends reminders for unanswered emails.
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Photo by Cookie the Pom on Unsplash |
- Grade(s): Elementary to High School & Faculty
- Use: Ask questions, get responses
- Price: Free with Google email
Set up questions, quick quizzes, or polling and have results aggregated into Google Sheets. A great way to receive unique answers to your personalized questions. Also can be integrated to create fun Digital Breakouts or have students participate in March Madness voting!
6. QR Code Generator
- Grade(s): Elementary to High School & Faculty
- Use: Allow students and faculty to access anything by scanning a QR code
- Price: Free
Generate QR codes for URLs, PDFs, images, and more so students and faculty have quick access to your resources and don't have to type out a long URL or follow a link tree. Paste in your links or files and the generator will create a QR code for you to download! Students or faculty must have access to a smart phone, tablet, or computer with camera and internet accessibility in order to scan.
7. Zamzar
- Link: https://www.zamzar.com/
- Grade(s): Middle to High School & Faculty
- Use: Convert file extensions
- Price: Subscription
Convert document, image, audio, video, ebook, etc. files into other extensions in one place. You don't need access to photo, video, audio, or coding software as this application does all the converting for you.
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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash |
8. Krita
- Link: https://krita.org/en/
- Grade(s): High School
- Use: A paint program similar to Photoshop and Illustrator
- Price: Full version free to download, paid supports new versions and gives you access to automatic updates
A powerful, free program that allows the user to create their own illustrations and animations. Would be a great application for your creative students who need a better (free) outlet to express their creativity or make a project more their own. Also boasts an online artist community where people can share their creations.
9. Thingiverse
- Grade(s): High School
- Use: A library of 3D designs for 3D printing
- Price: Free (creating an account allows you to save favorites)
Find almost anything you want to print in 3D in the Thingiverse library. It has toys, tools, parts, and everything else you might need for a project under the creative commons licenses. Downloading the files allows you to add it to your favorite 3D modeling software and adjust any attribute you want. It's a great way to begin a 3D project if you don't know where to start.
10. NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
- Grade(s): Upper Elementary to High School
- Use: Students can use prompts to encourage writing and possibly write a novel
- Price: Free (Educator accounts can link classrooms)
Bring National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) into your classroom! The NaNoWriMo program encourages creative writing with fun prompts, worksheets, and curriculum for students to explore their writing. What students learn with creative writing can be carried over into all aspects of their education. They may even come out of it with their own novel!
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Photo by "My Life Through A Lens" on Unsplash |
How fun would it be for students to get feedback on their ideas through Google Forms; write a novel through NaNoWriMo; create illustrations with Krita; create cover art with the Library of Congress, Public Domain Image Archive, or Unsplash; convert their document files to eBook files with Zamzar; share their books through QR codes from QR Code Generator; make 3D models of their characters with support from Thingiverse; and use Doodle to find the best time to create a gallery show of everyone's work! That sounds like a match made in your classroom.
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