In response to COVID-19 many companies have been trying to reach out to consumers who were affected by the shutdown. The most popular response has been to offer up their products for free, if not at discounted prices. Some you may be familiar with; others may bring an ease to a point in your life you didn’t even know you needed.
- Adobe is offering free at home access to their Creative Cloud Suite through May 31, 2020 & 90-day free access to their web conferencing tool, Adobe Connect.
- News-O-Matic is offering their age appropriate news site to all teachers, kids, and parents, giving them a space to learn about the news going on around the globe.
- Scholastic is offering free, daily courses on its “Learn at Home” website for students from Pre-K through high school.
- PBS Kids has begun sending out a daily newsletter “PBS Kids Daily” to subscribers filled with activities and games for kids age two through eight.
- Walt Disney Imagineering is teaming up with Khan Academy to present “Imagineering in a Box” which will bring the kids behind the curtain into how Disney workers come together to create the theme parks and magic we love most!
- The Guggenheim Museum has opened up their archives and released more than 200 books on Modern Art, free to read and download in both PDF and ePUB formats.
- The Body Coach TV has created “P.E. with Joe”, where he releases daily videos on his YouTube account to give kids a chance to attend physical education classes while at home.
- Krisp, a noise-canceling app, has introduced a free option to give all users 120 minutes of free noise cancellation per week. Use of the app is free to all students, teachers, hospital and government workers for the next six months.
- Loom, from now through July 1, 2020, is offering their video recording and sharing services for educators and students for free and offering it at half price for all other users. They have removed the recording limit on all videos under the free plan and extended their trial periods to 30 days.
- Zoom, is offering their virtual meeting and webinar system for free to all users and removing the 40-minute time limit on the basic free account for all K-12 schools upon approval.
These are just a few of the companies that have stepped up to help during this time of distant learning. Give them a try and let us know how it goes!