Useful Online Tools
Here are some popular tools you may want to check out! We have gathered this list as potential resources, but please read the terms of use for each tool and use your own discretion in utilizing them for your work. If you have a tool to suggest for this list, please email coeisg@hawaii.edu.
Multimedia & Publishing
Tools to help you design and build your course, or create and publish content.
Google Slides is an online collaborative slide creation and presentation tool. It has features similar to PowerPoint but is online and allows multiple people to collaborate on the same slides. The app is available to all UH faculty and students via their Google @ UH accounts and has clear online instructions.
Free slide templates (remember to follow attribution rules/guidelines):
Streaming
YouTube is a video sharing website where faculty and students can find or upload content, assignment videos or introduction videos.
Laulima and most website building tools can embed YouTube videos. You can also link to specific parts or sections of videos if you want students to skip ahead. Videos on Vimeo, Khan Academy, TEDTalks, TeacherTube (K-12 teachers), and other sites are often cross-posted on YouTube as well.
YouTube allows for various privacy levels including private sharing of videos when necessary. YouTube content is generally licensed for educational uses but before sharing an existing video, check if a different license applies.
Video Editing
Shotcut is a free, open source video editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Audio Editing
Audacity is a free, open source audio editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Screencastify is a Google Chrome free browser extension that allows to record your browser, screen, computer audio, and microphone. It is often used for faculty and student tutorials or recorded presentations. The free version limits to 5 minute video captures.
If you are not using Chrome, there are stand alone and free tools like TechSmith Capture (formerly Jing). TechSmith Capture is available for Windows and Mac, is used for screenshots and up to 5 minute long screencasts.
Photo Editing
Pixlr
Pixlr Editor is a free, web-based drawing tool and image editor. It is effective and easy to use.
View a tutorial on how to resize your image with Pixlr X.
GIMP
For a more advanced option, GIMP is a stand alone all-inclusive graphic editor, similar to Photoshop, but free and open source. It is not the easiest to use but is the go-to software when the ones available cannot perform the task at hand, from image drawing, editing, resizing, to converting formats and an array of other tasks, including creating simple animations.
GIMP’s website offers basic tutorials. Many others can be found on YouTube, Vimeo or the site How to GIMP.
Image/Photo Banks
These sites have photos and images that are free to use. Be sure to follow their attribution rules or guidelines.
Weebly, WordPress and Google Sites are all website building tools that allow you and your students to create websites.
Weebly is a free, easy to use CMS that features a guided setup as well as a drag and drop interface.
Google Sites is freely available to all hawaii.edu users. It has the added benefit of collaborative editing like the other Google apps.
WordPress is a site building tool that is used by 89% of the Internet. However, setting up a WordPress website may a bit advanced. The COE offers department and project sites for COE initiatives, and professional web development for externally funded projects through our contract services. UH ITS also offers a WordPress hosting service for your department.
Piktochart is a free, web-based app to create infographics and presentations with easy to use and visually impactful design templates.
Canva offers many free design templates, specially designed for education, marketing and social media!
Instructional Tools
Tools for learning and engagement
Flipgrid is a free tool that facilitates video discussions. See an example from the LTEC department faculty doing introductions using Flipgrid.
Padlet is a digital notice board where you can add images, links, videos, and documents, all collated on a “wall” that can be made public or private. See Kathy Ratliff explaining how she used Padlet to gather feedback from her students.
Flashcards
Quizlet is a tool that allows students to learn content through flashcards, games and other interactive activities. Students can use already created content called ‘study sets’ or create their own study sets.
Quizlet offers free and paid accounts for students and teachers.
For more information on how to get started and use Quizlet, see the Quizlet Help Center.
Citation Management
Zotero and Mendeley are Citation management software applications that allow authors to easily collect, organize, create citations then automatically generate references lists. Both Zotero and Mendeley are free, and you can upgrade to paid for more additional storage.
The University of Hawaii at Manoa Library has available resources on Zotero and Mendeley.
Google Docs
Google docs is a collaborative writing tool, and freely available to all hawaii.edu users. Google docs can be great for student group work and for collaborative projects. More on using Google docs.
Online Tutoring
The Online Learning Academy (OLA) at UH Manoa provides online academic tutoring for students.
The UH Manoa Writing Center offers students online assistance with writing.
Image credit: Imajin Noasking via Vecteezy