05 January 2017

Free Online Tools for Instructors

This list of free online tools for instructors began from thinking about the kinds of tools that we use in our own teaching and researching -- but also how the ways in which we design assignments, organize, analyse, and present out research might change if we were more familiar with other kinds of tools. For instance, if you were more familiar with audio editing tools, would you consider podcasting your research or making a podcast part of a class research assignment like Dr. Lindsay Bell?

If readers have suggestions to add to this preliminary list, we would love to add to them! Email (anthrolens at gmail.com) or tweet us (@anthrolens) with your suggestions.

GROUP PROJECT TOOLS - There are now lots of apps available for free to help groups work together, apart. Here are a couple that might be useful for committee or student-group work.
AUDIO/VISUAL EDITING TOOLS - Dr. Laurie Baker (agencyanthropologist.ca) has shared a wonderful and extensive list of free/ opensource graphic and video editing tools. How might you use these to change how you or your students present your research, give group presentations, or practice public anthropology?

Graphic creation
Graphic/photo editing Video editing/3D rendering
Free stock imagery

GRAPHICS TOOLS - Basic tools and resources for adding graphics to presentations, etc.
  • Word clouds are a fun way to visualize information for a conference or lecture slide. This site gives you different options for shapes and fonts, and has a handy wizard for first-time users.
  • We have made a few posts already about Maps/ Mapping but here are some of those links again: 
  • Anthropology Major Fox
  • Sociological Images is a community Pinterest page that has collected together and categorized many different images, especially related to gender, sexuality, race, and media. 
  • A bit silly, but Anthropology Major Fox meme-generator can help you to create simple text images for slides. You can also check through their gallery to find gems like this one.
PLANNING TOOLS and DATA ORGANIZATION