Back by popular demand – a roundup of free and easy-to-use software. Consider adding the following to your arsenal of creation and productivity tools:
A few notes:
- These are tools I use often. It is very likely that there are better tools out there. If you have some, share them with me! They will be featured in future newsletters.
- You might need to create an account for some of these resources. Don’t panic. All of the resources covered below are free!
- Some of these tools are not intuitive. If you are interested in learning more, press buttons and explore. I’m also always happy to talk tech, so lemme know if you need help 😄
Movie Editing
You might not make videos often, but when you do it sure is nice to use intuitive software that has free stock footage, lots of cool effects, and a slick interface. Microsoft’s ClipChamp is a web-based video editing software. It might not compete with Adobe Premiere Pro, but it’ll get the job done in a pinch. And it’s pretty fun to use.
Making Images
Hiding in the shadows of Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets is Google Drawings. It’s not as powerful as Photoshop or Photopea, but it holds its own. It supports layers, transparency, and can be integrated into Google Docs, websites, and pretty much anywhere else. I use it for 99% of the graphic work I do. Two really neat things:
- You can create the Drawing, put it somewhere (like a Google Doc, website, or email), change the drawing in Google Drive and watch as the changes take hold in all the places the image lives.
- You can make the image have different “hot spots” – the hyperlinks are different for different parts of the image.
This tool will be explored further in the CTL Fall EdTech Extravaganza. Stay tuned!
Simple Notes App
Google Keep is a simple notes app with some hidden treasures in it. You can make simple notes with basic formatting. You can set alarms with it. You can have check boxes. You can share notes with collaborators. But the best part of Keep is that it syncs across the website, the mobile app (iOS and Android), and the web app. It’s got a ton of other neat features, but I suggest you just download the app and start playing around. I don’t like that there is no hierarchy (like OneNote), but the speed, reliability, and utility more than compensate.
Filler Text
Ever need filler text for something you are working on? Just some temporary text as a placeholder (and hopefully better than asdf asdf asdf)? Then check out the Lorem ipsum generator. Just like the typesetters of yesteryear, you can use Latin words to help with your layout – before your actual text is ready. And if you prefer bacon, you will love Bacon ipsum.
Kindle Highlights
If you read on your Kindle – and you highlight or take notes – you can access them all from one webpage. Just head over to https://read.amazon.com/notebook to see all the notes and highlights you’ve ever made. You can copy and paste text from this site, too, which is great if you want to share passages with others.
