The following is a list of free online resources for use during the Covid19 period. Some resources have only been made free for this period only, and may revert to a paid service at a later date.
There are also many resource links, guides such as referencing guides, and reading lists, etc, in my library section of the WHSPA website - check it out.
If you have any suggestions for this list or the library website, please let me know, liane.pfister1@det.nsw.edu.au
This section includes general learning from home resources plus resources that cover multiple subjects
DoE Teaching and Learning Resources Resources and activities for teachers to support students temporarily unable to attend school.
DoE Learning on Demand has been created to facilitate all staff with their professional learning. You can now easily navigate to the professional learning option that best meets your needs.
DoE Distance Education Resources These resources were developed to support learning for remote mode students enrolled in distance education.
DoE T4L Digital Teaching and Learning Activities 8 digital resource banks from across Australia and the globe.
DoE T4L Teaching and Learning Activities 10 digital activities to get students learning online.
DoE Learning from Home Copyright Some of the copyright allowances and limitations have changed since the 2020 lockdown and the introduction of learning from home. These pages will be updated with current information as it becomes available.
Smartcopying Lockdown advice This is the official guide for all Australian schools during Covid-19 lockdown.
Copyright Information The Official Guide to Copyright Issues for Australian Schools with regards to remote & online learning during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Remote Learning with Microsoft Technologies You need to request permission to access this link, but the response is usually instant (an email is sent)
Tips for using Google Classroom during Covid-19.
Distance Learning Resources from Google for schools.
(AITSL)'s free resource for teachers supporting student learning at home
ABC Education ABC Education brings you thousands of free, curriculum-linked resources for Primary and Secondary students and teachers.
FBI Radio has compiled a comprehensive list of information and resources to help support everyone during this difficult time. There are creative endeavours to help you stay connected to art and culture, an array of entertainment options to cure your isolation boredom, some reliable and easily digestible information on the coronavirus pandemic, simple ways to help communities impacted by this crisis, and some resources for times of emergency or hardship.
Scootle a national repository that provides Australian schools with more than 20,000 digital resources aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
Open Educational Resources available across subjects such as Science, Maths, English and HSIE.
National Library of Australia Digital Classroom
State Library of NSW Learning from Home section has a selection of fun activities and online resources for students to enjoy at home.
All Digital School has tools and resources for teaching online, where to find them, how to access them, and what are the free/low-cost alternatives.
Online Excursions Dart Connection provides ways for teachers to engage with the curriculum to provide virtual experiences.
PBS Learning Media have curated FREE, standards-aligned videos, interactives, lesson plans, and more just for teachers.
ANU Press have over 880 CC and free educational resources that are fully open access.
Scholastic Learn at Home have created a free digital learning hub designed to support virtual learning plans.
BrainPop is a group of educational websites with over 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials, covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music.
Breakout Edu is a collection of digital games that students can play at home. including Maths, Science, coding, Team Building
Buncee is a creation and presentation tool for students and educators to create interactive classroom content, allowing learners of all ages to visualize concepts and communicate creatively.
ClassHook Blog helps teachers facilitate discussions using educational clips from popular TV shows and movies. On this blog, we’ll be posting new clips, updates, ways that different teachers are using popular media to engage and inspire their students, and more!
Kids Activities Blog provides a list of education companies offering free subscriptions due to school closings.
TEDED@HOME has created an array of videobased lessons to assist teachers, students and parents around the world who are engaged in schooling from home. The free resources are organised by grade level from K to university and cover a wide range of subject areas.
Wheelers ebooks & audiobooks Free subscription until 3rd Nov 2021. Use your DET username and password to login.
All Council Libraries have E-books available if you are a member.
At Wollongong Council Library, they have a variety: BorrowBox Libby Hoopla EBSCO eBooks indyreads
NSW State Library has a big range of e-books. Just register for your free online library card.
MyON Over 6,000 e-books for free during this pandemic. Use: School Name: Remote Reading Demo; Secondary Student Name: secondary; Password: books
Project Gutenberg Australia Free ebooks by authors who died before 1955 and whose work is therefore in the public domain in Australia. This is the sister organisation to the US website, and may contain different books.
Project Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks.
National Emergency Library US you can now access more than a million books for free as part of a ‘National Emergency Library’ launched this week. From classic novels to hard-to-get academic textbooks, the collection is designed to help both students struggling with remote learning and readers deprived of access to local libraries.
Where can I find books to read from home for the Premier's Reading Challenge?
Wheelers ebooks & audiobooks Free subscription until 3rd Nov 2021. Use your DET username and password to login.
If you have a Local Council Library membership, you can access:
At Wollongong Council Library, they have a variety: BorrowBox Libby Hoopla indyreads
Story Box Library created for children to view stories by Australian authors and illustrators.
Loyal Books free public domain audio and ebooks.
Audible is providing free audiobooks so that everyone can stream a large selection of their collection during the COVID-19 outbreak. As of 20 March 2020, anyone can listen to a mix of education, entertainment and general interest titles at no cost. These are available across six different languages.
ABC Kids Listen Download the ABC Kids listen app and listen to free stories, news and podcasts selected to entertain and educate pre-school aged children.
Kinderling Download the Kinderling app or stream online. It is a family friendly radio station, which provides a day long program for children and adults that includes music and educational activities.
Audio Books on Spotify This post explains the finer details searching for audio books on Spotify.
International Childrens Library International children' s digital library - English and multiple languages
Open Culture cultural & educational media
Librivox Free public domain audiobooks, read by volunteers from around the world.
Where can I find books to read from home for the Premier's Reading Challenge?
Amazing Education This link will open a document showing you a list of education companies that are offing free subscriptions during this time.
Virtual Australia:
National Parks
There are 22 South Australian National Parks, here are some of the virtual tours:
Learning in Nature playlist of eight YouTube videos from Parks Victoria
Parks Victoria on SoundCloud this educational channel from Parks Victoria has 18 audio tracks evenly divided between the topics of “Under the Sea” and “Gippsland Birds”, the longest track is 6min44sec.
Zoos
Taronga Zoo Taronga will be bringing its two beautiful zoos directly into your living room! Tune in daily to see your favourite animals, meet our friendly keepers and learn what goes on behind the scenes at Taronga while our zoos are temporarily closed.
Zoos Victoria “See Melbourne Zoo's three baby Snow Leopard cubs as they play under mum's watchful eye in their den. Enjoy the penguins as they go about their busy day; look up high and spot the giraffes as they spend most of the day eating; and check out the lazy lions of Werribee Open Range Zoo as they lord over their very own Pride Rock.”
Museums
36 Museum Tours including Australian Museum, The Australian War Memorial, Australian National Maritime Museum, National Sports Museum.
Historic sites
Polly Woodside Tall Ship or Old Melbourne Gaol Visit them through the National Trust’s 'Virtually There' 3D resources.
Visual collections
75 Galleries, Museums who have made some/all of their collections available, including
Government Buildings
Cities
Hidden Melbourne this website is loaded with amazing virtual tours of “...places that are often not accessible such as the tops of towers, derelict buildings and even some that have since been lost to redevelopment.”
Other
Australia: Great Sporting Land explore the unifying spirit of Australian sport - from tales to traditions, larrikins to legends
The Australasian Virtual Herbarium Australian and New Zealand herbaria house over eight million plant, algae and fungi specimens.
Wilsons Promontory Virtual Herbarium This virtual herbarium provides access to a significant collection of plant and algal species from Wilsons Promontory National Park.
Virtual Globe:
360° Videos from Google Arts & Culture There are a huge range of places to visit here, including, museums, galleries, iconic venues, fashion, natural history, around the world, space.
Zoos
Museums & Galleries
The Louvre, Paris currently there are two virtual tours of the Louvre - Egyptian Antiquities and the Remains of the Louvre’s Moat, both of these require Flash to be enabled. There is also a mini tour/information site on the restoration of the Galerie d'Apollon.
The British Museum’s Collection There are currently 2,335,338 records available, which represent more than 4,000,000 objects. 1,018,471 records have one or more images.
The Dali Theatre-Museum, Catalonia By means of this virtual visit, we invite you to take a tour around some of the museum's rooms and see some works and objects exhibited there by means of panoramic pictures. NB: requires Flash to view panoramic images.
The Vatican seven different 360º tours of museums and other locations within the Vatican
National Womens History Museum 29 different online exhibits examining Women’s history in the USA, although I’ve noticed a lack of any mention of First Nations women.
Rijksmuseum Masterpieces Up Close Amsterdam
Musee de l'Orangerie Virtual visit of the Water Lilies
Van Gough Museum Amsterdam
Historical sites
Explore Petra Over 2,000 years ago, the Nabataeans created Petra - the city of stone. Journey behind the iconic facade from the movies, and discover one of the great wonders of the world, forgotten by time itself.
Orchestras, Operas
Opera Vision OperaVision has 21 operas from companies across the globe available for you to share with your students. Each thumbnail takes you to the specific performance’s information page where you can view the YouTubeLive video, read up on the cast, the story and insights into the opera.
Digital Concert Hall if you register before March 31, the Berlin Philharmonic is offering a free 30 day pass to access their digital concert hall.
Animals
Monterey Bay Aquarium California
Farm Food explore Canadian farms and food tours
Tundra Connections Experience Polar Bears | Virtual Field Trip in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
STEM
NASA Langley Research Center click to view the map and then use the markers to visit different locations around Langley. Each marker opens up an information page about the location with a video and (scrolling down) additional information about the area and what happens there.
Glenn Research Center NASA Glenn Research Center (NASA) : there are 10 virtual tours to take, including the Wind tunnels, Ballistics Impact Lab, the Space Environments Complex, and Zero-G.
Virtual Space:
Boeing Future Join Boeing and Discovery Education on a mission to inspire the world through aerospace innovation with an exclusive virtual field trip to historic Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
Support for Humanities and Social Sciences by Australian Government
Indigenous Education Resources collates as many Aboriginal teaching resources and provide links to these websites and resources in the one location.
National Museum of Natural History virtual tours and Live Video Programs
National Library of Australia Digital Classroom
Trove National Library of Australia, find and get Australian and online resources: books, images, historic newspapers, maps, music, archives and more
A guide to using picture books in Geography K-10 supports teacher to integrate picture books to enhance their geography teaching and programming.
Using picture books for intercultural understanding is a resource for geography, history, English, and creative arts K-10. It suggests learning activities based around picture books selected for their value in developing intercultural understandings.
Everyone's an author is a DoE page with a creative digital writing program featuring ten great Aussie authors. Suited to Stages 1-4 with a focus on English, featuring A short author video with tips on an aspect of writing,; and a downloadable and free Learning Journal for students covering that aspect of digital writing.
Where can I find books to read from home for the Premier's Reading Challenge?
Book Creator Book Creator offers a simple way to infuse creativity throughout the curriculum, motivating students to become published authors and helping them develop future-ready skills.
Ninja Grammar Learn English grammar in a fun and exciting way. Play through multiple worlds, collecting power-ups, and learning parts of speech and sentence structure.
Harry Potter at Home hub where you’ll find all the latest magical treats to keep you occupied - including special contributions from Bloomsbury and Scholastic, nifty magical craft videos, fun articles, quizzes, puzzles and plenty more.
Harry Potter read aloud Teachers can now post videos of themselves reading aloud from the Harry Potter books to children prevented from attending school because of Covid.
Penguin Books Activities for lots of books, eg: Two Wolves, Roald Dahl
Penguin Books Teacher Resources notes and educational resources for some key education titles.
Teachers Hub Harper Collins has a learning from home resource section, plus a section of novel notes for teachers.
Pan Macmillan Australia Download free activities and Teacher Resources
Questacon fun Science activities for kids, and also Questacon Virtual Excursions.
Science By Doing is an online website for high school Science Years 7-10 covering the Australian Curriculum. This site is free to all Australian students and teachers and presents science in an engaging, guided inquiry-based approach to lift student interest and understanding.
Stile blends interactive science lessons, science news stories and hands-on investigations to empower students to observe, think, write, and argue like real scientists and engineers. Free, unlimited access in Semester 1.
Alchemie Their mission is to create innovative, digital learning technology for students, including games to explain difficult scientific topics.
ChemMatters Articles by Chemistry Concepts
CK-12 Foundation Lessons in Maths and Science
Phet Interactive Simulations for Science and Math
Australian Science TV ideas to inspire and support your STEM teaching, free videos, articles, resources and teacher tools all linked to the Australian National Curriculum.
CK-12 Foundation Lessons in Maths and Science
NZ Maths It is written for the NZ educational system, but has lots of free Maths lessons
Resolve Maths by Inquiry is a national program that promotes relevant and engaging mathematics teaching and learning from Foundation to Year 10.
Phet Interactive Simulations for Science and Math
Digital Technologies Hub provides learning resources and services for teachers, students, and parents.
Australian Computing Academy Helping teachers implement the Digital Technologies Curriculum in classrooms around the country.
Digital Technologies MOOCS run a range of Digital Technologies programs for Australian teachers, including free, online CSER MOOC courses, free professional learning events, and our National Lending Library.
Tate Kids, art activities, games and puzzles.
Board Maker is a complete special education platform that supports education, communication, access and social/emotional needs of more than six million students in 51 countries.
Student Wellbeing Hub This is a space for educators, parents and students to build safe, inclusive and connected school communities that promote wellbeing and learning. provides high quality, age-appropriate information and resources targeted specifically to educators, parents and students to support student wellbeing and safety. The educator area contains free, self-paced and certificated professional learning courses on a range of key topics for schools.