Pixlr offers both web-based and app-based basic photo editing that is free. In addition to cropping, adjusting brightness and shadows, white balance, color saturation, and most common editing tasks, it includes some filters and the ability to add text and stickers. This tool is friendly for individuals new to photo editing, especially the mobile app version, and would work well for students who need a simple but powerful editor for images as they work on a particular project.

Gimp is similar to Pixlr, offering free basic photo editing features. One key difference is that Gimp must be downloaded to your computer; there is no separate mobile app. The workspace is designed to work like Adobe products, so there is more of a learning curve for individuals completely new to photo editing.

This is a lite version of Adobe Photoshop that can be purchased online or in retail stores for around $60-80. It provides many of the features of the full Photoshop software for an affordable price. While students in art and digital media courses will probably be required to purchase the full Adobe suite, this lite version provides very powerful editing tools for non-professional photographers looking to do more with their images. It is available for both PC and Mac users.

Vocaroo is a simple tool to record and share audio files over the internet. It can easily be added in a Blackboard course as links and used to provide explanations, feedback, or pronunciation guides for students. Students can also use the site to record responses or practice sessions for foreign languages, for example.

Loom allows you to record and share quick videos. With a free account you can have up to 25 creators and create up to 100 videos and screenshots (with a max. 5 min. recording length) and keep them organized together in a Team library.

Screencastify is a browser add-on for Chrome that allows you to easily record and narrate short videos of your screen. The free version has a five minute video length limit, although you can splice the videos together after recording in a video editor. It saves to your Google account, where you can share a link to the file. It streams to viewers like YouTube, so students will not have to first download the entire video file to view it.

A free Screencast-o-Matic account allows you to create recordings up to 15 minutes long and share them from your Screencast-o-Matic account. Paid plans include access to their video editing ($1.65/month) and stock image collections ($4/month plan).

Canva allows you to create infographics, posters, documents, and other presentations using preset templates and images. You can download the files or share them directly from Canva with a free account. Premium accounts offer more templates and images for your team. This is a powerful tool to create engaging materials for individuals who otherwise may have limited access to graphic design software or experience.

Spark allows you to create interactive presentations, webpages, and short videos with preset templates and images to help speed up the process. An individual plan is free for 14 days, and $9.99/month thereafter, although you can continue to use a free plan that has limited templates, images, and that restricts the color schemes. You can see a quick overview of how to use Spark for websites from Digital Trends.