News aggregate reddit bills itself as the “front page of the Internet,” collecting information and stories for its users to read and respond to. Recently, a member asked the community at large what free services everyone on the Internet should use—and the response was overwhelming.
From the original conversation, we’ve gleaned what we think are the top 20 free resources for private-independent school administrators and educators. From full-length college courses to file converters, our list runs the gamut. Take a look and see what can help you better serve your school community.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Providers
- Khan Academy: We’ve written about Khan Academy's partnership with The College Board before, but it’s a worthy site in its own right. Khan Academy’s mission is “to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere" through MOOCs, a specialized learning dashboard, and practice exercises. Subjects run from the arts to the STEM subjects, and partners are as impressive as NASA, MIT, and The Museum of Modern Art.
- Coursera: Similar to Khan Academy in that it offers MOOCs for anyone, anywhere, at no cost, but has a greater focus on higher education partnerships. You can pay about $50 for “Signature Track” courses, which verifies both your identity and your work, offering a “statement of achievement” (SOA) at completion. Known for a fairly diverse MOOC topic range and as a good stop for teachers looking to further their education.
- Udacity: This MOOC provider emphasizes courses that teach programming and other computer science skills. If students desire to work toward their “Nanodegree” certification, it’ll cost $200/month.
- edX: Free MOOC provider. Free courses available online covering a myriad of topics, with an optional “Verified Certificate of Achievement” attached to certain courses for a $50 or $100 fee. Classes are taught and released on an academic semester schedule.
- Open University on iTunes U: iOS app-database that allows members to download podcasts and lessons from university professors around the world.
Foreign Languages
- Duolingo: Provides free online instruction in several foreign languages through writing, listening, and speaking exercises. An independent study by the City University of New York and the University of South Carolina has found that 34 hours of study using Duolingo equals—on average—a semester of college-level foreign language instruction.
- Livemoucha: Also provides language lessons for those on a budget, with the added benefit of a large, international community to practice with.
- Codecademy: Uses in-browser applications to teach users to program and write code in a variety of computer "languages," from Python to HTML.
Fundraising
- Amazon Smile: An optional program run by the ubiquitous online shopping retailer, Amazon Smile donates 0.5% of qualified purchase prices to a charity of your choice at no additional cost to you. Plus, you can arrange for your school to receive donations made by families participating in the program!
Online Libraries
- OpenLibrary: An online catalog of thousands of printed books. You can download out-of-copyright books and “borrow” in-copyright texts.
- LibriVox: Takes public domain books and—through the power of volunteerism—makes them available as free-to-download audiobooks.
- Project Gutenberg: Like OpenLibrary, Project Gutenberg provides thousands of free e-books to download. Project Gutenberg curates its content through volunteer proofreaders and requires texts to be published by “bona fide publishers” prior to inclusion in the collection.
- Documentary Heaven: A repository of free, feature-length documentaries on a variety of subjects, ranging from crime and economics to environmentalism and technology. (There’s even a section devoted to subtitled films!)
Study Resources
- The College Board’s SAT practice test: For those preparing for the college preparatory exams, this free test is invaluable.
- The ACT’s free sample questions: For the those students electing to take this test over the SAT.
- A Soft Murmur: A white noise generator designed for those who need nondistracting sound to focus while studying, working, writing, etc.
- Memrise: An online flashcards program with thousands of prebuilt decks, users can study a variety of subjects (and over 200 languages) for free. If they like the platform, a paid subscription of about $5/month will provide added analytics and difficult word/concept targeting for increased retention.
Life Enhancers
- Mint: A free personal budgeting tool that tracks expenditures and bills through pre-linked accounts.
- f.lux: Automatically adjusts screen brightness to a “natural” setting based on the time of day. (For people who can’t get to sleep but can’t stop reading books on their cellphones, this could really be a lifesaver.)
- smallpdf: An online app for all of your .pdf conversion, compression, split, merge, and unlock needs.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Business Managers Vol. 10 No. 1 Five Online Management Tools
ISM Monthly Update for School Heads Vol. 10 No. 4 Web Resources on Key Topics
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 26 No. 13 Estimates of Constituent Income: Salary Resources Online
I&P Vol. 26 No. 6 Sexual Orientation, Harassment, and Victimization: Resources for Administrators and Teachers
