Teacher and Student Software Toolkit

A Zero Cost Software Toolkit that Every School Should Have

There is a whole host of open source, freeware applications and online resources for education available over the Internet that makes one think hard about paying for software. As long as you have a computer connected to the Internet, whatever the job is, with a little research, there is bound to be an application out there that will do it and does it well. Here, we would like to make your life just that bit easier by starting a compilation of applications and sharing this with you. We call this the Teacher and Student Software Toolkit, read on to find out more…

Due to the nature of the web and the pace of change of its content, we have chosen not to link the list to the different resources. Feel free to use keyword search on your favourite search engine to find the product you are looking for. We are happy for you to share the list with your colleague, friends and family.

The following applications have been classified into categories according to its’ educational value:

A. Creativity

• MS Movie Maker – create video with special effects, transitions, sound and caption  
• MS Photo Gallery – organise, edit and share photos
• Google Picasa – organise, edit and share photos
• GIMP Photo Editor and Image Authoring – image manipulation program
• LightBox Image Editor or Paint.net – basic image editing and photo retouching
• MS Photo Story – show and tell program for sharing photos with effects, caption and soundtrack
• Audacity – audio editor for recording, slicing and mixing your own music
• MS Photosynth – stick your photos together
• MS AutoCollage – create instant photo collage from your image folder
• MS Producer for PowerPoint – capture audio, video, slides and images to share
• Synfig – create simple 2D animations
• Stop motion animation software – create stop motion animation AnimatorHD Simple+ and Anasazi Stop Motion Animator

If you have any other amazing creativity tools you have used and would like to share with us, feel free to post your comment and we will add them to the list.

B. Learning

• Open Office – essential desktop productivity suite with word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases
• Moodle – open source virtual learning environment
• Hot Potatoes – create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled sentence, crossword, matching and ordering exercises 
• MS Office Add-in for Moodle – work on MS Office documents in Moodle directly from Office applications
• SCORM Creation Toolkit (xerte, MOS Solo, CourseLab) – create web based e-learning courses
• MS Learning Content Development System – create interactive online learning courses
• MS Digital Story Telling (Windows Live Movie Maker and Photo Story) – see previous section for individual package description
• Maths Worksheet Generators – create printable maths worksheet for free, use keyword search “maths worksheet generator”
• Gcompris – an collection of education puzzles and logic for younger pupils
• Geogebra – a dynamic maths software with interactive diagrams also available on Moodle
• Kturtle – teach basic programming in Logo
• Stellarium – open source planetarium for use in science lessons and astronomy club

If you have any other amazing learning tools you have used and would like to share with us, feel free to post your comment and we will add them to the list.

C. Collaborative & Social Network

• Windows Live Essentials – collection of desktop applications mail, messenger, photo gallery, movie maker, writer for blogs, family safety and more
• Live Mesh – access files from you computer anywhere over the Internet through syncing between computers, SkyDrive, remote desktop and desktop applications
• Skype – live voice and video chat, skype to skype calls are free
• DropBox – personal online file storage and sharing
• GoogleDocs – edit, store, share and collaborate on documents online (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawings and forms)
• MS SkyDrive – free online document storage and file sharing
• MS SharedView – share documents and screen views and work collaboratively online
• MS Security Essentials – we thought we include this here, keep your PC safe while you collaborate, download or share information
• MindMap – invented by Tony Buzan, freeware mind mapping software such as Compendium and FreeMind is a must have productivity tool
• MS StickySorter – capture, view, organise and collaborate your thoughts, observations and information
• InkSeine – capture drawing and handwriting when used on a tablet PC with MS Office Suite
• Facebook and Twitter – social networking and micro blogging application as collaborative and learning tools
• Blogging, Wiki and Web – start collaborative blog, wiki or website with free online services from weebly, wikispaces, wordpress, blogger and more

If you have any other amazing collaborative & social network tools you have used and would like to share with us, feel free to post your comment and we will add them to the list.

D. Research

• Google Maps (or equivalent; Multimap, Bing Maps) – see the world through your browser, get directions, distance, estimated travelling time and street view
• Google Earth – a desktop application that lets you see the world through a fluid and intuitive navigational interface
• Google Translator (or equivalent; MS Translator) – translate a webpage, website or document
• Adobe Reader (or equivalent; MS Reader) – view PDF document commonly available online, other lightweight PDF readers are also available
• PDF writers – free applications such as CutePDF, PDFCreator and Free PDF Writer allows you to convert documents to PDF for sharing
• Wikipedia – web-based, information rich, collaborative encyclopedia project
• MS Digital Literacy (e-learning) – learn basic computer skills
• MS Flashcards – Create and share your deck of Flashcards with friends online
• MS Word Add-in – Maths, Chemistry – write formulas and equations with this add-in

If you have any other amazing research tools you have used and would like to share with us, feel free to post your comment and we will add them to the list.

Related articles:

• Choosing the Right VLE for your Organisation
• Web 2.0 for Teaching and Learning
• VLE – What are the advantages?
• Staying ahead of the game – working with a small ICT budget

Author: Samuel J. Tan

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