You need resources for creating eLearning, videos, presentations, websites, and animations, right? Here are twelve sets of freebies to help you get the job done. There was no effort to list AI tools (there are so many of them now!), but some are AI-enhanced.
Some tools and assets require registration to download. Please be careful when downloading freebies to be sure there is nothing malicious. I attempt to list reputable sites, but cannot vouch for each one. Enjoy!
Download version 5a of the list below.
1. KEEP LEARNING
- 250 AI Prompts for Learning and Development: from Josh Cavalier
- Accessibility From the Ground Up: A Guide to Making eLearning Barrier Free: Important guidance on inclusivity from the eLearning Guild (you can register as a free member)
- Creating Compliance Training Learners Will Love: Expert advice and tips
- Field Guide to Human-Centered Design: Scroll down to download the free book as a PDF or purchase the print version
- Generative AI Courses for Every Level: Free Courses from Google
- Learning Technology Manager’s Guide to xAPI
- Learning Transfer-Evaluation Model: Research-based evaluation method by Will Thalheimer
- Leaving ADDIE for SAM Poster: Explains an Agile methodology for instructional design
- The New World Kirkpatrick Model: Improved version of the previous model
- Visually Captivating Presentations: eBook covers presentation and visual design basics
BONUS: Top Tricks for Creating Learning Pathways
2. FREE STOCK PHOTOS
- Burst: Decent collection of free stock images
- Disabled and Here: Inclusive stock images of celebrating disable people
- Disability is Beautiful: Free stock images provided by the disability community
- Freepik: Good selection of free and paid images plus AI tools
- Gratisopgraphy: Quirky stock photos
- ISO Republic: Good selection of stock photos and videos
- Nappy: Good selection of photos featuring Black and Brown people
- Pexels: One of the better sites for photos of people working variety of jobs
- Picography: More free stock photos
- Startup Stock Photos: Yep. Photos of people in startup type environments
- Unsplash: Giant collection of artistic, creative photographs
- Women of Color in Tech: Helps close the diversity gap for tech photos
BONUS: Vintage Stock Photos: Retro and vintage images
3. FREE ICONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
- DryIcons: Well-designed icons, attribution to the company required
- Flaticon: Thousands of free icons
- Free Design File: Illustrated vector icons
- Iconmnstr: Good selection of filled and line art icons
- Icons8: Both free and paid icons in a variety of styles as well as AI tools
- Illu-stations: Illustrations and icons where you can customize the color
- Lummi Illustrations: Unusual doodles and illustrations (may not be vector graphics)
- Pixabay: Choose vector graphics in the Images drop down in search bar
- Stockio: Vector art, icons, photos and videos too
- StorySet: Customizable illustrations
- Undraw: Cool little illustrations you can customize by color, plus VisualPharm: Categorized collection of icons in varied styles
BONUS: Chartopedia: Guide for choosing the best chart for your purpose
4. FREE CUT-OUT PEOPLE
Use these sites for eLearning characters in scenarios because they come in different poses.
- 25 Free Illustrated Characters from Articulate.
- eLearning Brothers: Sign up for a starter pack of eLearning characters, templates, and more
- Faster Course: Six cartoonish characters in different styles
- Interactive Solutions: Silly cartoon character packs (scroll down at the page)
The following cut outs are made for architectural renderings. They might work best in backgrounds to add realism.
- Mr. Cutout: Good selection of individuals and groups
- XOIO: Office people. Use the button on the right at the linked page to download some cutouts
- Skal Gubbar: Cut outs to add realism to scenes (made for architectural renderings
- Viz Hopper: Over 200 free cut out people to download
- Viz People: Scroll through to find cut out people and animal
5. FREE VIDEO FOOTAGE AND CINEMAGRAPHS
Some of the free video footage is not the highest resolution but will probably okay for eLearning.
- Burst: Limited number of free cinemagraphs (photo with subtle looped animation)
- Coverr: Free video clips and music
- Freepik: Library of free stock video
- Ignitemotion: Free motion backgrounds
- Motionplaces: Geographically oriented footage
- Pexels: Free stock video footage
- Pixabay: One of the better selections of free video footage
- Pond5: Video, music and sound effects
- Stockio: Free stock video footage (plus other media assets)
- Videezy: Decent selection
6. FREE MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS
- Audionautix: Free music
- Digccmixter: Free music, including for video games, with attribution
- FreeSound: Search for sound effects and music
- Gamesounds: Music and sound effects
- Musopen: Catalog of public domain music
- Pixabay: Free sound effects
- Sonic Squirrel: Free music in many different genres
- Soundjay: Good collection of sound effects
- YouTube Audio Library: Free music downloads for your projects (sign-in for access)
- ZapSplat: Access to a large creative commons sound effect library
7. FREE FONTS
These sites have a reputation for providing legitimate (legal) free fonts.
- 1001 Fonts
- Abstract Fonts
- DaFont
- FontSpace
- FontSpring
- Font Squirrel
- FontStruct
- FontZone
- Google Fonts
- UrbanFonts
BONUS: Behance: Here you can find free fonts directly from the typographer. Scroll through the examples to a download button at the bottom. Donation requested.
8. FREE MULTIMEDIA TOOLS
- Audacity: Perhaps the most well-known free audio recording and editing app.
- Auphonic: Automatic audio post-production (two free hours of audio per month).
- Canva: Graphic design app for presentations, infographics, etc. Offers free and paid images to add to your designs.
- Contrast Analyzer: Improve visual accessibility with better contrast.
- Enhance: A free tool that cleans up audio files. It’s part of Adobe’s Podcast Studio. Create an account to use it.
- Handbreak: The best app I’ve seen for serious video compression. Also does format conversion.
- Inkscape: Top of the line app for creating and editing vector graphics.
- Krita: Free open-source paint program.
- Loom: Record and share AI-powered video messages
- OBS Studio: Desktop application for video recording and live streaming
- WebAim Contrast Checker: Tests whether the contrast between text and background meet WCAG standards
BONUS: OpenShot: Free desktop video editor.
9. FREE INFOGRAPHIC, CHART, AND DIAGRAM TOOLS
- AsciiFlow: Simple free diagramming tool for quick starts
- Chartify: Turns raw data into a chart
- Chartsbin: Create interactive maps, currently free
- Ease.ly: Lots of templates
- Google Chart: Create interactive charts for websites; displays live data
- Infogram: Charts, maps, infographics, reports
- Lucidchart: Nice diagramming tool
- Napkin: AI tool for creating diagrams
- Snappa: General design tool with a lot of infographic templates
- Venngage: For creating infographics
- Visme: Good features but infographics on the free plan are public.
BONUS: Diagrammer: Free diagrams created as PowerPoint slides.
10. FREE WORK AND PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
- Calendly: Scheduling tool
- Diigo: Online bookmarking
- Doodle: Meeting scheduler
- Feedly: A feed reader where you select the sources
- FoxitOnline: Read and edit PDF files online
- GoogleKeep: Digital notetaking in the cloud by typing or speaking
- IFTTT: Automates integration of various apps and devices
- Pomodor Timer: Use for the Pomodoro method or other timing techniques
- RescueTime: Download and track where you spend your time online
- ToDoist: Popular task manager with a basic free plan
- Zapier: Automates integration of apps
BONUSES: Brain.fm: Music for focusing. Several free sessions.
11. FREE AUTHORING TOOLS
- Curriki Studio: Authoring tool with 40 types of interactivity
- Genially: Creates gamified and interactive experiences
- H5P: Creates browser-based interactive activities (h5p.org). Free when hosted on Drupal, WordPress or Moodle. Find paid hosting services at H5P.com.
- iSpring Free: Slimmed-down version of iSpring Studio; works as a PowerPoint plug-in
- SC Training (previously EdApp): Creates interactive content; free for up to 10 learners
12. UNIQUE SEARCH TOOLS FOR YOUR WORK
- Creative Commons Search: Search for assets available under a CC license (they recommend checking the license tool
- Everypixel: Image search using AI to search across 50 stock photo agencies
- Every Stock Photo: Search engine for free stock photos
- FindSounds: Search engine for sounds and sound effects
- Google Scholar: Finds resources from academic journals
- One Look: Reverse dictionary. Describe a concept and get related words
- ResearchGate: Millions of researchers submit their work for anyone to access. You may need to request access to a published article.
- SimilarSites: Discover sites similar to ones you find useful
- TinEye: Reverse image search finds where an image appears online. I use this to find the original image for copyright restrictions on photos SMEs give me.
- Visual Hunt: Search engine for free high quality stock photos
- Wolfram Alpha: Enter a question and the app computes expert level answers
BONUS: Elicit: AI-powered research tool that summarizes answers to a research question and provides a report. As with all AI tools, check for accuracy.
Download this list of freebies by entering the info below. You’ll also get my monthly The eLearning Coach Newsletter with articles, resources, and more freebies.
A super resource, thanks for compiling!
Thanks for share 100 Hand-picked Freebies for eLearning Designers
So glad you like it, Natalie.
Fantastic list! Thank you!!
Great list, thanks! Add http://www.edu20.com to your list of LMS. Not free but very affordable vs. other options.
Wow again. These are great, Craig. Thank you! Please leave more comments any time.
Connie
As your graphic says, “wow” indeed! Thanks for sharing all these neat resources Connie.
I just checked out Adobe Story, and it sounds great for writing video or audio scripts.
You asked what other resources we’d add. Well if you’re using a PowerPoint converter like Articulate Presenter (as I do), you can access tons of high-quality photos within PowerPoint itself:
Get 1000s of free photos for your PowerPoint presentations
And if you’d like to be better at presenting to stakeholders or speaking in meetings, try these:
5 free public-speaking courses (available online or via email)
Lastly, if you have Excel, here’s a template and how-to article by MVP Glenna Shaw for managing small project timelines:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mvpawardprogram/archive/2012/07/02/did-you-miss-this-great-post-powerpoint-2010-and-excel-2010-perfect-partners-for-tracking-projects.aspx
Dayna,
I’m so happy these resources came in handy for you. I’ve been meaning to gather these together for a long time! Hope to see you here again.
Connie
Your whole resource list is great…specially the graphic assets and the audio. I just happened to need those findings for some ecourses I;m creating
Thanks for such a wonderful & valid compilation. Specially the images & audio part is excellent.
Hi Gavin,
I was just waiting for you to list it. Thank you.
Connie
Connie,
I’m surprised you don’t have the noun project up there. Not everything is free anymore, but some still are, and it’s a great resource for graphics and icons.
http://thenounproject.com/
I’ve changed those items to other “Keep Learning” freebies. Good ones! Sorry for the error.
Connie
Beth,
I had checked in with them awhile ago and was told that the free membership does get you the research reports. I’ll email someone right away and remove these if I’m wrong. Thanks for letting me know.
Connie
Same for Keep Learning #7… 🙁
Keep Learning #6 is not free unless you’re a member of the eLearning Guild, which is $99 a year. The free membership doesn’t get you access.