Creatve Commons & Searching for Resources

Search By Creative Commons is not a search engine but works like a search engine offering access to search services provided by other organisations.This site is particularly helpful in identifying websites, resources and links that make use of the Creative Commens licensing which can be used to make it easier to share information and resources withing copyright rules and is particularly useful in education.

More detail can be found about Creatve Commons licenses on their website.

Free Images

The Pics4learning website provides thousands of images which have been donated for the use of teachers and students. The pictures cover a wide range of topic areas and are worth looking at if you need pictures to support or or enhance your teaching resources.

Open Learn - Free learning materials from Open University

Drawing on their expertise in distance learning and with the help of funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Open University has developed OpenLearn a website which provides the general public with access to some of its learning materials. These include free study materials and open education resources.

These resources do not constitute a recognised OU qualitifcation. Never-the-less, there are a range of subject areas covered at different levels of difficulty and these are worth looking at if you want free learning resources or to see examples of online courses.

National Learning Network Resources

The National Learning Network have made available a host of learning resources. These were funded by the LSC and are available free to all authorised organisations in the post-16 sector.
They describe the resources as "small, flexible 'bite-sized' episodes of learning". Designed to be fun, the activities can be attempted over and over again and cover many different topic areas (including core skills, mainstream school subjects and vocational areas). These are definitely worth looking at if you want online activities for your students to increase their knowledge and to check their understanding.

Screen Toaster - Screen Capture

I have previously mentioned tools for screen capture. Screen Toaster is yet another tool that can record what is on your screen with audio voice over. This tool is entirely online and easy to use. The site permits users to record then store the video (webcast) online either publically or with access via a URL. There is also the offer to download the video as a .mov or .swf file or to upload to YouTube or ScreenToaster.

Hairdressing Training

The Hairdressing Training website offers a range of downloadable resources to support the teaching of hairdressing. These include "photographic step by step guides combined with lessons and handy tips and techniques". The site also provides a discussion area and student self-tests.

If you teach this subject the site could be a really useful resource.

Saving useful links - Delicious

The Delicious website enables users to save links to useful websites which can be accessed over the internet form anywhere at a later time. This social bookmarking tool enables users to share their bookmarked list with others and to view those created by others.

Given its nature as a social bookmarking site, it is worth checking that you can access this through institutional firewalls if you wish to access it at work.