A collection of mostly open-source and free tools that I teach with that I enjoy using.
board.net
Simultaneous writing on the net - very easy. Quick notes, wish lists or collective planning and protocolling. With board.net’s Etherpad, ideas can be shared and developed collectively and simultaneously. The board name also serves as access code.
Editor’s note: No signups required! Allows anonymity or (nick)names.
Netclicker
Although this is not the first website that allows a teacher to see live responses to multiple-choice questions, it might be the simplest. Create a room, ask a question, and automatically see the responses. It’s completely anonymous and free, with no need to sign up for anything.–Zach Barth
Audacity or Tenacity fork
Intuitive audio editing and recording and exporting. Show a student and in seconds they pretty much know how to use it. Useful for sound effects for games, videos, etc. Tenacity is a fork because folks were disgruntled with changes to the open source ecosystem made by the Audacity owners Muse Group. Use either as both work and are largely the same.
p5.js web editor
Wow, this is great. Use it without login, or create an account in order to save your work. It’s easy to save and share a project, or duplicate one shared with you. I teach this in many intro classes. For a code editor it’s pretty friendly. Part of the family of projects developed by the Processing Foundation.
Pico-8 Education Edition
Another good all-in-one online free tool. Turn it on and you’re dropped into the fantasy console. Click on the bunny to get access to free resources to get started making a game, load in cartridges, save them externally, or read the manual or tutorials. Includes ‘sprite editor’, sound creation and map editor.
Cryptpad.fr
A free instance of Cryptpad, encrypted, with abliity to create and share sheets, documents, presentations, code, forms and markdown slides. Sign up in order to be able to save your files.
jspaint
This is a web-based drawing tool inspired by MS Paint. I tend to use it as a digital whiteboard because it’s fast and intuitive, with only the stuff you need and no more.
panblog
My own tool, a static site generator that I use to make websites for all of my classes.
OBS Studio
OBS stands for Open Broadcasting Studio. It’s an easy way to record video lectures, is cross-platform, easy on resources, and allows simple compositing of graphics and video. It’s not where people edit video but instead what you use to arrange your screen and perform the recording.
Internet Archive
They have so much! Old archived versions of websites with articles or old sites you want to show to students, video documentaries on topics of interest, or even copies of articles, or books you can sign out to read online. They also have a ton of vintage software, including a collection of Hypercard stacks that I share with students in some of my classes, and old BASIC and Atari games that I share with students in games classes.