So what to do about the backlog of literally hundreds of worthwhile resources that I would love to share here?  The list is constantly growing!  I’ve concluded that it might be helpful for you to know where I look first as I trawl for free resources that support a UDL approach to learning.

It should come as no surprise that I find almost everything on other blogs.  If you aren’t subscribing to blogs with a “reader”, I encourage you to begin doing so.  At the end of this post, I’ll embed the Common Craft video ‘Google Reader in Plain English’.  I use Google Reader to keep up with the blogs that I subscribe to, and I recommend it highly.

Here are the blogs where I find most of the resources that I share.

Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day

• Larry is an ESL teacher in Sacramento, California.  He is also a prolific blogger, who normally posts to his blog several times a day.  Larry also does an excellent job of listing the websites that he writes about, by category, with literally thousands of cataloged online resources.  Virtually all of these resources are free.

Free Technology for Teachers

• The author of this blog is Richard Byrne, a high school teacher from the state of Maine.  He is another prolific blogger who writes several posts each day about free resources.  In addition to reviewing resources that might be of value to learners at all levels, Richard has recently posted helpful screencasts that illustrate how to use some of these resources.

Free Resources for Education

• This is Patricia Donaghy’s blog.  Patricia is a post-secondary educator in Dublin, Ireland.  Patricia posts regularly; and I’ve discovered some resources on her site that have proven to be invaluable.  Patricia also hosts the International Edubloggers Directory, which connects people who are involved in education from all over the world.

Welcome to NCS-Tech!

• Kevin Jarrett, a K-4 Computer Teacher and Technology Facilitator in New Jersey.  Although Kevin does not always write about resources, most of Kevin’s frequent posts offer detailed reviews of K-8 resources that he is excited about.  Almost all of the resources reviewed by Kevin are free.

Teachers Love SMART Boards

• James Hollis is the blogger here, and he’s based in Illinois.  Clearly, James’ focus is on resources that can be used effectively on the SMART board.  Much of what James writes about, however, also works well on standalone computers or in networked computer labs.  If my memory serves, the resources that James highlights are always free.  I appreciate James’ signature statement at the end of each blog post — Sharing is Caring!

Talking SMART Boards and Much More

• The author of this blog is Anne Marie.  She’s been a special education teacher for over 25 years.  She posts regularly, shares a wide range of helpful free online resources on her blog.

Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs

• Kate Ahearn is the prolific host of this blog.  Not all of the resources that Kate shares are free, but many are.  Quite often, Kate shares low cost alternatives to costly resources.  Kate posts regularly and frequently to her blog, and her posts are always worth reading.  She not only shares resources, but she offers practical suggestions in terms of effective use.  I believe that anyone working with learners who have complex special needs ought to subscribe to Kate’s blog.

Jane’s E-Learning Pick of the Day

• Jane Hart is a Social Media and Learning Consultant in the UK.  Not all of the resources that Jane highlights are free, but many of them are.  Sometimes I first learn of something when Jane puts it forward as her ‘Pick of the Day’.  I also appreciate Jane’s ‘Top 100 Tools for Learning’ lists.  These lists are compiled with input from users.

Demo Girl

• Demo Girl Molly McDonald and her sister Maureen are not ‘educators’ as we commonly, and narrowly, define that term.  (I have commented on her blog,  however, that I thought Molly ought to consider taking up teaching.)  This is a blog where I sometimes first discover a powerful and valuable Web 2.0 application.  All of the posts on this blog contain screencasts  that demonstrate how an application works.  This means that the Demo Girl archives are worth checking out if you are ever in need of a screencast to explain an application.

GOTOWEB20

• This blog is authored by Orli Yakuel in Israel.  She highlights numerous brand new Web 2.0 applications, so this is another place where I have first become aware of some genuine gems.  Orli catalogs the applications she blogs about in a special directlory that is worth checking out.

These are not my only sources for resources, the majority of my “finds” come from these.  I encourage you to check them out and to consider subscribing to some of them in a “reader”.  Here’s the promised Common Craft video that explains Google Reader in plain lanuage.

Shidonni invites you to create a virtual world by drawing it.  You begin by drawing a walking or flying creature, and then the world it lives in.  The animal or bird is then animated and  brought to life.  (These “living” creatures can even eat food that you prepare for them.) There are games and puzzles for the Shidonni creatures to play, and you can invite creatures that have been created by friends anywhere in the world to join you in your world.

Shidonni’s developers have deliberately created a non-violent world where shooting games are not the norm. Neither is the Shidonni website populated with any intrusive advertising!  Before you can use Shidonni, you need to download and install Microsoft’s cross-platform Silverlight plug-in.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth at least a million.  So, here’s a video that fills out my brief introduction to Shidonni.

[Visible Body no longer offers any free access, but there is an app available for iOS that is much more affordable than the subscription fees.]

Orli Yakuel at Go2Web2.0 shares numerous new resources that have tremendous potential to support learning. It is becoming increasingly common for me to first learn of something from Orli! Yesterday, Orli wrote a post about a powerful new online resource for anyone learning (or teaching) about the human body.

Visible Body is a detailed and anatomically correct virtual model of the human body that has been produced and made available online by Argosy Publishing. The body’s systems can be examined and explored either individually, or in combination. The model can be viewed from multiple angles, and it is easy to zoom in or out to adjust the level of visible detail.

Altogether, Visible Body provides excellent visual support for anyone interested in learning about the human body. I believe the Visible Body can be used profitably at any point on the learning spectrum–from Primary School through graduate school and beyond.

The developers have produced a helpful video tutorial explaining how to use the Visible Body. The site describes itself as ‘beta’, and it clearly has plans to offer more. At the moment, Visible Body can only be viewed in Internet Explorer, but I’ve had no problem accessing it in Firefox with the IE Tab add-on. Registration is required, but there is no advertising on the site. For more about the Visible Body, check out the video below.