Free (or Cheaper) Tool and Resources for eLearning (February 2015)

In August 2014 I published my first version of this article which is still view able here. Since then I've been slowing adding to the list as I find new tools and resources that I can afford to implement into my life (items marked with asterisks are tools or resources I use regularly). I think the list has nearly doubled which is crazy (even for an internet and app obsessed person like myself). With my last post reached over 600 people and was shared over 20 times on Google plus alone I felt like another installment was due. I'm thinking about making this a regular series where I randomly update the list when I come across something new or in clumps of a certain number. To reduce the size of this article I didn't go into great detail on each tool or resource. Find me on Twitter or comment below if you want to chat about my experiences. 

Animation

http://www.synfig.org/cms/
https://www.animatron.com/landing
http://www.aquafadas.com/en/motioncomposer/
http://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-2D-animation-software.html
http://www.powtoon.com/*
http://www.videoscribe.co/*
https://www.thinglink.com/

Audio

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ *

http://download.cnet.com/SoundCapture/3000-2168_4-10079089.html

http://krut.sourceforge.net/

http://camstudio.org/

http://vocaroo.com/
http://www.ocenaudio.com.br/en/download
https://shop.presonus.com/products/studio-one-prods/Studio-One-Free
https://twistedwave.com/online/
http://www.wavosaur.com/
http://waveshop.sourceforge.net/download.html

Bibliography/Citation

http://www.easybib.com/
https://www.zotero.org/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/refdot/hdhekmbccpnbffkkdoinkjmggbcpcflo
http://www.citelighter.com/
http://www.citefast.com/
http://endnote.com/
http://www.bibme.org/
http://www.noodletools.com/tools/subscriptions.php
http://www.citationmachine.net/
http://www.refworks.com/
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/11/

Collaboration/Management Tools

http://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/8a09a269-7cba-4514-ba3b-75c7bbd42799
http://www.google.com/drive*

https://evernote.com/
http://www.govisually.com/
https://podio.com/site/
http://www.cageapp.com/
https://www.getflow.com/
http://thinkbinder.com/
https://trello.com/*

Color

https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ *

http://www.pictaculous.com/

http://design-seeds.com/*

http://paletton.com*

http://www.colorhexa.com/ *

http://colorpicker.com/

http://www.javascripter.net/faq/rgbtohex.htm*

Course Authoring

https://www.easygenerator.com/

https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/lcds-tool.aspx#tab1

http://www.smartbuilder.com/product/smartbuilder

http://www.authorgen.com/authorpoint/index.htm

http://www.jetdraft.com/eng/index/

http://www.izzui.com/

http://www.udutu.com/solutions_udutu.html

http://www.quicklessons.com/

http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter.html

http://www.ipresent.com/Pricing

http://www.quicklessons.com/

http://www.zebrazapps.info/#!pricing/c8ja

http://zembl.com/

http://goanimate.com/

http://softchalk.com/

http://memorize.com/

Documents

http://www.adobe.com/products/reader.html*
https://cloud.gonitro.com/
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro.html*
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
http://www.somepdf.com/some-pdf-to-txt-converter.html
http://portableapps.com/apps/office/pdftk_builder_portable
https://titanpad.com/
http://www.showdocument.com/

Font

http://www.dafont.com/ *

http://www.google.com/fonts/*

http://losttype.com/browse/*

http://www.urbanfonts.com/free-fonts.htm*

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ *

http://copypastecharacter.com/all-characters

http://www.1001fonts.com/brandname-fonts.html*

http://www.whatfontis.com/

http://www.fonts.com/id/by-sight
http://www.identifont.com/
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/whatfont/jabopobgcpjmedljpbcaablpmlmfcogm?hl=en

Image Manipulation

www.gimp.com *

http://tinygrab.com/

http://www.pixlr.com/editor/ *
http://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/cddea172-98bd-4df5-9d50-8a81791be957
http://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/bfb692e8-fc57-4568-b209-b5dc4f83389b
http://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/2dc7d012-a8bf-43bc-90dc-372f6cd46d44
http://make8bitart.com/

Image/Icon

http://www.freeimages.com/ *

https://elearningart.net/

http://designinstruct.com/category/free-resources/

http://publicdomainarchive.com/

http://littlevisuals.co/

http://deathtothestockphoto.com/ *

http://nos.twnsnd.co/

http://www.gratisography.com/

http://pixabay.com/ *

http://roundicons.com/

https://picons.me/

http://www.mightydeals.com/free_stuff

http://morguefile.com/

http://picjumbo.com/ *

http://unsplash.com/ *

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml

http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries.htm

http://www.freepixels.com/

http://www.public-domain-photos.com/

http://search.creativecommons.org/

http://subtlepatterns.com/

http://thenounproject.com/ *

http://www.toasto.com/

http://stockphotos.io/

http://www.stockvault.net/

http://www.public-domain-photos.com/

http://www.stockpholio.com/

http://pixelperfectdigital.com/

http://www.photogen.com/

http://openphoto.net/

http://www.kavewall.com/stock/index.html

http://imagebase.net/

http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp

http://www.freepik.com/*

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

http://www.cgtextures.com/
https://stocksnap.io/view-photos/sort/date/desc
http://startupstockphotos.com/
http://www.lifeofpix.com/
http://www.pexels.com/
https://sumall.com/free-marketing-images#.VN4K-_l4rYg
http://jaymantri.com/

Infographics

http://piktochart.com/*
https://pixlr.com/
https://infogr.am/
http://www.wordle.net/
http://visual.ly/*

https://inkscape.org/en/
http://www.easel.ly/

Inspiration

www.pinterest.com *

www.dribbble.com*

www.behance.com*

www.canva.com *

http://www.siteinspire.com/

http://land-book.com/

http://community.articulate.com/blogs/david/default.aspx *
http://elearninginfographics.com/

LMS

http://www.talentlms.com/index/  

http://www.edubrite.com/oltpublish/theme-eb-www/cms.do?view=pricing

http://www.sharepointlms.com/

http://www.efrontlearning.net/

http://www.growthengineering.co.uk/demo/

https://www.easygenerator.com/
http://www.learnupon.com/
http://www.joomlalms.com/

Meeting Tools

http://www.anymeeting.com/
http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/?hl=en*
https://www.join.me/
https://www.meetingburner.com/
https://www.uberconference.com/features/web_conference_calls
http://www.twiddla.com/
http://www.voxeet.com/
https://hall.com/
http://www.meetin.gs/
https://www.mikogo.com/

Proofreading

http://www.polishmywriting.com/

http://paperrater.com/

Storyboard

https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboard-creator
http://conceptboard.com/
http://www.mindmeister.com/

Sounds/Music

https://www.youtube.com/user/RoyalTrax

http://audionautix.com/

http://www.cctrax.com/

Templates (Captivate, Lectora, Storyline, PowerPoint, Word)

https://community.articulate.com/*
http://elearning.net/elearning-healthcare-templates-storyline-captivate-lectora/*
http://rapidelearningtemplates.com/*
http://www.elearningart.com/Articulate_StoryLine_Characters_and_Templates_s/68.htm*
http://lectora.com/how-to-courses/*
http://elearninglocker.com/elearning-freebies/*
http://elearningbrothers.com/
http://elearningtemplates.com/*
http://www.presentationmagazine.com/free_powerpoint_template.htm
https://templates.office.com/*
http://www.smiletemplates.com/free/powerpoint-templates/0.html
http://www.free-power-point-templates.com/
http://www.templateswise.com/
http://www.brainybetty.com/MENUPowerPoint.htm

Video

http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html *

http://www.screenpresso.com/

https://placeit.net/

https://www.screenr.com/

http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.html *
http://www.chirbit.com/
https://www.apple.com/mac/imovie/
http://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm*
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker
https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/*

Other

http://www.onlinecharttool.com/  - Not near Excel….have no fear

http://dictionary.reference.com/ * - Because who doesn’t need help spelling

http://thesaurus.com/ * - To help you pick the right word

http://lite.launchlist.net/ - Check your website before it goes live

http://www.speedtest.net/ - Speed test for your computer

http://www.feedly.com* - Keep all your bookmarks in one place

https://bitly.com/* - Chop your links for easier social sharing
https://www.goodreads.com/* - Need to create a "to read list", set a yearly goal or read reviews?
https://openlibrary.org/ - Free online library
http://evernote.com/skitch/ - Free annotation creator
https://en.gravatar.com/* - Keep your avatar consistent across all sites
https://www.google.com/alerts* - Set Google Alerts to stay up to date on important topics
http://www.zamzar.com/ - File converter
http://calibre-ebook.com/ - Ned help creating an eBook?
http://www.lynda.com/* - Professional development for $25 a month.  Uh yes please!

As before, please leave me your suggestions in the comments below or find me on Twitter (@jvalley0714).