As the COVID-19, or coronavirus, continues to spread, schools in the US and around the world are shifting to online learning in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. FreeAlrSoft has been hard at work looking for ways technology can help ensure a successful online learning experience for the kids at home. A wide variety of technology tools are available to help. Here are some of the best ideas we have found.

Just remember that it can be tempting to download and try to use all these free tools. Instead, use tools and apps that make sense and easy to understand so that you, or your student, isn’t overwhelmed.

Trello: Trello is a visual tool for organizing your work.  Especially great for those that need to visually see tasks and the big picture and working with teams. 

Todolist: Task Management Software with Gantt Chart, Mindmap, Kanban Board and Calendar Views

TreeSheets:  Small and practical application that can be used instead of spreadsheet tools, mind mappers, outliners,  information managers, text editors and database utilities.

Google Keep: Loads fast and works awesome on the phone, need a free Google account= .

OneNote: Able to add notebooks and pages to those notebooks.  We highly recommend this for note taking. Need a free Outlook account.

If you need to sit through a live broadcast of a lecture or lesson form a teacher or professor, it is hard to listen and take notes at the same time.  If you need to join an online collaboration with a group video chat, it can be hard to pay attention to what everyone is saying and you might miss something important.   Why not recorded your live broadcast or meetings and review at your own pace later.  The below software can record what you see on your screen, as well as the audio. 

OBS Studio: Designed for capturing, compositing, encoding, recording, and streaming video content, efficiently.

Showmore.com: If you are a fan of online webapps, this is a free online screen recorder, you can record system sound and microphone voice. It has many video formats and no time limit.

Icecream Screen Recorder:  is an easy-to-use free screen recording software that enables you to record any area of your screen or save it as a screenshot. Record apps and games, video tutorials, webinars, live streams, Skype calls and much more. You can record screen along with audio and webcam.

Anki:  is a program which makes remembering things easy. Because it’s a lot more efficient than traditional study methods, you can either greatly decrease your time spent studying, or greatly increase the amount you learn

Google Sheets:  Follow this methiod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIyDJK_SAjs

Genius (Mac only)Use Genius to study foreign language phrases, vocabulary words, historical events, legal definitions, formal speeches, marketing points, religious texts–anything you need to memorize!

OpenShot Video Editor: Simple enough to understand and use quickly with the tools you need  to make something that looks good, but still pretty simple.  Beginner should be able use it pretty easily and there are tutorials online and YouTube. 

Inkscape: Whether you are an illustrator, designer, web designer or just someone who needs to create some vector imagery, Inkscape is for you.

Paint.NET: Image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools

GIMP: a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software. Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

Audacity An easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems

PDF-XChange Viewer:  Free PDF editor/reader that allows you to view and edit PDFs, all from within an attractive and intuitive interface

draw.io. A completely free, stand-alone diagramming application by the technology leaders in web diagramming. No registration, no limitations, no catche. It does the same thing as Visio, but free. It can also sync with Dropbox, drive and other cloud save systems.

EasyBib: Automatic works cited and bibliography formatting for MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian citation styles. Now supports 7th edition of MLA.

https://www.iste.org/explore/10-strategies-online-learning-during-coronavirus-outbreak