TOP TOOLS TOP 10 TOOLS 2008
Esperanza Roman-Mendoza
Esperanza, an
instructional
technologist with over
15 years experience in
the academic sector, is
Associate Professor at
George Mason University.
She also teaches online
courses on Web 2.0 tools
and E-learning pedagogy
at the Universidad
Nacional de Educación a
Distancia and the
Universidad Camilo José
Cela in Spain. Esperanza
blogs at
elearningxxi.blogspot.com/
.
Esperanza's
Top 10 Tools as at 22 April 2008
Del.icio.us. A
perfect tool to compile, organize, and share information
with students and colleagues. It also helps students (and
everybody) learn about the importance and benefits of
tagging.
Bloglines. One
of the best feed readers out there. Beta Bloglines seems to
be even better. A perfect tool to keep up with the
ever-growing Web, and a good way to learn about the
importance of organizing and filtering information.
Firefox. What
would we do without a Web browser? Firefox is the best, by
keeping up with the changes on the web and allowing its
users to benefit from those changes.
Skype. A tool that
is constantly adding new features to keep up with the new
web-based communication trends. Perfect to update students
and colleagues with new information, answer to quick
questions, have a group chat, etc.
Wikispaces.
Although other wiki services providers might be more
powerful, Wikispaces has proven to be a stable tool. The
learning curve is not so bad, neither for teachers nor for
students. New widgets are making up for some of the normal
limitations of a wiki tool.
Flickr. A great
tool to find and share visual information. It makes people
think about the different ways to capture an object, to tag
it, to share it with the world with comments and labels.
Also, it encourages communication among people interested in
the same things.
Blogging. I think
any type of blogging tool is, nowadays, a must-have in any
educator’s toolbox. Using a blog to communicate with
students or to make students communicate with each other and
with the world, is a very powerful resource.
Snagit. A great
screen capture tool that allows to easily add labels and
additional information. Excellent tool to enhance the visual
component in our teaching, online or off-line.
Moodle. I have been
a user of WebCT/Blackboard for a long time, but I think
Moodle deserves a higher position in my tools list because
it provides an open platform for all educators interested in
using a course management system in their courses.
GoogleDocs. I
particularly like the possibility of accessing the documents
from any place at any time, and the range of collaborative
activities that can be set up using this tool.
What are your
Top 10 Tools for learning? Let us know and help us to build
the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008
