TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING

TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING
as at 10 August 2007

This list has been compiled from the TOP 10 FAVOURITE TOOLS lists of 93 learning professionals (consultants, analysts, developers, practitioners, academics, etc) who responded to our open invitation. Thanks to all of them! We are aiming for 100 contributions, so LET US KNOW your Top 10 tools.

This list (together with the collection of Top 10 Tools list ) is proving to be a popular resource (see reviews) to find out about the wide range of tools that can be used in a learning context - whether it be for personal learning or for creating learning for others - and demonstrates that e-learning is much much more than online courses.

Over 350 different tools have been named so far but below we list in order of popularity those that received at least 2 mentions - actually 126 tools.

Follow the links to read how the tools are being used by contributors
as well as links to other resources about the tools

See also THE LEARNING TOOLBOX Recommendations for different learning activities (for personal learning as well as creating learning)

Position	Tool	No. of mentions	Description	Cost
1	Firefox	54	Firefox Web browser	Free
2	del.icio.us	36	del.icio.us Social bookmarking tool	Free
3	Skype	31	Skype Instant messaging, VoIP call tool	Free
4	Google Search	29	Google Search Web search tool	Free
5	WordPress	26	Wordpress Blogging tool	Free
6=	Gmail	25	GMail/Googlemail Web-based email	Free
	Google Reader	25	Google Reader RSS/Feed reader	Free
8	PowerPoint	23	PowerPoint Presentation software	£
9	Blogger	21	Blogger Blogging tool	Free
10	Bloglines	18	Bloglines RSS/Feed reader	Free
11	Google Docs & Spreadsheets	17	Google Docs & Spreadsheets Web-based document creation	Free
12	Moodle	16	Moodle Course management system	Free
13	Word	15	Word Word processing software	£
14	Audacity	14	Audacity Sound editor and recorder	Free
15=	Wikispaces	12	Wikispaces Wiki tool	Free
	flickr	12	flickr Photo storage and sharing site	Free
17=	iGoogle	11	iGoogle Personalised start page	Free
	MindManager	11	MindManager Mind mapping tool	£
19=	Captivate	10	Captivate Demo and scenario-based tool	£
	Dreamweaver	10	Dreamweaver Web authoring tool	£
	Netvibes	10	Netvibes Personal start page	Free
	YouTube	10	YouTube Video hosting and sharing site.	Free
23=	Excel	9	Excel Spreadsheet software	£
	Facebook	9	Facebook Social networking site	Free
	Ning	9	Ning Social networking tool	Free
	Slideshare	9	Slideshare For hosting and sharing presentations	Free
	Thunderbird	9	Thunderbird Email client	Free
28=	Google Calendar	8	Google Calendar Web-based calendar	Free
	Outlook	8	Outlook Email software	£
	SnagIt	8	Snagit Screen capture tool	£
31=	Articulate	7	Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio Presenter, Engage and Quizmaker	£
	Elgg/Eduspaces	7	Eduspaces/Elgg Social networking tool / community	Free
	Google Earth	7	Google Earth Geographic information	Free
	Google Maps	7	Google Maps Maps of the US. UK, etc	Free
	LinkedIn	7	LinkedIn Social networking for professionals	Free
36=	Flash	6	Flash Animation authoring tool	£
	Google Desktop/Sidebar/Gadgets	6	Google Desktop/Sidebar/Gadgets Information on your desktop	Free
	iTunes	6	iTunes Music and podcast player	Free
	MediaWiki	6	MediaWiki Wiki tool	Free
	OpenOffice	6	OpenOffice Word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software	Free
	PB Wiki	6	PB Wiki Wiki tool	Free
42=	FreeMind	5	Freemind Mind mapping tool	Free
	Google Talk	5	Google Talk Instant messaging tool	Free
	Mobile phone	5	Mobile phone eg.MDA, Blackberry, iPhone, etc	£
	Photoshop	5	Photoshop/Elements/Lightroom Photo/Image editing tools	£
	Scribd	5	Scribd Document hosting and sharing site	Free
	twitter	5	twitter IM and social networking meet	Free
	Wikipedia	5	Wikipedia Online encylopedia	Free
	Yahoo Groups	5	Yahoo Groups Community tools	Free
50=	Adium	4	Adium Instant messaging tool (for Mac)	Free
	The written word	4	The written word Books/Paper/Sketchbook	---
	Explode	4	Explode Social networking community	Free
	GIMP	4	GIMP Image/photo editing tool	Free
	Google Page Creator	4	Google Page Creator Simple web page authoring tool	Free
	Google Scholar	4	Google Scholar search for scholarly literature	Free
	IE7	4	Internet Explorer Web browser	Free
	Parallels	4	Parallels Windows on a Mac without rebooting	£
	TeacherTube	4	TeacherTube Instructional video sharing site	Free
	TypePad	4	TypePad Blogging tool	£
	Yahoo Mail	4	Yahoo Mail Web-based email	Free
	Zoho	4	Zoho Suite Online office suite	Free
62=	diigo	3	diigo Social bookmarking/annotation tool	Free
	Drupal/.DrupalEd	3	Drupal/DrupalEd Content management system	Free
	Edublogs	3	edublogs Blogging tool for educators	Free
	Eudora	3	Eudora Email client	Free
	Fireworks	3	Fireworks Graphics tool	£
	Flock	3	Flock Social web browser	Free
	Gliffy	3	Gliffy Diagramming tool	Free
	Google Alerts	3	Google Alerts Keep track of new information	Free
	Google Groups	3	Google Groups Group/collaboration tools	Free
	Google Notebook	3	Google Notebook Personal online notebook	Free
	Inspiration	3	Inspiration For visual thinking	£
	Jaiku	3	Jaiku Mini blogging/social networking tool	Free
	Keynote	3	Keynote Presentation software for the Mac	£
	Notepad++	3	Notepad++ Text and HTML editor	Free
	OmniGraffle	3	OminGraffle Diagramming tool (for Mac)	£
	Paint Shop Pro	3	Paint Shop Pro Image editing tool	£
	Picasa	3	Picasa Picture editing tool	Free
	Quicksilver	3	Quicksilver Interface for working with apps on Mac	£
	Safari	3	Safari Web browser	Free
	Tiddlywiki	3	TiddlyWiki Personal wiki tool	Free
	Web Developer	3	Wed Developer Firefox addon for debugging websites	Free
	MSN/ Windows Messenger	3	MSN/Windows Messenger Instant messaging tool	Free
	Yugma	3	Yugma Virtual meeting/web conferencing tool	Free
	Zotero	3	Zotero Firefox addon to support research	Free
86=	Access	2	Access Database software	£
	Adobe Acrobat Professional	2	Adobe Acrobat Professional Create and control PDF documents	£
	Adobe Connect	2	Adobe Connect Web meeting and conferencing tool	£
	Adobe Reader	2	Adobe Reader PDF Reader	Free
	Apple Mail	2	Apple Mail Email for the Mac	Free
	evolution	2	b2evolution Content management/blogging system	Free
	Blogmusik	2	Blogmusik Music website	Free
	Camtasia	2	Camtasia Screencasting tool	£
	CoComment	2	CoComment Track comments in blog postings	Free
	Copernic Desktop Search	2	Copernic Desktop Search Search tool for files on your computer	Free
	Dogpile	2	Dogpile Searche engine	Free
	ecto	2	ecto desktop blogging client	Free
	Elluminate	2	Elluminate Web meeting and conferencing tool	Free/ £
	eXe	2	eXe SCORM content authoring tool	Free
	FeedBlitz	2	FeedbBlitz Feed to email service	Free
	FeedRaider	2	FeedRaider RSS/feed reader	Free
	Frontpage	2	FrontPage Web authoring software (now unavailable)	£
	Firebug	2	Firebug Firefox extension to debug web page	Free
	Furl	2	Furl Social bookmarking tool	Free
	Gabcast	2	Gabcast Phone in your podcast	Free
	HTML-Kit	2	HTML-Kit HTML authoring tool	Free
	iChat	2	iChat Video conferencing for the Mac	Free
	Jotspot	2	Jotspot Wiki tool	Free
	Last.fm	2	Last.fm Music website/sharing site	Free
	Meebo	2	Meebo Instant messaging tool	Free
	MindMeister	2	MindMeister Mind mapping tool	£
	Mozy	2	Mozy Backup software	£
	MyBlogLog	2	MyBlogLog Community tool for blogs/ websites	Free
	NetNewsWire	2	NetNewsWire Desktop RSS/feed reader for the Mac	£
	Odeo	2	Odeo MP3s to share	Free
	PageFlakes	2	Pageflakes Start page	Free
	Pidgin	2	Pidgin Cross-platform IM tool (prev GAIM)	Free
	QuickBooks	2	QuickBooks Book-keeping software	£
	ScribeFire	2	ScribeFire Firefox addon to create blog postings	Free
	SecondLfe	2	Second Life Virtual world application	Free
	StatCounter	2	StatCounter Website stats	Free
	Subversion	2	Subversion Version control software	Free
	Technorati	2	Technorati Search for user-generated media	Free
	TextPad	2	TextPad Text and HTML editor	Free
	Vim	2	Vim Text editor	Free
	Voicethread	2	Voicethread Capture voices	Free

THE LEARNING TOOLBOX

THE LEARNING TOOLBOX

The Learning Toolbox offers recommendations and suggestions for tools to use for different learning activities. The Learning Toolbox consists of two parts:

1 - Personal Toolset: tools to access and view content as well as communicate with others (for your own personal learning/working)

2 - Producer's Toolset: tools to develop and deliver content and other learning solutions (for yourself and others)

Although the main recommendations and suggestions in this Learning Toolbox come from the TOP 100 TOOLS list, gaps have been filled by other tools mentioned by contributors in their TOP 10 TOOLS lists. .

The specific tools in your own Learning Toolbox will depend on a number of factors including whether you are in education or business, the work you do and the activities you undertake, the computing platform you personally use (PC, Mac etc) and that of your organisation, and of course your budget.

We are therefore preparing a GUIDE TO THE LEARNING TOOLBOX to help you identify the appropriate tools for your own Learning Toolbox. However, for organisations who want to implement an enterprise Learning Toolbox, we are happy to provide BESPOKE ADVICE.

Personal Toolset

Tool	Recommendation	Other suggestions
Web browser	Firefox	Internet Explorer | Flock | Safari
Web browser extensions	-	Zotero | Delicious Bookmarks | FoxLingo | Googlepedia | HyperWord | MeasureIt | Scrapbook
Calendar	Google Calendar	Microsoft Outlook (£) | Sunbird
RSS reader	Google Reader	Bloglines | NetNewsWire | FeedRaider
Email	Gmail	Microsoft Outlook (£) | Thunderbird | Apple Mail | Yahoo Mail | Eudora
Start page	iGoogle	Netvibes | PageFlakes | Protopage
Social bookmarking tool	del.icio.us	diigo | Furl
Podcast/music player	iTunes	Miro | Winamp
PDF reader	Adobe Reader	-
Social network sites	Facebook	LinkedIn | Eduspaces | Explode | MyBlogLog | twitter | Jaiku
Instant messenger	Skype	Google Talk | Adium | Pidgin | twitter | MSN/ Windows Messenger
Useful resource sites	Google Search	Wikipedia | Google Alerts | Google Scholar | Google Earth | Google Maps | Dogpile |
Desktop search/ organiser	Google Desktop	Copernic Desktop Search (£) | X1(£)
Desktop productivity tools	-	For Mac: Parallels (£) | Quicksilver (£) | Mozy (£)
Online productivity tools		Google Notebook | Backpack | iGTD | Toodledo | Trailfire

Producer's Toolset

Tools to create	Recommendation	Other suggestions
Documents & Spreadsheets	Google Docs & Spreadsheets	Microsoft Word/Excel (£) | OpenOffice | Zoho
PDFs	Adobe Acrobat Professional (£)	Adobe PDF Writer (£) | OpenOffice | PDF Annotator | PDF Online
Presentations	PowerPoint (£)	OpenOffice | Zoho | Keynote (£) | Freepath (£)
Flash-based (narrated) presentations	Articulate Presenter (£)	Slideshare | PointeCast Publisher (£) | PowerConverter (£)
Blogs	WordPress	Blogger | Edublogs | TypePad (£) | Jaiku | ScribeFire | ecto
Podcasts/audio	Audacity	Voicethread | Gabcast | gCast | Odiogo | Podomatic
Wikis	Wikispaces	PB Wiki | MediaWiki | Jotspot | Tiddlywiki
Mind maps	MindManager (£)	FreeMind | MindMeister (£) | Inspiration
Web pages	Dreamweaver (£)	Google Page Creator | Firebug | Web Developer | HTML-Kit | Notepad++
Animation	Flash (£)	Swishmax (£)
Graphics, image and photo editing	-	Photoshop (£) | Fireworks (£) | GIMP | OmniGraffle (£) | Paint Shop Pro (£) | Gliffy | Imagination Cubed | Picasa
Widgets for pages/blogs	-	FeedBlitz | CoComment | MyBlogLog | Polldaddy
Courses and tutorials	Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio (£)	eXe | Course Lab | Authorware (£) | Content Point (£)
Quizzes and tests	Articulate Quizmaker (£)	HotPotatoes | Quia (£) | WebQuiz XP (£)
Screen capture	SnagIt (£)	Faststone Capture (£) | Skitch | Gadwin PrintScreen
Software demos/ screencasts	Captivate (£)	Camtasia (£) | Screencast-0-Matic | iShowU (£)
Course management	Moodle	Atutor | dokeos
Discussion forums	-	phpBB | QuickTopic | SMF
Web meetings/ conferences	Yugma	Elluminate | Adobe Connect (£) | GoToMeeting (£) | Vyew | Webex (£)
Social networks	Ning	Elgg
Group, team and project spaces	Yahoo Groups	Google Groups | Drupal
Virtual worlds	SecondLfe
File hosting/sharing sites	flickr | YouTube | Slideshare | Scribd | TeacherTube | Odeo

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Informal Learning

Informal Learning

by Marcia L. Conner

Informal learning accounts for over 75% of the learning taking place in organizations today. Often, the most valuable learning takes place serendipitously, by random chance. Most companies, however, focus only on formal learning programs, losing valuable opportunities and outcomes. To truly understand the learning in your organization you might want to recognize the informal learning already taking place and put in practices to cultivate and capture more of what people learn. This includes strategies for improving learning opportunities for everyone and tactics for managing and sharing what you know.

This introduction is dedicated to reviewing the informal learning literature, understanding the issues, and pointing you to additional resources.

What is informal learning?

Most learning doesn't occur during formal training programs. It happens through processes not structured or sponsored by an employer or a school. Informal learning is the term I use to describe what happens the rest of the time. In order to truly differentiate between formal and informal, I also find it valuable to examine what is learned intentionally or accidentally.

Formal learning includes the hierarchically structured school system that runs from primary school through the university and organized school-like programs created in business for technical and professional training.

Informal learning describes a lifelong process whereby individuals acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment, from family and neighbors, from work and play, from the market place, the library and the mass media.

Intentional learning is the process whereby an individual aims to learn something and goes about achieving that objective.

Accidental learning happens when in everyday activities an individual learns something that he or she had not intended or expected.

I also sometimes refer to one more category: Non-formal learning. I define it is any organized educational activity outside the established formal system whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity intended to serve identifiable learning objectives.

The distinctions between formal, informal, and non-formal were first developed in the 1950s by people working in the area of international development. In my experience and from the work we have done with organizations, there are far more opportunities for informal accidental learning than any other single type of learning.

What are you learning informally?

When I ask groups, "where do you learn?" I hear the following: at work, in house, en route, on the run, in context, in situ, through search, by accident, with peers, from children, in press, across TV, by mistake, ah ha!, to escape. When I ask, "What is your favorite way to learn outside of formal programs?" I hear: reading journals or magazines, reading book(s), talking with experts, talking with peers, email or other written correspondence, and through a coach or mentor.

Capital Works reported that we learn at work through the following means.

What can you do to understand the informal learning in your organization?

	List all of the informal programs going on in your organization. Post that for others to add to and work with.
	Ask for employees to share informally gathered knowledge with peers in a formal way.
	Support informal communities of practice. Create others where you there are gaps.
	Look at what your meetings really offer.
	Find more opportunities for accidental learning and make it a topic of conversation.

Where can you learn more?

Fast Company Magazine's learning resource center features an article I wrote on the informal learning theme. "Still think learning means school? Expand your definition of learning to include conversations with your peers and your children, from books, articles, informal networks, Internet searching, television, and what you learn through trial and error. Use everything that happens in your world as a resource to learn more now." Learn More Now, Informally. Marcia L. Conner, May 2005.

I published a chapter on Informal Learning in the book Leading Organizational Learning: Harnessing the Power of Knowledge. Marshall Goldsmith, Howard Morgan, Alexander J. Ogg (editors). Leader to Leader Institute. Jossey-Bass, 2004.

In addition, here is a list of articles, websites, and research related to informal learning.

Articles

There are not many articles available on informal learning but there are some. Please let me know if you find additional articles. I'll add to this list over time.

Jay Cross wrote "Informal Learning: A Sound Investment," in October 2003 for Chief Learning Officer Magazine. I've worked with Jay for years and I'm thrilled some of my passion for informal learning has rubbed off on him! He also posted to his website some interesting informal learning facts and insights.

Bob Mosher wrote, "The Power of Informal Learning," in the July 2004 Chief Learning Officer Magazine. Although more formal forms of instruction such as the classroom and e-learning will be around for years, it’s becoming more and more important to watch and harness the more informal methodologies that our students are utilizing. Most of these methods have been around for years, but have gone unnoticed by the training community.

David Grebow wrote "At the Water Cooler of Learning," in Transforming Culture: An Executive Briefing on the Power of Learning (June 2002). He explains that we have become obsessed with formal learning in the workplace. In our zeal to learn, we have transferred the formal model of learning into the collective mind of our corporations. Even e-learning is simply less-expensive formal learning at a distance.

Dori Digenti wrote "Make Space for Informal Learning," in Learning Circuits (August 2000). She notes that one of the ways that elearning can help us to learn more effectively is through combining the strengths of design and technology to create informal learning environments.

Steelcase's Paul Cornell summarizes the utility of informal learning and how organizations can begin to help the process along by creating both opportunities and online environments that support the meeting of people for new knowledge creation.

Michele B. Medved wrote, "Creating an environment for ongoing learning," in Learning Circuits (May 2003). You will need to register to read this article, but it is free of charge.

"Our Shared Playground: An Interview with Michael Schrage," Marcia Conner. LiNE Zine, Winter 2001.

Websites

Though you can learn informally from most any website, there are also a few websites that focus on helping you learn about informal learning.

Infed.org offers all sorts of terrific information on informal learning

Clark Quinn's Ottersurf offers a terrific informal learning framework.

Books

There are a few books available on informal learning.

Informal Learning: Rediscovering the Natural Pathways That Inspire Innovation and Performance by Jay Cross (Pfeiffer, 2006)

Informal Learning by Bob Hoffman (Infoline ASTD, 2005)

Creating a Learning Culture: Strategy, Practice, and Technology edited Marcia L. Conner and James G. Clawson (Cambridge, 2004)

Learn More Now: 10 Simple Steps to Learning Better, Smarter, and Faster by Marcia L. Conner (Wiley, 2004)

Leading Organizational Learning: Harnessing the Power of Knowledge edited by Marshall Goldsmith, Howard Morgan, Alexander J. Ogg. Leader to Leader Institute. (Jossey-Bass, 2004)

Beyond the Podium: Delivering Training and Performance to a Digital World by Allison Rossett, Kendra Sheldon. (Jossey-Bass Pfeffer, 2001). pp 210–227.

Principles and Practice of Informal Education: Learning Through Life by Linda Deer Richardson and Mary Wolfe - editors (Routledge, 2001)

Advances in Developing Human Resources: Informal Learning on the Job by Victoria J. Marsick and Marie Volpe - editors (Berrett-Koehler, 2000)

Informal Learning in the Workplace: Unmasking Human Resource Development by John Garrick (Routledge, 1998)

Informal Teaching and Learning: A Study of Everyday Cognition in a Greek Community by Rosemary C. Henze (Lawrence Erlbaum, 1992)

Research

I only know of a few organizations that have studied informal learning.

The Teaching Firm: Where Productive Work and Learning Converge was a landmark 1998 study on workplace learning by Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts. Based on research conducted at seven manufacturing companies, the EDC study found that informal learning takes place spontaneously and continuously, not just in times of crisis, but in the course of everyday activities and routine procedures.

The June 10, 2004 Learning Economics Group (LEG) featured a presentation by Jeff Kelley. He referred to some of the research that he and Ted Kahn did on informal learning when they ran CapWorks.

In 1996, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that people learn 70% of what they know about their jobs informally. “Formal and Informal Training: Evidence from the NLSY.” M.A. Loewenstein, J.R. Spletzer, U.S. Department of Labor. Research in Labor Economics. Vol. 18, 1999, pp. 402-438.

The eLearning Guild conducted a fabulous survey of how their member organizations take part in Informal Learning called, "Learning and Professional Development." To receive a copy of their report, join The eLearning Guild. It only costs $99 to join and this report alone might be well worth the cost of your membership!

 

© 1993-2007, Marcia Conner.

----------------------------------------------

If you are interested in referencing this page in a report, article, or presentation, the citation should read:

Conner, M. L. "Informal Learning." Ageless Learner, 1997-2007. http://agelesslearner.com/intros/informal.html

 

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Learning Design and Open Source Teaching | Terra Incognita - A Penn State World Campus Blog

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