Free and Discounted Ed Tech Tools for Online Learning During the Coronavirus Pandemic- Dian Schaffhauser
As more and more colleges and universities are shutting down their campuses over the next several weeks in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, education technology companies have stepped forward to help move student learning to the virtual realm. Some companies are making their paid services free through the rest of the school year; others are lifting limits to services and/or adding premium features to what's free. The following list will be updated regularly as announcements are made. (If you know of a company that should be included on this list, please send details to rkelly@1105media.com.) Updated April 3, 2020
365 Data Science has opened its Data Science Online program to all users until Apr. 15, 2020. The company said that program includes 21 courses, 600-plus exercises and 100-plus hours of video content. Coverage includes math, statistics, SQL, Python, data cleaning and visualization and machine and deep learning. Normally, the program costs $36/month. https://365datascience.com/pricing/
Acer has put together a handy comparison table that provides an overview of remote learning tools. The chart specifically compares Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, for remote learning; and Facebook and YouTube for video conferencing. The information examines whether or not screen sharing is allowed, the maximum number of attendees, the maximum length of meetings and other features. https://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/uncategorized/remote-learning-a-comparison-among-top-collaboration-tools/
Addigy, a cloud-based Apple device management platform, has announced free 60-day access for colleges and universities. The program helps organizations deploy, manage, and track new and existing Apple devices from a single console; automate IT tasks and implement IT policies related to deploying software, updating security settings, running scripts, managing groups of users, and distributing and updating software; and troubleshoot problems for users remotely and in real-time. https://addigy.com/covid-19-addigy-60/?utm_content=covid-19-addigy-60
Adobe is offering free access to Creative Cloud tools through May for home use by students attending schools that currently only provide lab access through May. https://helpx.adobe.com/enterprise/kb/covid-19-education-labs.html
Arizona State University's EdPlus is working with Complexly's Crash Course on a series of entry-level course videos, starting with English composition. (Complexly and Crash Course are an initiative of the Green brothers, hosts of a popular vlog and best-selling fiction.) The new content in "Study Hall," won't offer credit or replace any degree programs, but rather will serve as a supplement for high school or college learners. Each subject will be the focus of about 15 videos 15 minutes long, covering major points in the topic. Those are being hosted on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNrrxHpJhC8mNXjrAL3Ey1Q6iI35cymzl
Babbel is offering three months of free language learning to U.S. students through mid-June 2020 in any of its languages: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Dutch, Turkish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Indonesian, and English. https://welcome.babbel.com/en/student-discount/
Barnes & Noble Education is making free digital self-tutoring and writing services available to college students through its bartleby suite of products. Through Jun. 15, 2020, the company is providing students with access to 10 free homework questions and tutoring sessions with experts through bartleby learn, monthly; and premium access to bartleby write, a virtual writing center that provides spelling and grammar checks, plagiarism detection and citation help. The company is also working with colleges and universities that want to set up an institutional version with "expedited program rollout."
BibliU has made its platform usage free until May 31, 2020, with access to textbooks, monographs and open educational resources maintained by participating publishers. The access is provided through BibliU's learning platform, which gives students tools for doing quick search in digital textbook content and images, including the ability to highlight text and keep notes. The program integrates with library and university systems. The company said the service complies with Section 508 regulations and WCAG recommendations. https://try.bibliu.com/schools/bibliu-all-content-free-for-2-months
BombBomb is making its software free for instructors. The program lets users record and send video messages, such as feedback on homework, through email, text and other communications, including Schoology and Infinite Campus. https://bombbomb.com/education/
Casio has several resources available to help with math education. The company is providing free access to ClassPad.net, a web-based calculator for calculations, graphing, geometry and statistics. There's also software to emulate Casio's most popular scientific and graphing calculators as well as downloadable college-level calculator activities that instructors can assign. https://www.casioeducation.com/remote-learning
Cengage has made its digital content available for free through the remainder of the current term, giving students access to all digital textbooks and platforms through Cengage Unlimited. The company also said its faculty partners would be holding regular "office hours" to provide advice to instructors moving to Cengage courseware. https://www.cengage.com/covid-19-support/
CirQlive, which connects web conferencing platforms to learning management systems, is giving 90 days of free usage of its integration tool as well as free consulting services for administrators on how to deploy or scale online learning. Schools need to provide the number of host licenses required and the company will set them up. https://www.cirqlive.com/
Cisco Webex is offering free accounts for education. Those meetings can have up to 100 participants, high-definition viewing, screen sharing and personal rooms. The company has also developed a collection of resources to help instructors and students use the online virtual conference program. https://www.webex.com/webexremoteedu.html
CogBooks, an adaptive learning company, is offering its courseware at no charge for 16 of the most-used topics in higher education, to help colleges and instructors with the transition to remote learning. The company's adaptive courseware has open educational resources from known providers such as OpenStax and augments the content with video, interactive activities and assessment exercises. The software also includes social and collaborative learning capabilities, which encourage peer-to-peer and peer-to-instructor communication, to interactive in-class discussion. CogBooks also promised to provide support to get an instructor up and running within three days. To start the process, e-mail hello@cogbooks.com.
Comcast has taken a number of steps to help its customers through the move to online interactions. First, the company has increased speeds from 15 Mbps to 25 in "Internet Essentials," a program for low-income families to get internet access. The company has also eliminated the $9.95 price per month and made it free to new low-income customers for two months. It has also made its Xfinity Wi-Fi hotspots free for everybody, including non-subscribers. It has also paused its data plans for two months, so that all customers can get unlimited data for no extra charge. https://corporate.comcast.com/covid-19
Concept3D is opening up its "Enterprise Level 360° Tour" system through Jun. 30, 2020, to help colleges and universities create virtual tours of their campuses. Clients can add up to five tour stops and use the advanced features of the enterprise system at no charge. The enterprise edition includes live data feeds, wayfinding routes and branding, among other features. The company said creating a 360-degree tour takes less than 30 minutes and requires little more than creating an account and uploading panorama or static images and assigning a location by entering an address or dropping a pin on the accompanying map. The system guides the user through the process of adding information, more images, video and audio tracks to tour stops. https://www.concept3d.com/360-tour-march-2020/
Crowdmark is offering free access to its online grading and analytics platform until May 31. https://crowdmark.com/blog/ensuring-continuity-of-education-with-remote-grading-workflows/
DataCamp is making its classroom plan available to educators. That includes access to 1,350 hours of data science courses in programming with R, Python and SQL; statistical modeling, data manipulation and visualization, machine learning, reporting and applied finance. The instructor must commit to using the content throughout the term or semester. https://www.datacamp.com/groups/education#academic_form
DH2i is making its DxOdyssey networking software available free through Aug. 31, 2020. The software is a Windows and Linux remote access program is an alternative to virtual private networks that provides "discreet and secure tunnels for application access" across the internet, corporate networks and cloud environments. Interestingly, company emphasized that its software download "is completely anonymous." There's no personal information collected, "to provide the assurance that no sales communications will result during or after the download and use of the software." DH2i is also making its support team available to help new users during regular business hours, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday. https://wfh.dh2i.com/
Echo360, an education video platform is allowing individual instructors to access the software for free. Starting in April, they'll also be able to access free live video streaming capabilities. https://blog.echo360.com/echo360-instructor-edition
The Edge Foundation has announced that its life coaches are available on a sliding scale — including free — to work with students virtually on non-academic challenges, including individuals who struggle with executive function challenges. https://edgefoundation.org/coronavirus/
Engineerica Systems is offering free accounts to Accudemia, the company's appointment management service. Available through the rest of the academic semester, the program allows staff in academic student service centers such as tutoring, advising and counseling to arrange appointments with students and meet virtually. The software automates confirmation and reminder emails with a customized message so college staff can provide students detailed instructions for their meetings. Staff, advisors and tutors can also log meeting notes and schedule future meetings. https://www.engineerica.com/landing/accudemia-free-trial-extension/
EZTexting is providing free emergency text alert services to schools. To quality, people need to sign up using their EDU email address. They'll receive 100,000 free outgoing text messages for six months, access to a set of coronavirus message templates and one-on-one consulting. They also get a free keyword, with a short code to distribute to the community for quick sign-up of text messages. https://try.eztexting.com/free-text-alerts-new
FeedbackFruits is offering free access until September 2020 to eight tools that make online courses more engaging. Functionality includes letting instructors add practice questions or discussion topics to their videos, documents, presentations and audio recordings; enable peer evaluation; provide inline feedback; and deliver automatic grading on any student interaction or assignment. The tools can be integrated into the learning management system. Once the instructor signs up, the company will be in touch to set up access. https://feedbackfruits.com/covid-19
Follett Higher Education Group has teamed up with ebook provider RedShelf to offer free ebook access to students through May 25, 2020. To participate, students need to use their EDU email address from a not-for-profit semester-system school; and there's a limit of seven ebook units per student. To access the free ebooks, visit www.Follett.com/RedShelf and begin a search.
Freepik is making premium versions of its software free to educators until Jun. 30, 2020. That grants access to images, photos and editable icons that can be downloaded and used in presentations and for other purposes. The offer covers Freepik and Flaticon. To take advantage, register on the Freepik site then fill out this form. Once the company receives the registration information, it will activate the premium version of the account for Freepik and Flaticon by manually searching through its system for the specified e-mail account. https://forms.gle/n6bs8Ept2ZYZb6pC6
Gale is offering educators and librarians free access to digital content and resources to enhance instruction and learning. Resources include: interdisciplinary, curriculum-aligned resources to support online learning; live and on-demand training materials; e-books on virtual learning; and more. https://www.gale.com/covid19support.
GanttPRO is offering free accounts to its project management Gantt chart software for colleges and universities until Aug. 15, 2020. The software serves as a project planner for managing tasks and milestones for multiple projects, including instant updates for "dependent tasks"--those that depend on completion of previous activities. (Although the website mentions "discounts," the company is providing free access.) https://ganttpro.com/software-discounts-for-nonprofits/
GoGuardian has extended the teacher trial version of its 1-to-1 device management software through the end of the school year. https://www.goguardian.com/blog/news/providing-learning-continuity-during-school-closures/
Through July 1, Google is allowing G Suite for Education customers to use the Hangouts Meet premium functionality for free. People can host virtual meetings with up to 250 people and live streams with up to 100,000 viewers. Additionally, they'll be able to save recordings of their meetings to Google Drive. https://support.google.com/meet/answer/9760270?hl=en
Gradescope, a division of Turnitin, is providing free access to Gradescope Complete for new courses created through Jun. 30, 2020. Gradescope provides an automated way to score variable-length and fixed-template assignments, including problem sets, worksheets, quizzes and exams and coding exercises. The student work is submitted in digital form (through a photo, PDF, scan, or GitHub or Bitbucket upload) and graded with an auto-grader. Grades are then sent to students and the gradebook. A dashboard displays results, including highlighting concepts that students didn't do well on. To set up an account, use the sign-up on https://www.gradescope.com/ and enter the name of the institution. The account you open will be preloaded with a demonstration course that includes the full feature set.
Gravic is offering free 60-day subscriptions to Remark Test Grading, a hosted application for grading tests, quizzes and assessments, using an "electronic bubble sheet." For institutions that choose to make the software available to faculty, the company is also offering a free connector to Canvas, Blackboard or D2L, as well as training. https://remarksoftware.com/remark-test-grading-cloud-available-to-all-instructors-for-free/
Hargray, a telecommunications company that serves the southeastern United States, will offer free Internet service for 60 days to households in its service area with K-12 or college students who do not already have an internet subscription. https://www.hargray.com/freeinternet. The company will also offer discounted internet speed upgrades to existing customers to ensure they have the necessary bandwidth to accommodate higher Internet usage in their homes during this time. To take advantage of that, call the company at (877) 427-4729.
Hawkes Learning is offering free access to the online homework and testing system for the duration of the spring term for anyone new to their courseware and needing to transition to digital delivery. The company provides pre-built course shells that can be ready in under an hour for online learners, including: adaptive online learning modules with instructional content and videos, interactive practice with tutoring and "explain-error" feedback and mastery-based homework assessments. There's also a test bank for online tests and quizzes. The materials cover the most common subjects for college students: developmental English, English composition, psychology, economics, developmental math through calculus and statistics. Instructors can request free access codes from the company. https://hawkeslearning.lpages.co/freeaccess/
IBM is making its SPSS Statistics software free through Jun. 15, 2020, to enable instructors to grant access to students doing remote learning. https://www.ibm.com/products/spss-statistics
Intelligent Education is promoting the use of its always-free software to help educators create online courseware. Tools let instructors record lectures with slides, images and video clips and add 3D models, quizzes. The company also has 34 courses on in its catalog that various instructors have produced and made available. https://intelligenteducation.com/build-online-courses
IObit is making a utility free to help remote users speed up performance of their Windows devices. "Internet Boost" is a feature included in the company's Advanced SystemCare pro version. According to IObit, the software removes "junk files" to release more space; helps increase internet speed by "taking advantage of your maximum network bandwidth"; removes privacy traces left by multiple programs; and dumps start-up processes that are slowing down start-up. https://www.iobit.com/en/advancedsystemcarefree.php
Ivy.ai has developed and released a free response system, which mixes chatbot response with human responses. The program includes a customizable chatbot with answers to questions about COVID-19 and an embedded CDC microsite, along with SMS texting capability and the capacity to host "human-to-human" chat. The program will be available until Jun. 30, 2020. The company said installation requires pasting a single line onto the school website. Once schools have registered, they'll receive access to a web-based administration system to manage the response bot and live chat system. https://ivy.ai/covid
JoVE has made its educational video content available through Jun. 15, 2020. That includes free access to the three types of resources: JoVE Core, a video textbook that covers core concepts in biology and social psychology to improve learning comprehension; JoVE Science Education, a collection of easy-to-understand video demonstrations in eight STEM fields; and Lab Manual, curriculum for introductory biology lab courses. The company is also making its curriculum specialists available to help faculty map JoVE videos to their curriculum at no charge. https://info2.jove.com/requestaccess
Jumio is providing free identity verification services through Jumio Go, to educational organizations, through June 2020. Jumio can help confirm that only enrolled students are participating in the online curriculum and helps proctor exams by authenticating students prior to any online test. https://go.jumio.com/goforgood-covid#form-title
Kapwing is giving away licenses for its professional edition to faculty. Kapwing is a collaborative online image and video editor with a cloud storage workspace. According to the company, it serves as an "excellent tool for instructors who are making video materials or lessons to send to students for remote learning, for students working together on a group project or for a classroom looking for a digital space to share multimedia projects with each other." The pro edition can accommodate videos up to 40 minutes long (versus 10 minutes in the free, basic version), lets users edit and store all content, make the content private and offers a one-gigabyte upload limit. Free instructor accounts are available for those in not-for-profit institutions through Apr. 17, 2020. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmfRt-k8dIV9L7I1N2SLOtL7TTP21Czeo2HLTj3DOpVdmDtw/viewform
Labster, which provides virtual laboratory simulations, has made its software available to colleges. Some 100 lab experiments cover biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and general sciences, which students can perform "at their own pace." (On the sign-up form, ignore the K-12 verbiage. This offer extends to colleges and universities affected by closures.) https://www.labster.com/covid-19/highered/
LifeSafe is offering a free, limited version of its safety and communications platform for universities and colleges to communicate relevant information to their communities. The software will be free through Dec. 31, 2020. The platform will allow the campus community to have two-way communications with the institution's COVID-19 response team. The functionality allows people to submit questions or seek information from virus response team, including in real-time or anonymously; gives one-touch access to 911 as well as links to the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and a command-and-communications dashboard allows the school to broadcast COVID-19 information and communicate with the campus in real-time. The company said it would make versions available for both iOS and Android. https://www.livesafemobile.com/contingency/
Loom is making its video software free for educators forevermore. The program captures a person's screen, voice and face and allows for editing, "instant sharing" and controlled viewing. https://support.loom.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006579637-Loom-Pro-Free-for-Students-and-Teachers
Lumen has made a "mid-term" transition to its courseware available free. Its catalog currently covers 50 general education subjects, which includes openly-licensed content with supplemental resources, such as PowerPoints and assignments. To obtain access, the instructor needs to indicate that he or she is teaching a live course, to ensure the $25/student/term fees are waived. The courses integrate with major learning management systems, Blackboard, Instructure Canvas, D2L Brightspace and Moodle. Lumen is also providing free services to support the transition and is hosting a number of webinars to explain the processes. https://info.lumenlearning.com/transition-spring2020
Macmillan Learning is offering free access to LaunchPad, Sapling, iClicker and FlipIt to instructors and students through the remainder of the spring 2020 semester as well as the winter 2020 quarter for those schools not already using these digital products. LaunchPad provides an online space where students can read, study, practice and complete homework on a given subject. Sapling gives students "wrong answer-specific feedback" on their problems so they learn from correct and incorrect answers. iClicker is a response system that works in an online format. FlipItPhysics is a class preparation system that uses active learning. The company is also hosting a series of webinars to help educators make the transition to online teaching. https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/content/covid19
Mango is making its Classroom online language-learning program freely available to schools through the end of the current school year. The program offers lessons for 70 languages in a digital format that can be accessed online and offline, via desktop and mobile app. The software includes on-task monitoring and assessment results for teachers and reading, listening and speaking activities for students. https://mangolanguages.com/info/covid19-response.cfm
McGraw-Hill has developed online training for Connect and ALEKS digital learning platforms to help instructors and students who need to move to an online format for their Spring 2020 courses. The company has also made its ALEKS and Connect tools free for college students for the rest of the semester. https://www.mheducation.com/highered/support/connect/how-to-move-your-course-online.html
Meero, which facilitates transfer of large image, video and PDF files, has made premium functionality available on its basic version. MeeroDrop will accommodate up files up to 10 gigabytes in size (normally five gigabytes) worth of files and make them available for three months. The company said there was no need to create an account to access the shred "drops." All drops created between now and June 2020 will be kept active for three months. https://www.meerodrop.com/en/
Menlo Security is offering no-cost licenses to organizations to help their employees maintain security during work-from-home days. The software covers three security concerns: isolation of email links and attachments to protect against phishing attacks or malicious attachments; direct connection to the internet without having to use the virtual private network infrastructure; and a free assessment of the current infrastructure and development of a deployment plan to quickly deploy services. The offer is open until May 1, 2020; the license is good for 90 days. https://info.menlosecurity.com/Request-Your-Free-Proxy-and-Phishing-Protection-Licenses.html
Merit Software is giving colleges and universities free access to its online English and reading comprehension products. The company provides skill-building resources with automatic feedback and built-in scoring. Contact the company to get access. https://meritsoftware.com/contact-us/
Microsoft, which includes Teams in the Office Suite, is now offering educational institutions not currently licensed for Teams a free Office 365 E1 offer, with no end date specified. The company has lifted restrictions on user limits. What's more, as of March 10, Microsoft rolled out updates to the free version of Teams that lifts restrictions on user limits. https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/free
The National Constitution Center is launching a free eight-week series of daily live interactive courses on the Constitution for college students. They'll be led by NCC President and CEO, Jeffrey Rosen, a law professor and constitutional expert, along with other NCC constitutional scholars and educators. The sessions, delivered via Zoom, will allow students to participate in daily lectures and conversations about the basic principles of the U.S. Constitution. Teachers are also able to sign their students up for virtual "Classroom Exchanges," expanded to go beyond classroom-to-classroom conversations to meet students in remote environments. https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/classroom-exchanges/online-civic-learning-opportunities
National Geographic Explorer Classroom is currently hosting experts online in live events each day at 2 p.m. Eastern time to allow students and adults to ask questions face-to-face. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/student-experiences/explorer-classroom/
National University, a mostly online institution, is offering free tuition for California college students who have had their learning disrupted because of the virus. Their courses are offered monthly, and college and high school students can sign up for up to three courses over the next three months. The university said it has nearly 2,000 online courses, most of which are asynchronous and available to students anywhere and anytime, and are transferable for credit at colleges across the state. https://www.nu.edu/coronavirusresponse/
Nepris, which delivers online talks with industry professionals on a wide array of subjects, is making its virtual industry chats available to everyone through April. The schedule is available online: https://www.nepris.com/sessions/upcoming.
Omega Notes is waiving its fees for the rest of the spring semester. The company offers a collaborative learning platform that uses a "course packs" metaphor: schools can distribute interactive ebooks and other course materials to students with an extra layer of functionality that ensures engagement, such as check-ins about how well the student understands the concepts and in-screen note-taking and annotation. The program allows for integration of assessments, has collaboration features and provides reporting on student comprehension. https://www.omeganotes.com/continue-teaching-regardless/
OneLogin is offering OneLogin Trusted Experience Platform for free to educators. That consists of single sign-on, multi-factor authentication and certificate-based authentication, to help secure virtual experiences for users. https://www.onelogin.com/lp/promo-edu-virtual-learning
OnScale, which produces a cloud-based engineering simulation platform, is offering its customers free cloud core-hours, to enable people to keep working on engineering projects remotely. Current customers can learn more about the remote work offer at info@onscale.com. New customers can learn more at https://onscale.com/.
The Open Textbook Library is reminding faculty at colleges and universities that it has 703 openly-licensed textbooks, which can be downloaded for free or printed at a low cost. Subjects include accounting and finance, business, computer science, education, math, national sciences, social sciences and student success, among others. The compilation is maintained by the nonprofit Center for Open Education in the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development. https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks
OpenStax is reminding educators and families that its 38 open source (read: free) digital textbooks in core college and Advanced Placement subjects are available. On top of that, the nonprofit said that it would offer free access to its online homework offerings (which normally have a low cost attached to them). That covers ROVER for math subjects and TUTOR, a beta program that provides online courseware and learning tools needed to complete a course; coverage includes physics, biology, and introduction to sociology. Also, 28 "allies" that have worked with OpenStax to develop homework and courseware that accompany its textbooks have made their offerings free. Those are listed on this OpenStax article. Finally, OpenStax has compiled lists of resource for each of its subjects, which it is documenting through its blog.
Osmo is promoting the use of a $10 "reflector" device to serve as a whiteboard or blackboard replacement. As the instructor does something or shows something, the program scans the activity and displays it on the screen for students to see. You'll need an iOS app. Details are explained in a tweet: https://twitter.com/romps/status/1237617042338897921
PC Matic is offering free cybersecurity protection and remote management tools until Jun. 30, 2020 for organizations that have 10 or more employees relocating their work home due to coronavirus closures. PC Matic Pro provides whitelisting to keep unsanctioned programs from being installed; device authentication; remote management from a central console, including a remote command prompt, file manager, reboot and shutdown; patch management; performance monitoring; and monitoring, reporting and security to stop remote desktop protocol attacks. https://www.pcmatic.com/covid19#instructionsPro
Pearson has developed guidance for higher education faculty and students on how to cope with online learning. For faculty, articles and videos cover such topics as how to use screencasting, how to use discussion boards to increase class engagement and how to deter cheating in an online class. Students can read about how to stay motivated when learning online, how to cope with a professor canceling class and how to get access to digital versions of textbooks at no additional charge. https://www.pearson.com/news-and-research/working-learning-online-during-pandemic.html/
PETEX, the University of Texas Austin Petroleum Extension school, is making its multiple online learning courses available for high schools and community colleges for a dramatically discounted $10 per student. The ecourses cover the oil business, focused on upstream, midstream and downstream sectors, including drilling, petroleum fundamentals and production basics. To acquire access to the online resources, contact program officials at info@petex.utexas.edu.
PowerNotes is offering free site licenses to universities and colleges. The software helps students unify the steps in "reading, gathering, saving, annotating, organizing, outlining, tracking and citing research" into a workflow. Instructors gain visibility into student progress on research projects. All that's needed from interested institutions is a quick phone call with the company support team to help get the service set up. https://www.blog.powernotes.com/get-started
Pronto, which connects people via chat and video messaging, is providing its synchronous communication platform for free for the spring and summer 2020 semesters to instructors. https://pronto.io/
Quizlet continues to make many services available free, including its classroom games and flashcard study guides. Now, educators also can get free access to the premium version until Jun. 30, 2020, which removes ads. https://quizlet.com/upgrade/teacher/remote-teaching
RCampus is offering free licenses for its "Express Edition" learning management system to college and universities, available until the end of the spring academic term. The software allows instructors to set up an online classroom quickly, invite students, share coursework, grade online and communicate. https://schools.rcampus.com/ecomm/schoolpricingeditc.cfm
Re Mago, a software company based in Italy, is making its digital collaboration software, Valerea, free to users. The program can be embedded in existing collaboration programs, including Microsoft Teams, to provide quick access to a meeting site with a digital whiteboard; screensharing; and audio, video and chat. https://www.valarea.com/getstarted/
Ready Learner One is volunteering free instructional support for any educator who has a need. Through a calendar appointment system spanning the next four weeks educators can book a window of time to connect with a member of the instructional design consulting team via video hangout. https://calendly.com/rl1support/support-call?month=2020-03
RedShelf is providing free access to ebooks to students. The company distributes digital course materials and provides a platform for delivering materials to students. The program is open to students attending nonprofit semester-based colleges and universities through May 25, 2020. https://studentresponse.redshelf.com/
Notebook maker Rocketbook is making a bunch of downloadable PDFs available free for students and educators. The collection includes graph paper, lined paper, music notation sheets and letter dot-grid sheets, among others. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/eqnsm164v0sav3v/AAA-cMxpo8BhBH8sLOFbkUe2a
Sidecar Learning, a startup that launched last year, is giving free licenses to all U.S. colleges and universities through the end of the spring semester. The elearning tool teaches students how to research, navigate difficult websites and evaluate information using live web content "at the point and moment of need." The software at the heart of the product was developed at the University of Arizona Libraries. https://sidecarlearn.chargebee.com/pages/v3/Bp5FeyntMQHZu4bPeL5vgj2eVmYDiffq/cart
Smart Sparrow is making its "inspark Smart Courses" available free at no cost to colleges, universities and K-12 schools. These are replacements for textbooks, that use interactive activities for learning. Instructors get tools to track student outcomes and customize the content using the Smart Sparrow platform. Courseware topics include biology, anatomy and physiology, chemistry, astrobiology, astronomy, geology, science for citizens, science writing, Galapagos exploration, global challenges and English composition. https://landing.inspark.education/teach
SoftChalk is offering free access to SoftChalk Cloud until May 31, 2020. The program can be used to create online lessons and course materials for delivery to students. https://softchalk.com/
Strategic Education said it would make its Sophia Learning online education platform available free to all comers through Jul 31, 2020. All Sophia general education courses are American Council on Education-recommended and transferrable to numerous higher education institutions for course credit. Those courses cover statistics, human biology, accounting, art history, environmental science and micro- and macroeconomics, among other subjects. https://www.sophia.org/online-courses-for-college-credit
Studycounts, a math practice website that generates unlimited math practice problems for arithmetic, algebra and calculus, has extended its free trial on instructor accounts to 90 days to help faculty make it through the rest of the academic year. Instructors will get full access to Studycounts to share with students, including activity reports on what their students have practiced. https://studycounts.com/plans
Support.com is offering its remote technical support services free to people who are working and studying remotely. The company said it could help users with device setup, troubleshooting video conference calls, e-mail configuration, data migration, security updates, virus or malware removal and other problems. https://corporate.support.com/offering-free-tech-support-to-those-working-remotely-during-covid-19-outbreak/
Thoughtexchange has opened its enterprise crowdsourcing platform to any educational organization that wants to reach out to its staff and community in an open-ended way to find out what people are thinking about, what kind of support they need, and what they believe the challenges to be for the future. As one education user explained, "The value of [the service] during a crisis is that people have things they have to get off their chest." https://www.thoughtexchange.com/keep-people-connected/
Top Hat is making its classroom software available free through the end of the current semester. The software lets faculty simulate their lecture experience with live discussions, presentations, quizzing and automated attendance. The company has also made its remote testing service free, which includes remote proctoring functionality, to enable students to take secure, proctored tests from any location on their own computers. Interested instructors can sign up online and the company said it would be in touch within a business day to get test and exams ready in time for running the week of Apr. 6, 2020. https://tophat.com/remote-testing/
Trivantis is giving free access to Lectora, its course authoring software, through Jun. 30, 2020. The online service provides authoring capabilities for creating online courses that integrate with learning management systems and that are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)-compliant for accessibility. Lessons can use actions, conditions, variables and triggers for conditional branching and sequences and can be co-developed by multiple people with version-tracking. Courses can include quizzes and assessment. The software offers libraries of course templates and stock images. https://resources.trivantis.com/landing-pages/take-your-campus-to-the-cloud
TrueConf is offering educational institutions free access to its on-premises videoconferencing system for up to 1,000 users. According to the company, the self-hosted distance learning platform can be set up "within 15 minutes." TrueConf is maintained by an IT administrator and works well for regions with "unstable" internet connectivity. The program's videoconferencing mode and collaboration tools include screen sharing and videoconference recording. Students can join online classes from any device via client applications for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, as well as from browsers with no extra plugins. Access will remain open until June 30, after which the company cut the price in half for a server license to any academic organization. https://trueconf.com/blog/blog/news/covid-19-be-safe-work-from-home-with-trueconf.html
TutorOcean is offering its online tutoring platform free of charge to all higher-education institutions. In addition, the company said it has ramped up its support staff to accommodate increased need for virtual face-to-face interactions between tutors and students. The company's peer tutoring platform gives students the ability to connect with tutors and interact 24/7. Services are available through the end of the semester. Access credentials will be provided within 24 hours, according to the company. https://higher-ed.tutorocean.com/coronavirus-help
Unity Technologies is providing free access to Unity Learn Premium, a 3D development platform, through Jun. 20, 2020. Registration provides access to live sessions with Unity experts and 350-plus hours of tutorials, hands-on projects, and courses for game developers, covering topics from "Game Mechanic Design Fundamentals" to "Getting Started with Post-Processing Stack for VR." Unity is also delivering virtual classes through "Create with Code Live," free for students, instructors and anyone else interested in learning to code; those sessions kick off on Mar. 23 at 9 a.m. Pacific time or 5 p.m. Pacific time. https://unity.com/products/learn-premium
ViewSonic is offering myViewBoard free to colleges and universities, to help faculty conduct distance learning. The program allows for real-time collaboration through video audio conferencing, "huddles" and digital whiteboarding. https://www.viewsonic.com/us/distance-learning
Wiley has made WileyPLUS, Knewton Alta and zBooks available through the Spring 2020 term. Also, the company has made more than 5,000 COVID-19-related articles freely available on a Wiley Online Library site. https://secure.wiley.com/COVID19OpenWPAccess, https://www.zybooks.com/, https://novel-coronavirus.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
Wize, an online learning platform for first-year college students, is making its library of exam prep content and homework help services available for free. That includes free 15-minute tutoring sessions. https://intercom.help/wizedemy-inc/en/articles/3837228-covid-19-update-how-wize-is-helping-students
Wooclap has made its software free for higher ed institutions to use for six months. The program helps faculty inject interactivity into remote lessons through quizzes, polls, wordclouds and other methods. The platform also includes flashcards ("wooflash"), which promote student memorization and comprehension while generating data to help instructors track student progress. https://www.wooclap.com/
Zoom has lifted the 40-minute meeting limit on its free basic accounts for K-12 and teamed up with Clever to make Zoom accessible to Clever districts that experiencing closures. Outschool, a marketplace for live online classes, has made available free remote teacher training webinars demonstrating how to adapt teaching practices and curriculum to a live video chat classroom. https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/13/how-to-use-zoom-for-online-learning/
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