TOP TOOLS
TOP 10 TOOLS 2008
Chris Davies

Chris's Top 10 Tools as at 12 February 2008

1. iGoogle - This is how I manage my online life, and I certainly learn a lot from all the stuff that it feeds me – and I also learn a lot from the ongoing job of arranging and rearranging the things I want to look at;

2. del.icio.us - I instinctively understand how to use del.icio.us to keep track of everything that interests and enthuses me on the internet – I felt at home with using it for myself immediately (even if I have not really yet got the hang of sharing stuff through it as I should); honourable mention should go to Zotero, which is very different – more academic - but overlaps in some functions and might prove to be more useful in the long term;

3. Outline in Word - This is one of the best tools for thinking (and that is pretty much learning, right?) there is. It is the very first properly cognitive tool I ever came across – it allows you to throw initial ideas around and see the relationships between them, to compose large-scale writing and to write in a really structural way (it is also a good way to compose PowerPoint presentations, which can then be easily exported);

4. iTunes - iTunes has great practical use – you can find so much great educational material on it, in the form of podcasts – but also it provides a brilliant model of how knowledge out there in the cloud can be personalized for individuals;

5. StumbleUpon - Too much fun and dangerously time-consuming, but if you set it up to look for topics that you want to know more about, it will provide you with great intellectual treats alongside an endless supply of amazing web-based craziness and entertainment;

6. PBWiki - The first wiki I used, and I still use it, as a personal online writing tool. But it is also very easy to use for group projects, and it gets better all the time;

7. Scrivener - This is a recent discovery, and very exciting I think – though only for Mac users, sadly. It is best for large scale writing projects, and has a nice fuzzy feel to it that suits the creative and thinking process very well; very easy and satisfying to use;

8. Netvibes - If I wasn’t so at home with using iGoogle I would use this to organize my online life. It is a bit more exciting to use than iGoogle, and allows you to see the connections between the things you are interested in more effectively I think – but it needs quite a bit of work to set up the way you want it;

9. Second Life - The possibilities for learning are endless, and will expand dramatically over the coming months I am sure;

10. Audacity - This is just a really useful tool, and it is something that is being used in schools a bit now, which is a step in the right direction.

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