Learning about some sites with free to use content this week was very useful! However, the list by itself did not say much about each site specifically, so I though it might be useful for others to make my post this week about describing a little about some of the sites listed. I hope this might be helpful for someone!
Search Tools
Pros: Allows you to sort through image or audio. Makes it easy to copy citation. Lots of results for images.
Cons: Not many results other than images or audio. Obtaining the image can take you to a different site, which makes the download process more difficult.
Conclusion: A great site to use when looking for free to use audio or images, but has some downsides.
Pros: Has many different available works, movies, music, books, ect. You can sort through media type, availability and year. Has a large availability of a lot of different things.
Cons: Have to create an account to borrow some material for an hour at a time. A lot of results so might be overwhelming looking through all the results.
Conclusion: This seems like a great site to find free resources such as books or movies.
Pros: You can filter where you want to find the image from, such as google images or YouTube. Great if you want to basically do a google search but only find things that are available to be used and shared.
Cons: Have to choose where you want to find the images from, so if you are trying to search many it might take awhile.
Conclusion: Great for finding content online that can be used creatively, but maybe a bit overwhelming if trying to find something more general.
Teaching Resources:
Pros: Has an easy to use search system, that allows you to filter upper/lower Primary, which subject you are looking for, and the standard. Has a large amount of results for each subject. Also allows user to comment on, and rate, the lessons.
Cons: The content seems to be user created, meaning some of the material might not be reviewed. As well there could be an overwhelming number of results for each search.
Conclusion: Seems like a great place to find lesson plans or resources for teaching a variety of subjects
Pros: Many great resources are available when it comes to teaching math of different grade level and subjects. Also has a resource called Flexbooks, which are free textbooks by the site that are customizable.
Cons: For subjects other than math, the focus seems to be on higher grade levels. It does have some resources for middle school, however, but few for K-5.
Conclusion: A great resources for textbooks, math, and spelling resources, but might not be the best for lower levels of other subjects.
Pros: Has many different things available, such as online courses, the ability to build your own training course, and ok-12 resources. Under the resources category there is some professional resources for teaching available.
Cons: There is too much information on the front page, making it confusing to use, especially at first. It also does not just open to a search bar like a lot of the other resources do.
Conclusion: Although the selection of resources on this site is not as large as the others, the resources are more professional. A great site to look through and find some professional resources from to see if they might be useful for you.
Openly Licensed Text
Pros: This site has a large library of free to read or download books. Has a mix of academic and not academic books.
Cons: The search system is a bit difficult to use, and not super specific.
Conclusion: A great site with a wide collection of books to read, if you can get past the difficulty of the searching system.
Pros: Has a huge collection of peer reviewed books. Has an advanced filter where you can specify whether you are searching for author, title, ect…
Cons: Has a limited collection so you might not be able to find what you are looking for. As well, once you click on a book, you have to click the DOI, which takes you to a different site.
Conclusion: a great site if you are looking for academic sources, especially if you are just searching for resources without a specific book in mind.
Pros: This site has textbooks available to read from many different subjects. They also have free courses you can take on the site.
Cons: To search you first have to choice your subject. As well, education textbooks are not one of their available subjects.
Conclusion: This site seems lite a great place to find textbooks if you are looking for something very general, like an accounting textbook.
Openly Licensed Images
Pros: I found this site easy to use, and very convenient. By searching an easy general phrase like “text” or “camera” it finds many different useful results. Super easy citations, and downloads.
Cons: Only a limited selection of images were free, the rest were only available on iStock, which you needed to create an account for. The images seemed mostly real life, not digital, so if you were looking for something more like an infographic this would not be a great choice.
Conclusion: A great site for easily finding free images, however there is a bit of a limited selection of images available.
Pros: Has a large selection of available images. Easy to download and find the creators name. Also has the option to open the image on canva.
Cons: Does not include drawn images, so also not the place to go if looking for a cartoon drawing.
Conclusion: A great site for finding real life free to use images!
Pros: This site has great free to use illustrations. It is also easy to find the artist to cite.
Cons: Only illustrations. Also a limited selection, meaning you might not find what you are looking for if it is something too specific.
Conclusion: A great place to find free to use illustrations, but with a limited selection.
Leave a Reply