It's that time of year again! And as the summer draws to an end, it's time to look forward to some exciting (and free!) edtech tools and resources! This year's collection has a few classics from previous years, and some new additions as well. I hope you find this collection helpful, and best of luck to everyone in the new school year!
If you're interested in checking out the lists from previous years, here they are:
If you're interested in checking out the lists from previous years, here they are:
2019 - 2020's List of Free Classroom Apps
Flipgrid
Flipgrid is a K-12 resource that is designed to promote open discussion between all students within your classroom. Teachers post topics, videos, or links for discussions and students respond to the prompt and to each other with short video reflections. It’s a wonderful resource, and best of all, after Microsoft purchased Flipgrid last summer, all features are now completely free for teachers and students!
Project Pals
Project Pals is an excellent collaboration platform that schools can use for all types of student-centered learning activities, including project-based learning (PBL). Project Pals provides an online space where teachers and students can collaboratively work through projects, so long as they have a device with an internet connection. Teachers can get started with a free plan that includes up to 20 projects and 50 students, which is a great way to begin exploring the resource in your classroom.
Kapwing
Kapwing is an online video, image, and GIF editor that is incredibly simple to use. It’s an excellent tool for both teachers and students who are looking to trim videos, add subtitles, create memes, or any other type of simple video production activity. The free version of Kapwing includes all features, and finished products just contain a minor watermark. Plus, teachers and students don’t even need an account to use Kapwing!
Boomwriter
BoomWriter is an online collaborative writing tool for upper elementary and secondary students. It’s currently in use in over 40,000 classrooms, across 50 countries. BoomWriter offers three separate tools for helping students develop their writing skills: StoryWriter, WordWriter, and ProjectWriter. The best part: all are available for teachers without limitation on BoomWriter’s free plan.
Screencastify
For any teacher or technology leader who has ever needed to record your screen, you know that this can sometimes be a more difficult task than imagined. Fortunately, tools like Screencastify make this process incredibly simple and straightforward. For anyone using a Chrome browser, you can install Screencastify’s free extension, and quickly begin creating screencasts. While the free plan does have some limitations, you can still do quite a bit!
Quill.org
Quill.org is a free tool that is designed to help K-12 students develop their writing skills by providing activities and feedback as they progress through a variety of activities. Quill.org offers a wide variety of learning opportunities from practice, to lessons, to diagnostics, to grammar, and even proofreading is now available. Best of all, it's a completely free tool!
Quizizz
Quizizz is a Kahoot alternative, with a few awesome additions and differences that really make it stand out as a great tool for K-12 classrooms. Like Kahoot, Quizizz is free, meant to be used for classroom quizzes, and can be accessed from any student device that has internet access. Quizizz also offers a homework mode, where students can work through quizzes at their own pace, plus, they now integrate with Google Classroom as well!
CommonLit
CommonLit is a completely free literacy resource design for 3rd - 12th grade classrooms. The resource is accessible on any internet-enabled device and offers a growing collection of literacy resources, questions, and tools for helping students improve their ELA skills. Overall, CommonLit is incredibly user friendly, and for a free resource, it offers a wealth of possibilities for the classroom. You can see their 2018 Impact Report here!
That's it for this year! And again, I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful school year! Enjoy the free tools and thanks for stopping by!
RSS Feed
