With the recent announcements of school closures at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels due to the coronavirus, we put together a list of resources to help both teachers and students ease into the transition to online learning. Read on to learn more about the tech tools and other resources being provided at no cost to the user during this time.
Zoom, a remote conferencing platform that combines video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration, is now being offered for free to K-12 students and teachers. As noted in the article, “students or teachers who fill out an online form using their school email addresses and are then verified by Zoom will have any accounts associated with that school’s domain also gain unlimited temporary meeting minutes.” Additional resources related to videoconferencing are available here.
GoReact, an interactive platform for feedback, grading, and critiquing of video assignments, is offering licenses for free to colleges and universities between now and June 30, 2020 at https://get.goreact.com/covid-19.
The Techsmith blog has a list of resources to help you effectively transition to remote work and learning. You can request a free account from now until June 30, 2020 here.
Comcast is offering free internet for low-income families for two months (no term contract). To sign up, visit www.internetessentials.com.
Temporary at-home access to the Adobe Creative Cloud is being made available at no additional cost until May 31, 2020 for schools and colleges who currently have only lab access for students.
Scholastic has created a Learn at Home website that includes virtual field trips, articles, videos, and other fun learning challenges for students.
Socrates, a game-based learning system, is making its learning platform available to all students, teachers, administrators, and parents through the summer at no charge. While students play fun and engaging learning games, teachers can track and monitor student progress, assign educational videos, use a digital badge system, testing, benchmarking, and more through the educational portal. Take a field trip from the comfort of your couch! Twelve famous museums are offering virtual tours you can take from home, including the British Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Van Gogh Museum.
The Flipped Learning Global Initiative (FLGI) has launched a free, one-hour online course, "Rapid Transition to Online Learning." The program is designed to help instructors and institutions that need to make a quick move to remote learning.
The Taking Your Teaching Online program collection is being offered for free (use coupon code COLLECTION at checkout). Taking Your Teaching Online is a collection of Magna online seminars and 20-minute mentor programs that focus on online teaching and learning, especially for educators who have not previously taught online.
WFSU has put together a number of resources to encourage and to support at-home learning for both students and educators. You can find their list of resources here.
Dr. Vanessa Dennen, a professor in our instructional systems and learning technologies program, has authored a number of blog posts and resources for instructors who are transitioning to online teaching and learning. You can view them on her website here.
A number of technology companies are offering resources to assist students and teachers as they make the transition to online education. You can find an updating list of resources and what's available here.
SmartBrief has published a list of resources that might be helpful for educators, which can be found here.
The Distance Learning for Special Education website launched, collecting resources for families and students with special needs to help them transition to online learning. The website collects resources from experts around the world.
Updated on March 30 to include a link to the Distance Learning for Special Education website: https://sites.google.com/view/distance-learning-specialed/home Updated on March 27 to include a link to The Journal: https://thejournal.com/articles/2020/03/13/free-resources-ed-tech-companies-step-up-during-coronavirus-outbreak.aspx Updated on June 8 to include a link to SmartBrief: https://www.smartbrief.com/original/2020/04/free-resources-educators-during-coronavirus-pandemic
