Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008

Top 100 Tools for Learning

The following list of the top 100 Tools for Learning is based on research conducted by The Centre for Learning and Performance Technologies. The list was published in October 2008 based on ratings from 223 learning professionals (both educational and training) from around the world.

Key to availability: D=download; H=hosted; C=insert code onto page

	Description	Cost	Avail	Web Address
1.	del.icio.us Social bookmarking tool	Free	H	http://delicious.com/
2.	Firefox Web browser	Free	D	www.mozilla.com/firefox/
3.	Google Reader RSS / Feed reader	Free	H	www.google.com/reader
4.	Skype Instant messaging, VoIP tool	Free	D	www.skype.com/
5.	Wordpress Blogging tool	Free	H/D	http://wordpress.org/
6.	Google Search Web search tool	Free	H	www.google.com
7.	Google Docs Web-based documents	Free	H	docs.google.com/
8.	PowerPoint Presentation software	$	D	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint
9.	Moodle Course management system	Free	D/H	www.moodle.org
10.	Blogger Blogging tool	Free	H	www.blogger.com
11.	twitter Microblogging tool	Free	H	www.twitter.com
12.	Audacity Sound editor and recorder	Free	D	http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
13.	Wikipedia Collaborative encyclopedia	Free	H	www.wikipedia.com
14.	GMail Web-based email	Free	H	mail.google.com/
15.	flickr Photo storage/ sharing site (and mobile version)	Free	H	www.flickr.com
16.	Ning Social networking tool	Free	H	www.ning.com
17.	iGoogle Personalised start page	Free	H	http://www.google.com/ig
18.	YouTube Video hosting/ sharing site (and mobile version)	Free	H	www.youtube.com
19.	Wikispaces Wiki tool	Free/$	H	www.wikispaces.com/
20.	Slideshare Hosting / sharing presentations	Free	H	www.slideshare.net/
21.	Snagit Screen capture tool	Free/$	D	http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp
22.	Word Word processing software	$	D	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word
23.	VoiceThread Collaborative slideshows	Free/$	H	http://voicethread.com/
24.	Facebook Social networking site	Free	H	www.facebook.com
25.	Articulate Presenter/Engage/ Quizmaker	$	D	http://www.articulate.com/
26.	Camtasia Studio Screencasting tool	$	D	http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
27.	Jing Record/share screen captures/casts	Free	D/H	http://www.jingproject.com/
28.	iTunes Music and podcast player	Free	D	www.itunes.com
29.	Google Calendar Web-based calendar	Free	H	www.google.com/calendar
30.	Bloglines RSS/Feed reader	Free	H	http://www.bloglines.com/
31.	LinkedIn Social network for proessionals	Free/$	H	www.linkedin.com
32.	Captivate Demo and scenario-based tool	$	D	http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/
33.	Google Alerts Keep track of new information	Free	H	www.google.com/alerts
34.	Google Maps Maps of the US. UK, etc (and mobile version)	Free	H	www.google.com/maps
35.	diigo Social bookmarking	Free	H	http://www.diigo.com/
36.	PB Wiki Wiki tool	Free/$	H	http://pbwiki.com/
37.	Netvibes Personal start page	Free	H	http://www.netvibes.com
38.	Flash Animation authoring tool	$	D	http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/
39.	Outlook Email software	$	D	www.microsoft.com/outlook/
40.	Google Earth Satellite and aerial imagery	Free	D	http://earth.google.com/
41.	Pageflakes Start page	Free	H	http://www.pageflakes.com/
42.	Google Scholar Search for scholarly literature	Free	H	http://scholar.google.com/
43.	MindManager Mind mapping tool	$	D	http://www.mindjet.com/
44.	Dreamweaver Web authoring tool	$	D	http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/
45.	eXe SCORM content authoring	Free	D	http://exelearning.org/
46.	OpenOffice Office software suite	Free	D	http://www.openoffice.org/
47.	TypePad Blogging tool	$	H	http://www.typepad.com/
48.	Wetpaint Wiki tool	Free	H	http://www.wetpaint.com/
49.	Zoho Suite Online office suite (and mobile version)	Free	H	http://www.zoho.com/
50.	Excel Spreadsheet software	$	D	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel
51.	Elluminate Web meeting / conferencing	Free/$	H	http://www.elluminate.com/
52.	iPod MP3 player	$	-	www.apple.com/itunes/
53.	Thunderbird Email client	Free	D	http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/
54.	Drupal/DrupalEd Content management system	Free	D	http://drupal.org/
55.	Remember the Milk Manage your tasks	Free	H	http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
56.	Freemind Mind mapping tool	Free	D	http://freemind.sourceforge.net
57.	Second Life Virtual world application	Free	H	www.secondlife.com
58.	Survey Monkey Survey and questionnaire tool	Free/$	H	http://www.surveymonkey.com/
59.	Adobe Acrobat Professional Create and control PDF documents	$	D	http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/
60.	Photoshop Photo/Image editing tools	$	D	www.adobe.com/products/photoshop
61.	edublogs Blogging tool for educators	Free	H	http://edublogs.org/
62.	Garageband Personal recording studio	$	D	http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
63.	Google Sites Web and wiki tool	Free	H	www.google.com/sites/
64.	MindMeister Mind mapping tool	Free/$	H	http://www.mindmeister.com/
65.	Keynote Presentation software	$	D	http://www.apple.com/iwork/keynote/
66.	Adobe Connect Web meeting/conferencing	$	H	http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnect/
67.	Basecamp Collaborative, project management tool	Free/$	H	http://www.basecamphq.com/
68.	Google Apps Communication /collaboration	$	H	www.google.com/apps/
69.	iMovie Video editing software	$	D	http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie/
70.	Joomla! Content management system	Free	D	http://www.joomla.org/
71.	Notepad HTML and text editor	Free	D	http://www.notepad.org/
72.	OneNote Personal Information Manager	$	D	http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote
73.	Opera/Opera mini Web browser	Free	D	http://www.opera.com/
74.	Polldaddy Polling and survey tool	Free	H/C	http://www.polldaddy.com/
75.	Stumbleupon Social bookmarking tool	Free	H	http://www.stumbleupon.com/
76.	Windows LiveWriter Desktop blogging tool	Free	D	http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/
77.	Ustream Live, interactive broadcasting	Free	H	http://www.ustream.tv/
78.	Yugma Web meeting/ conferencing	Free/$	D	http://www.yugma.com/
79.	Zotero Firefox add-on to support research	Free	D	http://www.zotero.org/
80.	Adobe Reader PDF Reader	Free	D	http://get.adobe.com/reader/
81.	Nvu Web authoring tool	Free	D	http://www.net2.com/nvu/
82.	TeacherTube Instructional video sharing site	Free	H	http://www.teachertube.com/
83.	Adobe Presenter PowerPoint-based e-learning tool	$	D	http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter/
84.	Bubbl.us Mind mapping tool	Free	H	http://bubbl.us/
85.	CourseLab Course authoring tool	Free	D	http://www.courselab.com/
86.	Furl Social bookmarking tool	Free	H	http://www.furl.net/
87.	Internet Explorer Web browser	Free	D	www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer
88.	GIMP Image/photo editing tool	Free	D	http://www.gimp.org/
89.	Jott Voice to text	Free	H	http://jott.com/default.aspx
90.	LibrayThing Library catalogue for your bookshelf	Free	H	http://www.librarything.com/
91.	MediaWiki Wiki tool	Free	D	http://www.mediawiki.org
92.	Movie Maker Create, edit and share home movies	Free	D	http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker
93.	Paint.NET Image and photo editing	Free	D	http://www.paint.net/
94.	Safari Web browser	Free	D	http://www.apple.com/safari/
95.	Scribd Document hosting and sharing site	Free	H	http://www.scribd.com/
96.	TiddlyWiki Personal wiki tool	Free	D	http://www.tiddlywiki.com/
97.	tumblr Micro-blogging platform	Free	H	http://www.tumblr.com/
98.	Twhirl Social software client	Free	D	http://www.twhirl.org/
99.	Wink Software demonstration tool	Free	D	http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
100.	Zamzar Online file conversion tool	Free	H	http://www.zamzar.com/

Based on:

http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

Toolset for Learning 2009

The following table presents the Top 100 Tools for Learning in a number of tool categories. It shows the Top Tool in each category as well as the Top Free Tool (if different) as well as the other tools listed in the Top 100 Tools list.

Category	Top Tool		Top FREE Tool	Other Tools
WEB BROWSERS & EXTENSIONS
Web browsers	Firefox *			Opera \| Internet Explorer \| Safari
Browser extensions	Zotero			-
SOCIAL BOOKMARKING
Social bookmarking	del.icio.us *			diigo \| Stumbleupon
RSS TOOLS
RSS readers	Google Reader *			Bloglines
EMAIL TOOLS
Email Tools	gMail/ Google Mail *			Outlook \| Thunderbird
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLS
Productivity Tools (online)	Google Calendar *			Google Alerts \| Google Maps \| Remember the Milk \| Basecamp \| LibraryThing \| Zamzar
Productivity Tools (desktop)	Google Earth			OneNote \| Tiddlywiki
(Re)search Tools	Google Search			Wikipedia \| Google Scholar
Mindmapping Tools	MindManager		FreeMind *	MindMeister \| Bubbl.us
PERSONAL START PAGE
Personal start page tools	iGoogle *			Netvibes \| Pageflakes
DOCUMENT TOOLS
Document creation tools	Google Docs *			Word \| OpenOffice \| Zoho
Document hosting tools				Zoho \| Scribd
PDF Tools	Adobe Acrobat Professional		Google Docs*	OpenOffice
PDF Readers	Adobe Reader			-
PRESENTATION TOOLS
Presentation creation tools	PowerPoint		Google Docs *	OpenOffice \| Zoho \| Keynote
Presentation hosting tools	Slideshare *			Google Docs* \| Zoho
PowerPoint-based e-learning tools	Articulate		-	Adobe Presenter
Collaborative presentation tools	VoiceThread *			-
IMAGING TOOLS
Photo/ imaging tools	Adobe Photoshop		GIMP	Paint.NET
Image/photo hosting tool	flickr *			-
AUDIO/PODCASTING TOOLS
Audio/podcast creation ools	Audacity *			Garageband \| Jott
Audio/podcast player	iTunes			-
VIDEO TOOLS
Video creation tools	YouTube *			iMovie \| Movie Maker
Video hosting tools	YouTube *			Adobe Reader
Live video/broadcast tools	Ustream *			-
SCREEN CAPTURE & SCREENCASTING TOOLS
Screen capture tools	SnagIt		Jing *	-
Screencasting tools	Camtasia Studio			Captivate \| Wink
BLOGGING, WIKI & WEB AUTHORING TOOLS
Blogging Tools	Wordpress *			Blogger \| TypePad \| Edublogs \| Windows LiveWriter
Wiki Tools	Wikispaces	PB Wiki *		Wetpaint \| Google Sites \| MediaWiki \| Tiddlywiki
Web Authoring Tools	Dreamweaver	Nvu *
Text editors	Notepad			-
Content management Systems	Drupal			Joomla
COURSE AUTHORING & COURSE MANAGEMENT TOOLS
PowerPoint-based e-learning tools	Articulate		-	Adobe Presenter
Course authoring tools	eXe *			CourseLab
Course/Learning Management systems	Moodle *
INTERACTIVITY TOOLS
Polling /Survey tools	Polldaddy *			Survey Monkey
Interactivity and animation tools	Flash		SMART interactive whiteboard
LIVE COMMUNICATION TOOLS
Instant messaging/ voice call tool	Skype *			-
Web Meeting/ Conferencing Tools	Elluminate		Yugma *	Adobe Connect
Virtual world application	SecondLife			-
SOCIAL NETWORKING TOOLS
Public social network sites	Facebook			LinkedIn
Private social networking Tools	Ning *			-
Microblogging tools	Twitter *			tumblr \| Twhirl

Tools marked with * are Free!!!!

25 Tools every Learning Professional should have in their Toolbox - and all for FREE!

Here you can find out more about the Tools: The Info pages link to pages where you can find more general info about the tools and why learning professionals selected them as one of their Top 10 Tools. Tutorials (where available) are part of the A Guide to Social Learning online resource.

		Tutorials
1	Firefox	Browsing the web - with Firefox
2	Delicious	Storing and sharing bookmarks - with Delicious
3	Google Reader	Subscribing to blogs and news feeds - using Google Reader
4	gMail	Emailing - with gMail
5	Skype	Instant messaging - with Skype and Yugma
19	Yugma	Instant messaging - with Skype and Yugma
6	Google Calendar	Sharing your calendar - with Google Calendar
7	Google Docs	Working on an online document- using Google Docs
8	iGoogle	Keeping track of your resources - using iGoogle
9	Slideshare	Presentation sharing- using Slideshare
10	Flickr	Photo sharing - using Flickr
11	Voicethread	Setting up a collaborative presentation - using Voicethread
12	Wordpress	Wriing a blog - using WordPress
13	Audacity	Creating a podcast - with Audacity
14	YouTube	Video sharing - using YouTube
15	Jing	Creating screenshots and screencasts - using Jing
17	Polldaddy	Sharing a poll - using Polldaddy
18	Nvu	Free web authoring tool
16	PBWiki	Business wiki site
20	Ustream	Live broadcasting - using Ustream
21	Ning	Joining a social network - on Ning
21	Ning	Create a social network - using Ning
22	Freemind	Mind mapping software
23	eXe	E Learning / XHTML editing software
24	Moodle	Creating a formal online learning space - using Moodle
25	Twitter	Micro-blogging- using Twitter

Source:

http://c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

http://c4lpt.co.uk/Top100Tools/toolset.html

http://c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/index.html

Finding Free Software

www.osalt.com = Find Open Source Alternatives (this website allows you to look for open source alternatives to all of your favorite software programs – including many e-learning software tools).

Course Management Open Source Software

A Tutor (http://www.atutor.ca/)

Claroline (http://www.claroline.net/)

Dokeos (http://www.dokeos.com/)

eFront (http://www.epignosis.com.gr/)

Ilias (http://www.ilias.de/)

Moodle (http://moodle.org/)

Online Learning And Training - OLAT (http://www.olat.org)

Sakai Project (http://sakaiproject.org)

Course Authoring Software

Wink (http://www.debugmode.com/wink/)

Exe Learning (http://exelearning.org/)

Blender (http://www.blender.org/)

Jahshaka (http://jahshaka.org/)

Open Croquet (http://www.opencroquet.org)

Wikidot (http://www.wikidot.com/)

Course Lab (http://www.courselab.com/)

Webinar Services

Acrobat Connect Now (http://www.adobe.com/acom/connectnow)

VYEW (http://vyew.com/site/)

Bright Talk (http://www.brighttalk.com/)

Good Open Source Software or Freed Products to Have

PDF Forge (http://www.pdfforge.org/) Allows you to create PDF files.

Joomla (http://www.joomla.org) Website Content Management System

SugarCRM (http://www.sugarcrm.com) Customer Relationship Management Software

CuteCom (http://www.qutecom.org/) Free VOIP Softphone (allows you to talk online)

Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) Free Audio Recording Software

VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/) Plays a variety of audio and video files

CAM Studio (http://camstudio.org/) Records what happens on your screen as movie file

Microsoft Accounting – Helps with all of your accounting needs (http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/products/office/accounting)

Visual Understanding Environment (http://vue.tufts.edu/) Mind mapping software

Open Workbench (http://www.openworkbench.org/) Project Management Software

Project Net (http://www.project.net/) Project Management Software

Task Juggler (http://www.taskjuggler.org/) Project Management Software

Jing (http://www.jingproject.com/) Screen Capturing Software

Ning (http://www.ning.com/) Create your own Social Networking Site

UStream (http://www.ustream.tv/) Create your own TV shows

Useful Websites for Learning Activities

PDF Converter (http://www.freepdfconvert.com/) Upload a file and create a PDF file

Ebook Search (http://www.pdf-search-engine.com/) Searches for online PDF files

Linked In (https://www.linkedin.com) Social networking site for professionals

Learning Circuits (http://www.astd.org/LC/) ASTD Website for E-Learning

Biz Learning (http://www.bizlibrary.com) Off-the-Shelf E-Learning Options

Skill Soft (http://www.skillsoft.com) Off-The-Shelf E-Learning Options

Element K (http://www.elementk.com/) Off-the-Shelf E-Learning Options

Consultants and Organizations

Workplace Learning Network (www.workplacelearning.info)

American Society for Training and Development (www.astd.org)

North American Simulation and Gaming Association (http://www.nasaga.org/)

The Thiagi Group (http://www.thiagi.com/) – Training Games

Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (http://www.absel.org/)

E-Learning Guild (http://www.elearningguild.com/)

International Society for Performance Improvement (http://www.ispi.org/)

National Communication Association (http://www.natcom.org)

Learning Circuits (http://www.astd.org/LC/) E-Learning Magazine

Business Book Summaries (all of these organizations provide summaries of executive books in simple 6-12 page formats – many also include options for MP3 files and MPEG files among the options)

Soundview Executive Book Summaries (www.summary.com)

Get Abstract (http://www.getabstract.com/)

Wiki Summaries (http://www.wikisummaries.org)

Business Summaries (http://www.bizsum.com/)