5. Tools of the Trade
Tools of the Trade
Here are some of the most common tools Actua uses when developing content. This section details the visual design programs and assets, educational technology, and trusted content inspiration sources that we tend to use. This is not an exhaustive list; rather, it is meant to add to your existing resource base.
Visual Design
Canva
Canva is an online visual design platform that is great for making worksheets, diagrams, and sourcing images and illustrations. It’s a user-friendly analog to Adobe Indesign for projects that don’t have intensive design requirements.
One great feature about Canva is that it allows you to import your brand’s assets (logos, colours, fonts, etc.) to make it easy for your whole team to create cohesive visual products. The photos and graphics that are included are also royalty-free, so no sourcing required!
Canva is free, but some of its best features are only included in the paid versions. If it’s within your budget, it can be a great investment for your team!
Inkscape
Inkscape is a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator. This vector-based software is great for creating diagrams, logos, and other graphics. It’s also very helpful for making vector files for laser and vinyl cutting. It allows you to import and export files in a variety of formats (.png, .svg, .eps, etc.) making it useful in many situations.
Stock Media
Royalty-free stock graphics are very useful for design as they don’t need to be sourced. Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash are great places to start for photos. Vecteezy has a large repository of vector graphics. One of the best places to find stock images, graphics, videos, sounds, and more is Envato Elements, although it is paid. If you’re doing a large volume of multimedia content creation, it may be worth it to subscribe to Envato.
TinkerCAD
TinkerCAD is a free 3D design CAD (computer-aided design) platform. It is a great way to introduce students to 3D design. It’s also very helpful for creating 3D models to print for use in your programs. They have many lesson plans available and easy-to-follow tutorials.
Edutech
micro:bits micro:bits are pocket-sized computers used to help teach block-based and JavaScript/Python coding through MakeCode. BBC micro:bit has created a lot of educational resources to help you with your content development.
They have a variety of sensors and outputs that you can program to complete tasks. Some features include:
- 25 red LED lights that can flash messages and be used to create games.
- Two programmable buttons that can be used to control games or pause and skip songs on a music playlist.
- Accelerometer to detect motion and know when you're on the move.
- Built-in compass to know which direction you're heading in.
- Radio and Bluetooth transmitter and receiver to let you interact with mobile devices wirelessly.
- A range of input and output pins to let you connect the micro:bit to other devices via its Edge Connector.
- Speaker to play back sounds and melodies and make some noise!
- Microphone to respond to sounds.
Sphero
Spheros are programmable spherical robots that can be used to teach block-based coding and simple robotics. Use Sphero Edu (web-based or app) to connect to your Spheros and have your students free drive, draw a path for the Sphero to follow, or code. They have an extensive library of educational materials to support your content development.
Ozobots
Ozobots are small robots with big potential. They have two main modes of operation: screen-free and coding. Both have many lesson resources available to help your development.
Their screen-free operation works using a colour sensor on their underside. Using this sensor, the Ozobot can follow black lines and use different colours as commands to perform tasks. Information about these colour codes can be found here.
Their coding functions are supported by Ozoblockly, a block-based application with 5 levels of complexity to meet different learners’ needs.