TOP TOOLS 2007 & 2008
Andreas Büsing

Andreas is an engineer for biomedicine and holds a PhD. He teaches biomedicine at the university as well as ELT at the local college of Further Education. A minor part of his teaching is done on-line (asynchronous and synchronous). He runs teacher trainings such as ICT for LL, ICT for LT. Last but not least he is the NL-editor of the ELTA-Rhine.Blog

Andreas's Top 10 Tools as at 6 January 2008

1. Moodle is a course management system - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create and deliver effective on-line learning communities

2. OxygenOffice Professional (OOOP, O2OP) is an enhanced version of the free OpenOffice.org what is a multi-platform office productivity suite.  OxygenOffice Professional contains more extras like templates, cliparts, samples, fonts and VBA support.

3. eXe - OpenSource: Create learning resources export it as a webpage, SCORM or IMS standard packages to import in almost every VLE. The eXe project was conceived to address the use of technology in the design and authoring of learning resources for the web. Initial research showed that while there are many web authoring tools available their usability and sophistication varied considerably.

4. Google Reader  - A great RSS reader ... I prefer web-based readers to a reader on my local machine. Easy access all over the web

5. Audacity - open source Audio editing in an easy way. Gorgeous tool for all "sound experiments"

6. VoiceThread -  A VoiceThread is an online media album that allows people to make comments, either audio or text, and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows an entire group’s story to be told and collected in one place.

7. portableapps - I carry my favorite computer programs along with all of my bookmarks, settings, email and more with me on a thumb drive. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind. Just a free alternative to the commercial u3 solution.

8. diigo - Free. With the use of diigo and the automatic export to del.icio.us you gain a great Social Bookmarking + Social Annotation tool The best way to collect, share and interact on online information from anywhere.

9. Firefox  - My favourite web browser including uncountable extensions …

10. Tiddlywiki - OpenSource TiddlyWiki is a complete wiki in a single HTML file. It contains the entire text of the wiki, and all the JavaScript, CSS and HTML goodness to be able to display it, and let you edit it or search it. Without needing a server.

Andreas's Top 10 Tools as at 8 July 2007

1. reBlog - A reBlog facilitates the process of filtering and republishing relevant content from many RSS feeds. reBloggers subscribe to their favorite feeds, preview the content, and select their favorite posts. These posts are automatically published through their favorite blogging software.  reBlogs are useful to individuals who want to maintain a weblog but prefer curating content to writing original posts.

2. dokeos - IMHO dokeos is comparable to Moodle but due to its learning path it is closer to teaching than to collaborate. It reads all SCORM and IMS standard stuff and in the new version it includes an editor to create "learning paths / units" in these standards. The even offer a platform with 50 MB free hosting to try a few things.

3. eXe - OpenSource Create learning resources export it as a webpage, SCORM or IMS standard packages to import in almost every VLE.  The eXe project was conceived to address the use of technology in the design and authoring of learning resources for the web. Initial research showed that while there are many web authoring tools available their usability and sophistication varied considerably.

4. Google Reader -  A great RSS reader ... I prefer web-based readers to a reader on my local machine. Easy access all over the web

5. Audacity - open source Audio editing in an easy way.

6. VoiceThread - A VoiceThread is an online media album that allows people to make comments, either audio or text, and share them with anyone they wish. A VoiceThread allows an entire group’s story to be told and collected in one place.

7. Zentation - Zentation is the place where video and PowerPoint meet.  A cool tool for presentations on the web.

8. diigo - Free.  With the use of diigo and the automatic export to del.icio.us you gain a great Social Bookmarking + Social Annotation tool The best way to collect, share and interact on online information from anywhere

9. Zookoda - Free Zookoda is an email marketing application designed specifically for bloggers. Zookoda enables you to send a daily, weekly or monthly summary of your latest blog posts directly into your visitors inbox.

10. Tiddlywiki - OpenSource TiddlyWiki is a complete wiki in a single HTML file. It contains the entire text of the wiki, and all the JavaScript, CSS and HTML goodness to be able to display it, and let you edit it or search it. Without needing a server.