The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.

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FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners and their teachers.

Today I’m featuring a remarkable resource that has been made available to the world by a school in Courtenay, British Columbia. This online library is a tribute to the vision, talent and effort of Stewart Savard, the school’s librarian. It so happens that Courtenay is where I live, and it’s an honour to know Stew, and to get to work with him on occasion.

Courtenay Middle School Library (online resource) The growing collection of digital resources housed on this Vancouver Island middle school’s website is truly remarkable. In addition to some resources that you can download, there’s an extensive and well organized catalogue of links to some of the very best online resources available anywhere.

There is much of value here to middle school learners and their teachers everywhere. By virtue of the multiple ways that users can access material on the site, and because of way the library identifies the reading level of the material, the library is built firmly on UDL principles. (UDL= Universal Design for Learning)

Downhill skiing has provided the model for rating the degree of reading challenge for each catelogued item, as illustrated below:

Material is organized by unit under main subject headings and sub-headings. For example, under Social Studies, there are four main sub-headings: History; Current Events; Geography; Research Topics. Under History, you then find the following units: Ancient China; Ancient Egypt; Ancient Greece; Early Humans; Indian Empires; Mesopotamia; Middle Ages; Mongol Empire; Renaissance; Roman Empire. For each of these units, resources are organized under a helpful Table of Contents.

There’s a terrific Free Audio Book collection, with links to audio files of recorded human readers. There’s also a collection of novels available for “Assisted Reading“. The latter includes text files that can be downloaded for use with e-text reading software, as well as some KESI files that open in Kurzweil 3000. KESI files are available to download for some of the material catalogued under other subject headings as well.

There is much more at Courtenay Middle School’s online library, but no description I offer would do it justice. It needs to be explored and used to be fully appreciated.

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Today I’m featuring another website that is exceptional in terms of both the quality and the scope of what it has to offer. It is also an inspiring example of what an individual school can do. To be fair, they haven’t done it overnight. Woodlands Junior School has been online since 1999. There has clearly been visionary leadership here with an ongoing commitment to excellence.

Woodlands Web (online resource) Woodlands Junior School in the UK has created a very special and incredibly useful website. It is a repository of well organized and easily accessed interactive learning activities and games. Although Woodlands Junior students are aged 7 to 11, many of the activities housed on the website are appropriate for children both younger and older.

There are numerous features of this site that set it apart. First, there is the simple uncluttered interface that is completely ad-free and easy to navigate. Then there is the exceptional quality of the activities that are housed or linked on the site. There are both activities that have been created at Woodlands as well as links to some of the best that other sites have to offer. Activities are straightforward and engaging. Also notable is the extensive range of offerings.

In support of curriculum, activities are organized into four main areas: Literacy Zone; Maths Zone; Science Zone; Homework Help. As well, there is information about the UK in a special section entitled British Life and Festivals. Other subjects featured include playground games, safe internet surfing, jokes and brain teasers.

Finally, this site offers an extensive collection of games. By my count, there are currently 115 games in the collection. Titles range from Maniac Racers to Word Meisters. The top five games games of the moment are: Jet Slalom; Basketball; Tank Game; Harry Potter; 3D Driver. The site says these games are for the students, “…to enjoy during free time and when they are at home.”

The screenshot below shows only the top half of the starting interface for the Woodlands Web, but it gives an idea of how well the site is organized and of how clearly it is presented.

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Here’s another terrific “find” shared by Kevin Jarrett of NCS-Tech! If you haven’t been to Kevin’s site, I highly recommend a visit. Kevin puts up a new post almost every day, and if you are interested in using technology in education, those posts are well worth reading. I’ve learned a great deal and found numerous priceless treasures on Kevin’s site.

School Time Games (online resource) This site is a veritable vault of quality online games and activities that re-enforce curriculum content while providing a great deal of engaging fun. There are currently nearly 100 flash and shockwave activities housed on the site, as well as an impressive library of online videos. The site has targeted students aged 8 and older.

School Time Games has been created by a teacher named Jason Miller. All activities are chosen by his students. The students also test each one to ensure that it is completely appropriate in a school setting, that it is easy to learn, that it provides a reasonable degree of challenge, and that it is fun to play.

The games are helpfully organized by subject area: Social Studies (not unduly focused on the US); Language Arts; Science; Math; Sports; Logic; Art & Music; Arcade. The games require Shockwave and Flash players that can be easily downloaded and installed. The site is ad-supported, but exclusively with text-only Google adsense. Some of the games can be downloaded and played offline. In a few instances, the developoers of the games want you to purchase an offline version.

As a significant bonus, School Time Games also offers a collection of links to short online videos. The videos, too, are categorized by subject area: science; math; language arts; social studies; music & art; entertainment. I checked out several of the videos and found all to be of goood quality and from three to five minutes in length. The video content was invariably well worthwhile.

The screenshots below demonstrate the manner in which activities are organized and presented on School Time Games.

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PowerPoint has become ubiquitous in schools, but in my experience it remains under utilized by teachers. One of the biggest factors is that most teachers lack the time to create PowerPoint resources for use with their classes. Today’s featured resource offers some helpful shortcuts. Kudos to Jefferson County Schools for sharing this tremendous resource. This one’s filed on my Content & Curriculum page.

Jefferson County Schools–PowerPoint Collection This is an extensive repository of PowerPoint presentations that have been prepared by teachers, and made available for download by other educators. Quality varies, but almost all that I have looked at are quite good.

Presentations are organized by subject (The Arts, Language Arts, Library Science, Math, Science, Social Studies). Each subject area is divided into the two broad categories of K-5 and 6-12.

A disclaimer on the site states, “The content of these presentations are provided by teachers and are presumed to be in the public domain.” This means that the presentations may be used as they are or modified as required to suit specific circumstances.

Since free PowerPoint viewers are available from Microsoft, it isn’t even necessary to have a full version of PowerPoint in order to make use of the presentations. There is great potential for making use of these presentations with students who have only single-switch access to a computer.

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We sometimes have incredibly helpful software to use with our students, but finding time to create activities for use with the computer programs is often a huge obstacle. Today’s resource has the potential to help with this challenge. curriculumSET is filed under Content & Curriculum.

curriculumSET (online resource) This is a new and emerging database of downloadable activities designed for students who use assistive technology to access the curriculum. At present, most activities are for Clicker 4, Clicker 5, or Classroom Suite. There are a handful of activities for Boardmaker, Kurzweil 3000 and Solo. The collection is searchable and well organized by subject area and school level, but there are presently some gaps in what is available.

The potential for using curriculumSET to share resources is tremendous. Too many people are wasting precious time as they repeat the efforts of others. In many instances, it works well to use an activity that has been created by someone else as a template for a new activity in another situation with modified or alternative content.

curriculumSET is offered by SET-BC, which happens to be where I hold down a day-job. If, after having a look at curriculumSET, you think we might like to add some of your activities, I would be interested in hearing from you at info4free.resources@gmail.com.

The screenshots below show how curriculumSET has been organized. (Click on a thumbnail to enlarge, and use your browser’s back button to return to this blog.)

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Collaborative authoring is the essence of the wiki. I believe the concept, the process, and the product deserve to be embraced by educators at all levels. If not, it is our students who lose out. Today’s resource from the Wikimedia Foundation is a great example of what can be done. I’m filing Wikijunior under Content & Curriculum.

Wikijunior (online resource) Wikijunior is a “child” of Wikibooks, which describes itself as “a collection of free content textbooks you can edit.” The parent site boasts 23,402 modules in over 1000 books. This is a truly amazing free resource with incredible potential.

Wikijunior is targeting children aged 8 to 11 for a series of open content books under three main headings: The Natural World; Our World of People; A World of Discovery and Innovation. So far, Wikijunior has completed and published one title–Big Cats as part of The Natural World series. If this book is a sign of things to come, Wikijunior has a promising future. Big Cats is beautifully illustrated and offers a wealth of well organized and carefully written information.

Big Cats is available in three formats, pdf, html, and hard copy. Although the print version of Big Cats costs $10 to download and the bound paperback is $20.53, the pdf version is a free download and the html version is freely available online. For individuals with reading challenges, the pdf and html versions work well with the reading aids and study tools offered by such programs as Kurzweil 3000.

Wikijunior says a second title is currently being “readied for publication”. Solar System will be part of A World of Discovery and Innovation. Eight other titles have been approved and are in process: How Things Work; The Elements; Dinosaurs; Bugs; South America; Languages; Kings and Queens of England; Ancient Civilizations.

As the Wikibooks community creates educational resources for children to use, it also offers exciting opportunities for educators and their students to be involved in the creation of the books. Be sure to check out “How to Help” at the Wikijunior website.

Here are a few screen shots from the pdf version of Big Cats. (Click to enlarge and use your browser’s back button if you wish to return to the blog. You may get a clearer view of the enlarged screenshot if you click on it again in the enlarged view.)

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The purpose of this blog is to highlight free downloadable programs and online resources of good quality that may be of value to educators and their students, especially those involved in special education.

When I look at websites for kids, I am always on the lookout for sites that present content that is accessible for students who require alternative access methods. Although I haven’t tested it extensively, I believe that the suite of websites I am featuring today has the potential to be unusually accessible. I have tested kapili.com’s sites with Kurzweil 3000’s “Read the Web” function and found it to work very well indeed. Andrew Rader is to be commended for creating and sharing such an extensive and practical educational resource. This one is filed under Content & Curriculum.

kapili.com (online resource) Previously available only by paid subscription, kapili.com is now a free suite of excellent science and math websites geared primarily for elementary and middle school students. There are 6 separate websites in the suite: CHEM4KIDS; BIOLOGY4KIDS; GEOGRAPHY4KIDS; COSMOS4KIDS; PHYSICS4KIDS; NUMBERNUT.COM. Content is extensive. It is presented in an appealing manner that is respectful of students; and it is helpfully organized.

The kapili sites are of value to all students, but I believe they can be especially valuable for students with learning disablities. I have tested kapili’s science sites with the PC version of Kurzweil 3000’s “Read the Web” function and found it to work well, especially using the Firefox toolbar available in K3000’s Version 10.

The web pages of kapili.com are relatively uncluttered. Kapili.com is ad supported, but only with Google ads of the inobtrusive variety.

The screenshots below show the starting points for each of the six sites. (Click to enlarge. You can use your browser’s back button if you wish to return to this blog.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Here’s an online library of helpful resources for educators and for students of any age. I’ve listed this on Content & Curriculum.

Utah Education Network (online resource) This is a well organized repository of resource links for educators and students–from Kindergarten to post-secondary. The site is comprehensive in its scope. The main categories: K-12 Educators; K-12 students; Higher Ed. Faculty; College Students; Adult Education. Resources are searchable, and the content is organized intuitively. Material can be searched by both grade level and subject area.

Most helpful of all, from my perspective, is the collection of free online interactive student activities (”Student Interactives” under “K-12 Students” ). There is much here to enrich and re-enforce virtually every area of the curriculum. Most linked online activities are created in either Flash or Shockwave. The activities have been chosen carefully and they are all of high quality. Take a look at the following screen shots to get a better idea of some of the content and how it is organized and presented. (Click on thumbnail to enlarge.)

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

Superkids (online resource) This is an ad-supported site that reviews educational software titles. The links for these are in a red-bordered box on the right side of the page, however, under the heading “Free – Superkids Games & Tools“. Here you will find numerous worthwhile free resources that are organized in the following categories: Vocabulary Builders; Superkids Math Worksheets; Superkids Time Worksheets; Famous Quote of the Day; Logic Games; Studying for the SATs?.

You can play hangman online using terms from Shakespeare, Geography, Science, and various other subject areas. There are also online logic games such as Battleships, Checkers, Towers of Hanoi, etc. Super Kids “Brain Food” offers intriguing mental challenges.

For teachers, it is probably Super Kids’ “Worksheet Creator” that is most valuable. You can generate printable math worksheets and customize them in numerous ways. For example you can create multiplication worksheets offering practice in basic or advanced multiplication. You can create worksheets with horizontal problems or just with time tables. You may choose the minimum and maximum value of numbers to be multiplied, and whether or not to use negative numbers or decimals. In addition to worksheets for basic computation, you can generate worksheets to practice telling time, order of operations, fractions, percentages, greater than/less than, odd or even, rounding, averages, exponents, factorials, and prime numbers.

Superkids offers the option of creating answer sheets for the worksheets you make, and it provides helpful answers to frequently asked questions about such issues as printing, increasing font size, etc.

Screenshots (Click to enlarge)