Learn By Doing

A Lifelong Learner Shares Thoughts About Education

  • TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING 2012
    About | Winners & Losers 2012 | Top 100 Tools 2007-2012

    Here are the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2012 –  the results of the 6th Annual Learning Tools Survey – as voted for by 582 learning professionals worldwide, and compiled by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies. (Released 1 October 2012)

    “A learning tool is a tool to create or deliver learning content/solutions for others, or a tool for your own personal or professional learning.”

     

    Below is a summary of the Top 100 Tools 2012 and where the Top 100 Tools are mainly being used – ie for Personal/Professional learning/productivity, in Education and/or in the Enterprise (for training, performance support and/or team collaboration). (Please note that the absence of a checkmark in a column does not mean that the tool is not, cannot or should not be used for that purpose!)

    UP/DOWN
    since 2011 

    rank

    		 TOOL

    Notes

    Pers/
    Prof

    		 Edu Ent
     =  1 Twitter Social network & micro-blogging service x  x
     =  2 YouTube Video-sharing site x  x
     = 3 Google Docs/Drive Office suite and data storage service  x  x  (x)
    UP 11 4 Google Search Web search engine x
    = 5 WordPress Blogging/website tool x  x x
     = 6 Dropbox File synchronization  x x  (x)
     DOWN 3 7 Skype Text and voice chat tool x x (x)
    UP 11 8 PowerPoint Presentation software x  x  x
     UP 5 9 Facebook Social network x  x
     UP 1 10 Wikipedia Collaborative encyclopaedia x (x)
     DOWN 1 11 Moodle Course management system x  (x)
    UP 5 12 Evernote Note-taking tool x
     DOWN 4 13 Slideshare Presentation hosting site x  x
    DOWN 7 14 Prezi Presentation software  x x
    DOWN 3 15 Blogger/Blogspot Blogging tool  x  x
    = 16 Google Reader RSS Reader  x
    UP 9 17 Google+ / Hangouts Social network/video meetings  x x
     DOWN 5 18 Diigo Social bookmarking/ annotation tool x x
     UP 23 19 Word Word processing software x x x
     UP 11 20 Yammer Private social networking engine (x) x x
     DOWN 11 21 Glogster EDU Interactive poster tool x
     = 22 Edmodo Educational social learning network platform x
    DOWN 2 23 LinkedIn Professional social network  x  x
     UP 9 24 Scoopit Curation software  x  x
     UP 5 25 TED Talks/Ed Inspirational tools/lessons  x  x
    DOWN 8 26 Jing Screencasting tool x x  x
     DOWN 7 27 Gmail Web mail  x (x)  (x)
     = 28 Camtasia Screencasting tool x  x
     = 29 Audacity Audio recorder/editing tool  x  x  x
     DOWN 7 30 Wikispaces Wiki hosting platform  x x
     DOWN 6 31 Voicethread Digital storytelling platform x
     UP 27 32 Adobe Connect Web conferencing software  x
    UP 10 33 Google Sites Web/wiki hosting platform  x  x  (x)
     UP 10 34 iPad and apps Apple tablet and apps x x  x
    UP 10 35 Google Chrome Web browser x
     NEW 36 Pinterest Virtual pinboard x  x
     UP 9 37 Articulate E-learning authoring software  x  x
     = 38 Google Maps Interactive maps x x  x
    DOWN 12 39 Animoto Video creation software x x
    DOWN 3 40 Tweetdeck Social media dashboard x
    UP 32 41 Hootsuite Social media dashboard x
     UP 5 42 Snagit Screen capture software x x x
     UP 5 43 Adobe Captivate E-Learning authoring software x x
     UP 20 44 Livebinders Digital organizer x x
    UP 20 45 SharePoint Collaboration platform (x)  x
    UP 6 46 Mindmeister Mindmapping software x x
     UP 19 47 iTunes and iTunesU Audio/video player / course distribution platform x  x
    DOWN 24 48 Delicious Social bookmarking tool  x x
    UP 20  49 Outlook Email client  x x x
     UP 10 50 Blackboard Collaborate
    (previously Elluminate)    		 Web conferencing software x
     UP 23 51 SurveyMonkey Survey software  x  x  x
     BACK 52 Google Scholar Search engine for scholarly works x (x)
    BACK 53 Adobe Photoshop Photo editing software  x x
    BACK 54 WebEx Web conferencing software  x
    DOWN 20 55 Google Apps Branded Google apps x x x
    UP 18 56 Khan Academy Video learning platform x  x
    NEW 57 Google Translate Online language translator x
    UP 24 58 Quizlet Flashcards & study games x
     DOWN 3 59 Scribd Document sharing site x  x
    DOWN 24 60 Flickr Photo sharing site  x x
    NEW 61 Flipboard Social magazine for iPad etc  x
     NEW 62 Bing Web search engine x
     DOWN 6 63 Ning Community platform x x x
    DOWN 13 64 Screenr Screencasting tool x x x
    BACK 65 Firefox and addons  Web browser x
     NEW 66 Instapaper Read it later tool x
     UP 2 67 Udutu Collaborative course authoring x x
     BACK 68 MovieMaker Movie authoring tool x  x
     BACK 69 Mindjet (prev Mindmanager) Mindmapping tool x
     UP 12 70 Kindle E-book reader x
    UP 29 71 OneNote Note-taking software  x
    DOWN 18 72 Wallwisher (now Padlet) Online noticeboard  x
    NEW 73 Zite Social magazine for iPad x
     DOWN 19 74 iPhone and apps Apple smartphone and apps  x x x
     UP 7 75 Poll Everywhere Live audience polling  x  x x
     UP 14 76 Pocket (prev Read it Later) Read it later software x
    DOWN 3 77 Edublogs Educational blogging platform  x  x
     DOWN 29 78 Vimeo Video sharing site x x
    DOWN 40 79 Wordle Word cloud generator x  x
    DOWN 39 80 Symbaloo (and Edu) Visual bookmarking dashboard x x
    = 81 Excel Spreadsheet software x  x
     UP 8 82 Paper.li Curation tool x
     DOWN 15 83 Lino Sticky note service x x
     DOWN 44 84 Voki Speaking avatars  x
    UP 5 85 Buddypress Social engine (WordPress plugin) x x
     DOWN 28 86 eFront Course/Learning Management System  x x
    DOWN 26  87 OpenOffice Office software x  x
     DOWN 54 88 PB Works Wiki software x
    NEW 89 Learnist Pinning learning sites x x
    NEW 90 MentorMob Create Learning Playlists  x  x
    DOWN 24 91 Mahara ePortfolio/social networking platform  x
     NEW 92 Doodle Event scheduling  x  x
     BACK 93 Keynote Presentation software x  (x)
    DOWN 6 94 Android phones and tablets Devices using Google mobile operating system  x  x
     DOWN 6 95 Blackboard Course management system  x
     BACK 96 Tumblr Micro-blogging platform x
    NEW 97 Quora Q&A platform  x
    NEW 98 Windows Skydrive File synchronization  x
     NEW 99 Popplet Online noticeboard x x
     DOWN 6 100 iMovie Video creation software  x x

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  • infographic

  • It simply isn’t going to be acceptable for Teachers to say that given a massive reduction in planning time, and a dearth of other world challenges, that we can’t change, we will need to change.

    It simply isn’t going to be acceptable for Administration to roll out yet another program and another detail and act as if every lesson in all classes can be adjusted.  Given Just In Time PBL programs, nope, not a reality.

    But in the world in between, C.S. Lewis’ “Wood between the Worlds”, there is a need to change both sides.

    To that end:

    This morning we were presented with a concept of Student Driven Self-Assessment and Goal Setting where students performed an initial Goal Setting, a midpoint Self-Assessment and corrective action plan and a Final Assessment and Scoring.

    I put it into practice at the beginning of my current project in my Online Video class three periods later.  The result of the student driven work is on the white board in the picture below.  The following class, same subject, added the two black comment they felt were missing.  It will be interesting to find out if the students have a clearer picture and a better learning process.

    There isn’t time to take notes and reflect.  One needs to try things when they are fresh and determine from the process if it is worthwhile.  Hopefully, a prompt inclusion will also allow administration to see that serious attempts are being made and for all stakeholders to move along the continuum from knowing a little to knowing more.

    20130306_132856

  • why-is-the-sky-blue-third

  • Do you know what digital analytics can do for you, your stakeholders, your visitors or your institution?

    HIgher Ed Analytics ConferenceThere is so (too?) much you need to know to understand what digital analytics can do…

    In education, we can’t spend days working on analytics, so here is a quick list of 3 practical things that can be done with the help of digital analytics.

    1) Integrated tracking plan to know which communication campaigns really work

    Implement a comprehensive campaign tracking plan to identify which social ads perform better than the others or which search keyword ads should NOT be discontinued despite apparently low click through rates. By segmenting campaign traffic, you can find out very easily what the visitors brought by a given campaign do on your website. Relying on the same segmentation techniques, you can make recommendations to her stakeholders using email newsletters or email marketing messages. You will be able to assess the performance of the email lists used for these messages as well, going so much further than the regular open and click-through rates.

    2) Event tracking to evaluate the life cycle of a homepage news story

    Since your homepage redesign launched last month, last year, you will be able to learn more about the life cycle of the news stories featured on the homepage slider. This wasn’t possible until the implementation of Google Analytics event tracking on the website as all these news stories were part of a single page. Now that the feature is set across the site, it’s very easy to know how many visitors interact with a given story. When activity decreases, you know it’s time for fresh stories.

    3) Analytics profiling to learn more about the stealth prospective students of a given academic program

    You can use search and web traffic data to learn more (demographics, location, devices, etc.) about the web visitors interested in the a particular academic programs offered at your school. This analytics profiling has provided very useful insights to better target initiatives to market specific programs.

     

    This article derived from CollegeWebEditor for use in my school.