Classroom teachers around the country have worked to understand the ins-and-outs of distance learning and have been on the hunt for free online resources.
The good news is help is available! Many companies offer teachers free or discounted access to their online learning platforms. We have put together a list of free online resources for schools, educators, and administrators to help them navigate the formation of this new education landscape.
A new education landscape is forming and dozens of free online resources for schools are available for educators and administrators.
Whenever you are looking at utilizing a new online learning platform, it’s a good idea to check with your school and/or district to make sure it meets security and confidentiality guidelines. Zoombombing, where uninvited participants interrupt meetings, is prompting many schools and districts to take a closer look at how to protect students’ information. Northwestern University has shared guidelines for their staff to protect their meetings and respond to disturbances that you can apply to your own meetings. Knoji also released this list of tips for Teachers and Parents. If the resources on our list meet confidentiality requirements (FERPA, COPPA, etc.) we have listed that information in the description!
We will continue to monitor and update the resources listed here as new ones become available. Know of a resource we missed? Reach out to us at info@schoolchoiceweek.com to let us know.
For even more great content, check out our list of offline learning activities!
Seesaw
Seesaw is a platform that helps educators engage all learners, transform family engagement, and save time. Students explore a variety of tools to show what they know. Teachers then gain insights allowing them to meet students where they are. Connected families see student work and celebrate progress. Free Services Offered: Always Free
Start.me
Start.me enables teachers to create an easy start hub for their classroom. This start hub makes it easy for students to stay organized and access all their educational resources. With the Free Account you have access to unlimited pages, all essential widgets, the ability to import/export your data, and more. Free Resources Offered: Free account
Ziplet
Ziplet is a communication platform that allows teachers to collect structured feedback from their students about their learning experience and wellbeing. As a teacher, you can enable anonymous responses, schedule questions, and more. Your free teacher account gives you the ability to create 4 groups with up to 50 students per group. Free Services Offered: Free teacher account.
Zoom
Zoom is a video conferencing platform that allows for both video and audio conferencing. Zoom’s free license allows you to have an unlimited number of video meetings that up to 100 students can join. Be sure to check to see if Zoom meets security & confidentiality requirements for your school/district Free Services Offered: Free License.
How to Use: Visit Zoom’s website and register for a free account.
Classtime
Classtime is a solution for classrooms that complements in-class teaching with immediate feedback on students’ level of understanding. Classtime has an efficient assessment platform that gives immediate visibility of their learning progress and collaborative challenges. Free Services Offered: Upgrade to a FREE school license for two months.
How to Use: Fill out this form to get your free access today
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a whiteboard for remote learning. You can share video lessons, colalborate, or livecast your whiteboard. The Free plan allows one user to have up to three projects with 1 slide per project; export a video of up to 1 minute; access across devices; collaboration with voice chat; web video link sharing; and 500 MB of cloud storage space. Free Services Offered: Free account
How to Use: Sign up for your free account at ExplainEverything.com
Edpuzzle
Edpuzzle is a platform that allows you to take any video and make it interactive! As the teacher, you can track if your students are watching the videos you assign and how many times they’ve watched it. Edpuzzle is FERPA, COPPA, and CSPC compliant. Free Services Offered: The Basic plan is free and allows you access to video lessons, the ability to create your own videos, and storage for 20 videos.
Checkology
Checkology is a browser-based platform where middle school and high school students learn how to navigate today’s challenging information landscape by developing news literacy skills. The platform contains a host of features to help your students learn from Evaluation to Discuss Wall. The teacher guide comes with national standards alignment! Free Services Offered: Free platform access
How to Use: Visit the website and register for your account today!
Book Club for Kids
Book Club for Kids is a free, 20-minute podcast devoted to middle grade books and readers. There are over 105 episodes! Each show features a trio of students discussing a favorite book, an interview with the author, and a celebrity reading. Some of the podcasts come with curriculum for you to complete with your students. Free Services Offered: Free to download episodes.
How to Use: Visit the website to listen or you can download from any podcast subscription site
ClassDojo
ClassDojo is an online communications tool that has everything you need to stay connected with students and families. As an educator you can send direct messages to families, share lessons/announcements, and assign classwork to students. Free Services Offered: Always free for teachers.
Cisco Webex
CISCO Webex is a platform that assists you in teaching virtually. You can plan and teach your classes, while keeping students engaged. Your free Webex Meetings plan gives you meetings with up to 100 participants, HD video, screen sharing, and a personal room. Free Services Offered: Free Webex Meetings plan.
