25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009

25 Tools
A Toolbox for Learning Professionals
2009 Version

Compiled by Jane Hart
Social Media & Learning Consultant
Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies
www.C4LPT.co.uk

Compiled by Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, May

About the Toolbox

This Toolbox contains 25 categories of learning
tool.

Within each tool category I provide the name
of the most popular tools from the emerging
Jane Hart is a Social Media and
Learning Consultant who has a long 2009 Top Tools for Learning, as selected by
track record of helping both learning professionals worldwide .
businesses and education understand
how new technologies can be used for
learning. Jane currently focuses on The majority of the tools are FREE, although a
helping organizations introduce social
media tools and platforms into their
number of commercial tools are included.
learning and performance support Some of the tools are desktop tools; others are
initiatives.
online services.

Full details of all the tools in the Toolbox are at:

www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/

Compiled by Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies, May 2009

25 Tool Categories
1. Web browser 14. Course authoring tool
2. Social bookmarking tool 15. Screen capture tool
3. Blogging tool 16. Demo/Screencasting tool
4. RSS/Feed Reader 17. Web authoring tool
5. Micro-blogging tool 18. Wiki tool
6. Email 19. Image/photo tools
7. Instant messaging tool 20. Audio/podcasting tools
8. Personal productivity tool 21. Video tools
9. Mind mapping tool 22. Personal dashboard
10. Presentation tool 23. Course management system
11. Presentation sharing tool 24. Social networking tool
12. Online office suite 25. Integrated social media platform
13. Web conferencing tool


Web browser

A web browser is a fundamental tool in the Toolbox; it is your
window onto the web.

The award-winning browser, Firefox is still
the browser of choice, because it is more
than just a browser; there are hundreds of
extensions available provide an enormous
range of extra functionality.

But why not try Google Chrome, which is
quickly gaining market share.
1

Social bookmarking tool

Store your books online, tag (i.e. categorise) them and share
them with others.

Delicious is the leading social bookmarking
tool.

Diigo, however, takes social bookmarking
to the next step, and supports social
annotation

2

Blogging tool

Personal and professional blogging is now considered a
mainstream activity.

WordPress is the people’s favourite blogging
tool. This has now become a very sophisticated
tool with many plugins available to embed
resources - and yet remains easy to use.
Available as a hosted service or to install as a
blogging platform.

Google’s Blogger is, however, also a firm
favourite.
3

RSS/Feed Reader

Have the news or blog updates sent to you! Although modern
day browsers let you read RSS feeds easily, a feed reader will
let you manage all your subscriptions in one place.

Google Reader is the most popular
online feed reader and also lets you
share postings with others.

Bloglines is another favourite online
feed reader.

4

Micro-blogging tool

Micro-blogging has really taken off this
year, and this is mainly due to Twitter.
You can communicate with your contacts
- using up to 140 characters – and keep
up to date with what they are doing and
what is happening in the world.

If you are looking for a desktop Twitter,
client, then Tweetdeck is one to consider.

5

Email

Email is now a well-recognised and understood communication
tool. But do you want web mail or a desktop client?

gMail (or GoogleMail as it’s known in the UK)
is an efficient webmail service that provides
you with tons of free storage space – and no
worrying about spam and viruses.

Outlook is a well-respected commercial
desktop email client, and part of the Microsoft
Office suite.
6

Instant messaging tool

Instant messaging is now almost as
commonplace as email. Skype provides
an easy way of not only text messaging
but also free computer-to-computer
voice calls - with low charges out to
landlines (SkypeOut) - as well calls into
Skype from landlines (SkypeIn)

7

Personal Productivity Tool

A personal productivity tool is one that lets you work more
effectively and efficiently.
This year, the leading productivity tool is
Evernote. Use it to capture, clip and share
notes on the web. There are versions
available for the desktop or mobile phone.

Another useful productivity tool is Google
Calendar, where you can share your diary
online. This makes scheduling meetings and
other events an easy process.

8

Mind mapping tool

A mind mapping tool is great for organising your thoughts or
just brainstorming – either on your own or with others.

FreeMind is an open source, desktop mind
mapping tool.

Bubbl.us is a web application where you
can create mind maps online, share your
work, embed them in your blog or website,
email or print them.

9

Presentation tool

A presentation tool is another fundamental tool for a learning
professional.

PowerPoint (a commercial tool) is the most well-
known tool desktop tool – and invaluable for
many – and is the basis for a number of tools in
this Toolbox.

A new breed of dedicated online presentation
tools is appearing, and Prezi is emerging as a very
popular free tool. Presentations are created
online but are also downloadable.
10

Presentation sharing tool

If you create presentations with PowerPoint or other desktop
software, then here’s some popular tools for hosting them
online and sharing them with others.

With Slideshare you can even synchronise
your presentation with an audio file to create
a narrated presentation.

With Voicethread you can create an audio
slideshow and comments can also be left by
others.

11

Online office suite

Do you need to work collaboratively on presentations
documents or spreadsheets with your team or colleagues? Or
want to share your results with others more widely? Then this
is where an online office suite is of great value.

Google Docs is the most popular of the office
tools. You can start from scratch on a document
or upload existing content created in MS Office,
for example.

Zoho is another online suite with a large range of
productivity and collaborative apps.
12

Web conferencing tool

Web conferencing tools let you present to a small or large group
of individuals, browse the web and even share your computer
screen. They also provide a chat backchannel.

Dimdim is the most popular free, open
source web conferencing tool.

Of the many commercial tools available,
Adobe Connect is emerging as a strong
favourite.

13

Course authoring tool

There are a number of tools available to creating interactive,
multimedia online courses. The most popular tools in this
category are all commercial tools.

Articulate E-Learning Studio consists of three
main products: Presenter (which lets you create
Flash-based courses from PowerPoint), Engage
and Quizmaker. All are available separately.

Lectora provides course developers with a
comprehensive authoring environment.

14

Screen capture tool

If you want to capture a screenshot or image for a learning
resource, a good screen capture tool is a must.

Snagit, a commercial tool from Techsmith is
the most popular screen capture tool

Jing, also from Techsmith, is a free always-
ready program that instantly captures and
shares images and videos.

15

Demo/screencasting tool

If you want to create a software demo or other screencast, then
here are the most popular tools:

Both Camtasia, from Techsmith, and
Captivate, from Adobe, are popular
commercial tools …

whereas Jing, also from Techsmith, is a free
always-ready program that instantly captures
and shares images and video.

16

Web authoring tool

If you want to build a web site, there are a number of tools to
help you to do this. Here are the ones that learning
professionals like.

Dreamweaver is a powerful desktop web
authoring tool. It is a commercial tool from
Adobe.

Google Sites is a free online tool to create
simple, secure group web or wiki
sites. More wiki tools also appear in the
next category.
17

Wiki tool

Wiki tools support collaborative working and learning. A
number of users can edit a page and thereby create a
collaborative document.

PBworks (previously PBwiki) is a firm
favourite, particularly amongst
workplace learning professionals. The
basic version is free, there are other
professional price plans.

Wikispaces has a strong following in
the education world.
18

Image/photo tools
An image is worth a thousand words! Here are some popular
image and photo tools:
If you are looking for a place to host your personal
or professional picture collection, then Flickr is
the place to do it! It is also a great source of
(often) copyright-free images.

If you are looking for a photo imaging tool, the
commercial Photoshop from Adobe, is designed
for professional and serious amateur
photographers.

19

Audio/podcasting tools
Podcasts – or MP3 audio files – have become a very familiar
format. The following two tools are the favourite tools for
creating and listening to audio files and podcasts.
Audacity is a free, open source, downloadable
tool, that makes recording and editing audio
very simple. With the extra encoder you can
convert your audio files into MP3 podcasts.

Although many web pages have embedded
audio players, iTunes is a must-have audio
player that allows you to subscribe to podcasts,
and also access iTunesU.
20

Video tools
Video is a very powerful medium for presenting information or
instruction of all kinds.

YouTube is a favourite resource for finding
videos. It is also very easy to upload your
own videos and share them with others.

Nowadays videos can easily be created using
webcams, camcorders and even mobile
phones. The Flip is an affordable and popular
mini camcorder.

21

Personal dashboad
Personal dashboard tools or start pages allow you to aggregate
all your digital resources - mail, RSS feeds, videos, etc - in one
place. You can also design the layout and look of your start
page.

The two most popular, free start page tools are:

iGoogle and Netvibes

22

Course management system
A course management system lets you manage
learners and their use of course content. The
system of choice for many learning professionals –
both in education and in the workplace - is the free,
open source platform, Moodle.

In addition to core course management
functionality it also includes some social media tools
like discussion forums, blogging and wiki tools.

If you can't install Moodle in-house, then there are
low-cost hosting solutions available.
23

Social networking tool

You may already belong to a public social
network like Facebook or LinkedIn, where you
can also set up a dedicated group for network
members to join easily.

However, if you want to create a private social
network, for instance to provide the community
side of a learning programme, then Ning is a
popular online platform.

24

Integrated social media platform
Too many different social media tools to choose from?
Concerned about personal and organisational data privacy
and security on external sites?

Then, Elgg, the free, open source integrated social media
platform brings together social networking, social
bookmarking, blogging, wikis, RSS feeds, messaging and
more in one platform. With Elgg you can create a social
learning and collaboration platform for use across the
whole organisation. Individuals can have a personal
dashboard and groups can work together.

If you can't install Elgg in-house, then there are low-cost
hosting solutions available.

25

Tool Information & Tutorials

Full details of all the Tools in this Toolbox are at:
www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/

For other popular tools take a look at the emerging
Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009
at
www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/


25 Tools: A Toolbox for Learning Professionals 2009

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