This document lists and describes 20 free online tools that can be used for education. Some of the tools described include blogs like WordPress and Blogger that allow students to present work and receive teacher feedback, Socrative for interactive quizzes and polls, Storify for compiling research from multiple online sources, and Diigo for bookmarking and annotating websites. Other tools mentioned are for collaboration (Tricider), creating videos (Animoto) and presentations (Prezi), timelines (Dipity), flashcards (Quizlet), finding answers (Quora), comics (MakeBeliefComix), podcasts (Podomatic), and file conversion (Zamzar).

1. 20 free tools you can use in
education
Matt Buckle

2. Blogs
• www.wordpress.com
• www.blogger.com
• An alternative way for
students to present evidence
electronically. They can add
video, sound, images and text
as well as interactive content
for the more adventurous.
• Teachers can comment on
posts and keep track of when
new work is added.
Useful for:
Presenting work, assignments,
providing a session by session
course commentary for students to
follow

3. www.socrative.com
• Socrative is a site that
allows students and
teachers to interact
instantly via a smartphone,
tablet or PC.
• You can set quizzes, ask
questions and get analysed
results easily.
• Uses the web so you don’t
need an app.
Useful for:
Quick exercises, Games, Polls,
reports,

4. https://www.storify.com/
• When you search for
something on Storify it
brings together restated
content from news sites,
social media sites video
sites and image sites.
• You have the option to
add content to your own
story that can be shared
Useful for:
Student research, link sharing

5. www.diigo.com
• An online bookmark
manager.
• You can bookmark
anything, sort, organise
and display your
bookmarks in a variety of
different ways
• You can even highlight
relevant parts and add
annotations
Useful for:
Sorting and organising websites
Creating a reading list for students
Highlighting key parts of a website

6. www.tricider.com
• An online collaboration
tool that allows teams
of people to input and
share ideas.
• You can set deadlines,
refine ideas, vote on
ideas and discuss them Useful for:
Managing group projects, online
collaboration, sharing ideas

7. www.animoto.com
• Animoto lets users create
30 second videos that can
be
• iPhone App allows users
to capture video on their
phone and upload it
directly to animoto, a
blog or send them via
email etc.
Useful for:
Presenting evidence

8. cel.ly
• Create your own
mobile social network
• Its private and secure
• Allows group
messaging, scheduled
reminders for hand in
dates etc.
• App available for
Android and iPhone
Useful for:
Engaging with students,
encouraging communication

9. www.prezi.com
• An online presentation
tool.
• You can create make
impressive
presentations that can
include multimedia and
different layers. Useful for:
Presenting work, sharing
information

10. www.dipity.com
• Dipity lets you create a
timeline of events
• You can link them to
documents, websites
and videos
• Students can add
comments to your
timeline.
Useful for:
Creating timelines, encouraging
student discussion online,

11. quizlet.com
• Mainly used for creating quizzes
and games
• Results analysed
• Mainly based on definitions of key
terms
• Ability to create flash cards and
other learning
• www.testmoz.com is an alternative
Useful for:
Creating quizzes, student revision,
testing knowedge.

12. www.quora.com
• Allows you to post a
question and get
answers from real
people.
• Blogs available on
various topics
• Not specifically designed
for education, but a
good tool none the less.
Useful for:
Finding answers to questions.

13. www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix
• A simple way to create
comic strips.
• Simply drag and drop
content into boxes
• Can be used by
students or teachers Useful for:
Presenting work in an alternative
format

14. www.podomatic.com
• Create and upload
podcasts
• Loads of podcasts
available on a variety of
topics to download
• Available via
smartphone or
computer
Useful for:
Audio revision guides,
downloadable versions of lessons,
Presentation of work

15. www.zamzar.com
• Zamzar is a free online
file converter.
• A very useful tool for
converting a variety of
files e.g. PDF to word
• It also converts images,
videos and text
• It will email converted
files to you
Useful for:
Converting files into a useable
format.

16. www.mindomo.com
• Mindomo allows you to
create mind maps with text
and pictures that can be
saved, adapted and printed
out
• Apps available for android
and iPad
• A simpler but more basic
alternative is
https://bubbl.us/
Useful for:
Recording student ideas
Presenting information

17. www.cramberry.net
• Online flash cards
• You can create your
own or use the millions
already on Cramberry’s
system
Useful for:
Revision exercises

18. www.memplai.com
• Memplai allows users to
create simple videos (with
audio) out of photos,
existing text and videos.
• Videos can be collaborative
– more than one person can
add their photos to if for
example.
• Content created can easily
be shared
Useful for:
Collaborative tasks, alternative
ways to present evidence
Content for lessons

19. www.polleverywhere.com
• Simply type poll
questions into the
website
• Students text their
answers to a standard
UK mobile number
• Results analysed
instantly
Useful for:
Voting, class polls, quick quizzes

20. www.screenr.com
• A simple screen cast
creation site
• Record what is on your
monitor and easily share
it
• Allows for discussion via
comments
• Can be viewed on tablets
and smartphones
Useful for:
Creating demos for students
Online recap lessons (use with
another tool)

21. www.tagxedo.com
• Create word clouds
from the content of
text documents,
websites or just the
words you enter.
Useful for:
Presenting key words in an
interesting form

22. Some bonus sites
• http://search.creativecommons.org/
– Search for material you can legally use in your work
• http://www.khanacademy.org/
– Online video lessons
• http://www.livebinders.com/
– Sort and organise documents and course files – like a ring binder but
digital
• http://cueprompter.com/
– Turns your monitor into an autocue – useful for those students who
are nervous about giving presentations
• http://www.teachertube.com
– Like Youtube but with a purely educational slant
• http://www.toolsforeducators.com/
– Create word searches and crosswords online