25 best online resources for finding free educational videos

RefSeek's guide to the 25 best online resources for finding free educational videos. With the exception of BrainPOP and Cosmeo, all listed sites offer their extensive video libraries for free and without registration.

RefSeek's guide to the 25 best online resources for finding free educational videos. With the exception of BrainPOP and Cosmeo, all listed sites offer their extensive video libraries for free and without registration.

Academic Earth

Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.

academicearth.org

Big Think

Video interviews with 600+ thought leaders in a range of fields.

bigthink.com

Brightstorm

Short-form online video lessons by professional educators. Free math lessons.

brightstorm.com

CosmoLearning

Aggregator of free, online video lessons and documentaries.

cosmolearning.com

Coursera

Lectures taught by world-class professors and reinforced through interactive exercises.

coursera.org

EdX

Courses designed specifically for interactive study via the web.

edx.org

Futures Channel

High quality multimedia content ideal for use in the classroom.

thefutureschannel.com

Howcast

Professional and user-generated how-to videos.

www.howcast.com

Internet Archive

Collection of more than two-hundred thousand free historical videos, many academic.

archive.org

iTunes U

Free lectures, language lessons, audiobooks, and more accessible via Apple iTunes.

Apple iTunes - Apple iTunes Software

Khan Academy

Self-pased learning with extensive video library, interactive challenges, and assessments.

khanacademy.org

Learner.org

Professionally developed programming for K-12 classrooms.

learner.org

Math TV

Professional video lessons in mathematics. Covers basic math through calculus.

mathtv.com

MIT Open CourseWare

Lectures and course materials for students, teachers, and self-learners.

ocw.mit.edu  |  Also see: OpenCourseWare Finder

MIT Video

Guide to more than 11,000 interesting MIT videos and lectures.

video.mit.edu/

NeoK12

Aggregator of high-quality educational videos from around the Web.

www.neok12.com

ResearchChannel

3,500 videos from distinguished researchers and scholars.

youtube.com/user/ResearchChannel

PBS

Free videos from your favorite PBS programs, including NOVA and Frontline.

video.pbs.org

SchoolTube

Video sharing platform for schools featuring original content created by students.

www.schooltube.com

SchoolsWorld

Engaging, professional videos and practical resources for educator development.

www.schoolsworld.tv

SnagFilms

Library of free, full-length documentary films.

www.snagfilms.com

TeacherTube

Online aggregator of educational videos.

www.teachertube.com

TED

Fascinating presentations by the world's leading thinkers and doers.

www.ted.org

Videojug

Collection of videos from professors, professionals, coaches, teachers, and consultants.

www.videojug.com

WatchKnowLearn

Comprehensive online directory of educational videos aggregated from across the Web.

www.watchknowlearn.org

WonderHowTo

Search engine and directory of free how-to videos.

www.wonderhowto.com

Open Yale Courses

Free access to a selection of introductory Yale courses.

oyc.yale.edu

YouTube EDU

Free lectures from more than one hundred colleges and universities.

www.youtube.com/edu  |  Also see: Talks@Google

Additional sites that are not free but offer outstanding content:

BrainPOP

Provider of original, animated educational videos. Subscription required.

www.brainpop.com

Cosmeo

30,000 video segments from Discovery Education. Subscription required.

www.cosmeo.com  |  Also see: Discovery Education Streaming

general interest

Hulu

Joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp. Features TV shows and movies.

www.hulu.com  |  Also see: PBS, National Geographic

Metacafe

Specializes in short-form original video content.

www.metacafe.com

Vimeo

Upload, share, and explore user-generated videos.

www.vimeo.com

YouTube

Hosts millions of user-generated and professional videos.

www.youtube.com

             

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Top 10 Education Tech Blogs

1. The Innovative Educator

If you have ever felt that school was boring or irrelevant, the Innovative Educator, Lisa Nielson, understands how you feel. Motivated by her own disillusionment with the way public schools today approach teaching, Nielson focuses on showing other educators ways that they can use freely available resources and technologies already within students’ grasps to make classes more engaging and relevant. Not only does Nielson deal with broad ideas about technology in the classroom, but also the nitty gritty details of implementation, so that teachers will be able to use her ideas without having to struggle against a budget process or other restrictions.

2. The Daring Librarian

Gwyneth Jones, the Daring Librarian herself, knows that librarians can have lots of fun. Approaching ed-tech with a sense of humor and plenty of Vines and cartoons to illustrate her stories, Jones writes a blog that entertains as it informs. Not only does she provide plenty of excellent content on new apps and ideas on how to use everyday websites as learning opportunities, but also a good measure of fun stories that will have you laughing out loud.

3. EdTech RoundUp

With weekly posts on the state of technology in education, EdTech RoundUp is the best place to go to find out the latest news related to education tech. The comprehensive coverage of news and recently released apps and devices allows you to find out the latest happenings in just one place every week. While this blog may not have as many original ideas as some other blogs in the field, the RoundUp provides you with the best place to keep informed on progress in the field.

4. Edudemic

Easily the largest hub for education content out there, Edudemic provides teachers with advice, ideas, and lesson plans to better integrate technology in the classroom. While a visit to this site may be a bit overwhelming at first due to the sheer amount of attention-grabbing content, you will always be able to find new ideas that make your visit worth your time.

5. MindShift

When you are tired of reading the same ideas over and over again written in different words on different blogs, head over to MindShift for something unique. Focusing on slightly edgier, more fringe topics within the educational technology field, MindShift opens your eyes to totally new ideas. With its wide scope and its dedication to sharing all unique opinions on education, MindShift will give you plenty to talk about with your colleagues.

6. Free Technology 4 Teachers

While ideas are great, implementation remains the biggest challenge for many teachers. A lack of resources and tools plagues many schools, making it more difficult to use technology in the classroom. Richard Byrne addresses this in his blog, Free Technology 4 Teachers. His well-organized site is a treasure trove of free apps, software, videos, and graphics that teachers can use in the classroom right away. Practical and clear, Byrne gives suggestions that even the least tech-savvy teacher can use.

7. Cycles of Learning

Who doesn’t like a good life hack? Ramsay Musallam recognized how useful hacks could be in classrooms, so he set up Cycles of Learning to share practical education tech hacks to make teachers’ lives just a bit easier. Once you see his TED Talk on sparking learning, you won’t be able to get enough of his content. By focusing on simple ways to inspire real learning in students using technology in the classroom, Musallam shows us that even learning can be hacked.

8. Edutopia

Hosted by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Edutopia has plenty of well-indexed information on how technology can be used in classrooms. Since information is filed by age group and topic, teachers can easily get practical ideas that are relevant to their current curriculum without wading through lots of ideas that won’t quite work for their individual situations. With plenty of videos and fun quizzes, Edutopia can be a fun place to browse even if you aren’t looking for anything specific. Make sure to click on their “Trending Topics” section to find out what the hottest topics are currently in education technology.

9. Steve Hargadon

Don’t let the simple design and lack of flash fool you; Steve Hargadon’s blog provides plenty of worthwhile current information on educational technologies. A true ed-tech leader, Hargadon is the director of the Web 2.0 Labs, host of the Future of Education interview series, chair of the Social Learning Summit and the Learning 2.0 Conference, and co-chair of the annual Global Education and Library 2.0 worldwide conferences. As Hargadon is one of the top experts on educational technology, you can be assured that reading his blog will give you plenty of innovative ideas.

10. My Paperless Classroom

Sam Patterson, K-5 tech integration specialist, talks about his own experiences trying to implement tech ideas in classes in My Paperless Classroom. Not only does Patterson have some excellent ideas on how to effectively use technologies less commonly allowed in classes, including MineCraft worlds, toys, and video games, but he also candidly reveals some of the challenges and pitfalls of these technologies. Be prepared to learn what tech integration really means in the classroom.

             

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Best Screenshot Apps for Android

The two-button combo for screenshots is easy but what if our smartphone has a fragile lock or volume button, we wouldn’t want the buttons to break, would we? Along with that, we sometimes need editing tools for doodling, arrows, boxes etc.. to point out something in screenshots before we can post them on social networks. There are a number of screenshot apps on the Google Play Store that not only allow you to take screenshots with ease, they also bring some cool additional features.
We tried many apps on the Play Store and here are the best screenshot apps for Android (in no particular order):
Note: Most of the screenshot apps on Android come with various triggers to take screenshots. Not every trigger will work on all smartphones due to access or hardware limitations. 

Best Screenshot Apps for Android

Screenshot Easy

Screenshot Easy is a very popular Android app for taking screenshots with ease. The app has a very simple UI, which works well with Android’s Material Design UI guidelines. There are various triggers in the app, which lets you take a screenshot. You can choose to take a screenshot through an overlay button, which keeps floating or using a button in the notification center or by shaking your device. The app also lets you set your hardware camera button to take screenshots and that’s if your smartphone has a hardware camera button. If the app is running in the background and you take a screenshot the conventional way, it detects that and opens the screenshot in the app for your editing needs.

 

When it comes to the editing features, it lets you crop your screenshots, ZIP it or print it. You can also change existing colors in a screenshot to the one you like. There are options to show date & time on screenshots and save the images in PNG or JPG format. Other features of the app include themes, support for locale & tasker plugins. Moreover, the app is available for free on the Play Store.
Install: (Free)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.

Screenshot Ultimate

Screenshot Ultimate is not the best looking Android app out there but if you want a ton of features in a screenshot app, Screenshot Ultimate won’t disappoint you. It has the most number of triggers to take a screenshot and you might find some of them to be really convoluted. You can take screenshots through an overlay button, notification bar button, shaking your device, power connect/disconnect and more. There are advanced triggers like audio trigger (blow into your device’s mic to take screenshot), interval (set time period to automatically take screenshots), cronjob (set when to take a screenshot in a specific app), proximity (put finger on proximity sensor to take screenshots), intent (tasker & locale support) and more.



Along with the various triggers, the app lets you make adjustments to your screenshots, change formats and more. There are also editing features like draw, crop, add text, rotate, mirror, effects and more. It also lets you share images directly to Imgur. The good news is Screenshot Ultimate is available for free on the Play Store.
Install: (Free)
Compatibility: Android 2.1 and up.

Screenshot Snap

While the Screenshot Snap app doesn’t really bring any intuitive methods to take a screenshot, it makes up with its diverse editing features. The app detects a screenshot being taken and loads it up on the app. You can then edit the screenshot on the go and share it quickly. You can doodle on an image with the pencil or paintbrush tool and you can also insert arrows, boxes, text and more.



The app brings you the option to save images in PNG or JPG, increase or decrease image quality. Screenshot Snap is available in a free version but it is limited when it comes to features and the ads can be a little annoying. The paid version of the app brings some cool stamps, blur tool, cloud uploading and removes ads.
Install: (Free, Paid $0.99)
Compatibility: Android 4.0 and up.

Perfect Screen Shot

Perfect Screen Shot is another cool screenshot app, which stands out due to its unique features. The app feels smooth in operation and it embodies Android’s Material Design UI, if that’s a deal breaker for you. While the app does not take screenshots for you, it detects when one is taken and opens the app with the screenshot right in front. It lets you frame your screenshots inside a device’s frame and you can edit the colors, background and more. There are various options to edit the frames and you can add glare, shadows & blur to the images. You can get frames of various devices ranging from Nexus devices such as Nexus 6P, Nexus 5X to Galaxy S6 Edge, One M9, Moto G and more.



The free “Classic” version of the app is pretty limited when it comes to the number of frames and editing features. The paid “Ultra” version brings you 3D frames, various editing options like background color, custom background images, optional blur and more.  You can also choose to edit your screenshots without a frame, if frames are not really your thing. The app also lets you import screenshots from any cloud storage services that you use like Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox etc.. To sum it up, Perfect Screen Shot is a cooler way to share screenshots and those screenshots certainly do look better inside a device frame.
Install: (Free Classic, Paid Ultra $1.99)
Compatibility: Android 4.0.3 and up.

Capture Screenshot

Capture Screenshot is very similar to Screenshot Easy but Capture Screenshot is a great screenshot app in its own right. The app is fast and is designed beautifully, so full marks to the developers on that front. It brings you various triggers like overlay button, notification shade button and shake to capture. Once you click the “Start Service” button, the app starts running in the background and detects whatever screenshots you take.



Once a screenshot is taken, Capture Screenshot lets you crop, draw, rotate, invert, add text and more. It also brings a number of filters like Boost, Grayscale, Gamma, Hue, Vignette etc.. There’s ability to save screenshots in PNG or JPG image formats. Along with that, the app brings you themes and you can choose the color you like for the app to give it a personalized look. While the free version of Capture Screenshot packs in most of the features, the “Pro” version removes ads and brings more filters.
Install (Free, Pro version $3)
Compatibility: Android 2.3 and up.

             

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Best Website Designs for Inspiration

Looking for best website designs to create your next awesome website? We have tried to compile best designed websites that may inspire your design.

It is always delightful to come across work in the digital scene, especially when much of the said work can be brilliant as setting the tone for our own work within this field. So what kinds of trends are being followed nowadays? That’s a tough question to nail down but it is far more important to ask just what is being done by the successful developers and designers out there and what can you do to grab your share in the market.

You also find our pick of best responsive design websites. 

Web design matters more than ever for companies wanting to get their product or idea out into the crazy world of the internet. A website is one of the most powerful marketing tools available today for businesses. It doesn’t matter the size of your company because your site can rank higher on Google regardless of its size. 

A website is a good way to give your business some credibility and to reach new potential customers at a lower cost. Before you make your own, it’s good to measure the quality of a site by some current industry standards. 

A good website should have: 

• Simple elements
• Quality typography
• Engaging color scheme
• Branding for your company
• Easy navigation
• Social media
• Apps for phones or other devices

Gugurel’s Profile Website

Gugurel’s work is one of mystic fascination, if one would pardon the use of that terminology in this context. As his page says, the work is creative and focuses on delivering quality user experience. The idea is fresh, there is literally nothing visible on the page save for few buttons so almost intuitively the user has less complications to deal with and has more time to navigate around the page. The technique? Gugurel has simply tapped into the human psychic and figured out that the visitors will spend longer on the page if they have to work less to navigate. That’s a lesson for all of in the design profession.

Grand Hotel Dicomo

I like to call this website as menus done correctly. You can see perfectly what the entire business and service is about, everything that they are offering is done brilliantly on the website. The central part is more display oriented rather than having text whereas the menu is simplistic but complete in all of the services and information about the business. Again from the outlook of design, this is one subtly done for business, it is definitely very alluring to the eye and yet fulfills all the business objectives wonderfully. Another tip for all you budding artists out there.

450 GSM

This one is a joy to behold for all the minimalism lovers out there. We all know how the minimalist design has picked up pace as a trend in the modern business construct but it is another story altogether to see a business execute it well and with a flourish. Observe the elements of the website, there aren’t many and yet the entire site carries a very clean look which instantly adds to the appeal of the site. Look at the business in question, the offer is of print and ones who want printing done want the output to be presentable. See the link? The website translates the purpose and the feature of the business.

Pervolo

This is content centered design done with excellence. Notably many sites that attempt this concept end up adding too many panels, too many menu elements and too much of side text. Notice the grey area beneath the page, that tells you of how optimized the size is and yet everything you need to know to get a flavor about what pervolo is. The one thing which gives the site edge is the mood it sets with its background. Again design, wise this is use of psychology in play to get the visitor to be attracted to the site.

Alectia

This is a mixture of flat design and minimalism done correctly. It’s a big enterprise adopting this design and it speaks quite a lot to be able to opt for this kind of a concept for your website. Partially this is because of the skill of the designer, notice how the core services are highlighted as bigger panels. Again from corporate purpose that is how the site needs to be exhibited. That it looks as professional and coherent with the business as possible.

Kreativa Studio

I like to call this a work on maximalism. Hear me out, even with the limited size of the picture you can easily understand what the entire site is about and you attribute creativity to this site. So when the user comes on to the site his first impression will probably be “wow, there’s a lot of choice here”. The trick is this diversity of options does not make him confused and instead excites him about discovering the website further. So if you add an extensive, content centered design into your website, ask the question: “would I be excited to discover the site further” and that will give you a good indication.

Velvet Hammer

This is one site you all have to visit to get a true feel of. This is creativity done correctly and done in a very refined manner. It’s only fitting that a site of this caliber should belong to a music niche supporting independent artists. The truly mesmerizing element about the site is the scrolling animation which gives a very fluid impression to the website, almost as if you’re flicking the pages of a magazine, only simpler and more alluring. Top marks for originality on this one.

Seim MC

There is good reason as to why simplistic expression in design is so much in trend nowadays. Look at the page above for example, the appeal and mood is good but the page is exceedingly neat and yet still displays its features. This is a clever mix of content centrism and minimalism and this is especially achievable in certain conversion methods of creating websites such as PSD to HTML. 

The company is a strategy consultant for businesses so it obviously needs to display its content amply, but their approach to fulfilling that is superb. So in retrospect they are catering to each business need and are actually helping them scroll through their services in a more efficient manner.

Thru You Too

This is a concept in website making which is seldom executed successfully as a commercial front. This one is successful because of the minimalist approach it takes in each transition. So the elements of art and the animation are all standard but very natural in the manner they flow form one video to another in the playback. 

So all in all the result comes out as an experience for the user as he scrolls through the website. This is promotional effort and it does pretty well in terms of putting itself out there.

Creative Live

Creative Live offers a catalog of hundreds of creative, online classes. Some are free and some are available for purchase at a reasonable price. Their site is inviting and easy to navigate through classes. I especially enjoy their typography which is readable and catches the eye.

Instructables

This site is good for the whole family! They have categories such as recipes, DIY projects, outdoor, design, and more with instructions that are easy to read and follow and you’re also available to download instructions into PDF form if you go pro. It’s a very simple site that is still presented efficiently.

Keep

Here’s a fashion and beauty site that is comparable to Pinterest. The pages are clean and neat. You’re able to hover the photo of the item you’re viewing and ‘like, keep, or buy,’ which makes it especially catered to online shoppers. Online shoppers want a site that provides a safe and quick transaction; this is the type of sight they looks for.

Elite Daily

If you want to read up on events in the news or something out of the ordinary, Elite Daily will surely have it. Their articles are witty and blunt. There are minimal ads, the typography is appealing, and you’ll always be surprised by what they come up with. 

Their social media is on point with thousands of shares daily on Facebook.

Elle Decor

Not only a beautiful magazine, but Elle Decor has a beautiful website as well. Elle Decor’s website invites you in with class and style. The digital landscape is evolving and changing and Elle Decor is ahead of the game.

Whole Foods Market

I believe Whole Foods just redesigned their website and it looks awesome! It used to be hard to navigate but now it has specific pages for specific questions. It’s also colorful with bright/neutral colors and has an earthy feel to it, which never hurts!

Lush

This is one of my favorite sites, not only for the products they sell but for the way it’s designed. On that note, watch this awesome video from Lush Digital that shows how web design can and should make a massive statement. 

Their new website design (powered by Drupal) increased website visits every month by 71% because of the progressive displays, interactivity and the look and feel of the site.

Vimeo

Unless you haven’t used a computer in the last five years, you’ve most likely heard of this one. Vimeo is a video sharing platform that was created in 2004 by a group of filmmakers. There are now over 14 million members and some say they prefer Vimeo instead of YouTube. The videos are works of art and people are able to express themselves. They offer a cleaner aesthetic compared to other sharing platforms and there are no ads!

             

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