David works across the UK as an independent e-Learning specialist (at the Village e-Learning Consultancy) and uses a variety of e-Learning tools for personal research and to deliver and motivate the people he meets.

David writes "My choice of tools may well be quite mundane but I always think simplicity should come first."  In no particular order ..

David's Top 10 Tools as at 22 August 2008

The same as January's list except

3. Posterous - This is a blogging site - but with a difference. You send emails to the site and it converts the email to a blog entry. However, any attachments are also embedded as part of the blog. Multiple images are 'roll-over thumbnails' - which show larger when rolled over. PowerPoint attachments are embedded a'la Slideshare and YouTube URLS are embedded as controllable video. Well worth a try for simple blog writing. My holiday blog was dsugden.posterous.com

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David's Top 10 Tools as at 27 January 2008

1. PowerPoint  A much maligned tool.  When people say 'death by PPT' - what they should say is 'death by inappropriate use of PPT'. PPT is an easy win when trying to bring my teaching colleagues on board with 'e'. They can already use the tool - they just need showing how to use it wisely.

2. Word  As PPT. I've seen colleagues see the e-Learning 'light' (and need for interaction) after being shown how to use Forms and Comments

3. Excel  As PPT, but for the more advanced tutor. With excel, fully interactive formative tests can be delivered quickly and cheaply to those that need them

4. Mobile phone My current phone is a Sony Ericsson K850i.  I use my phone as a calendar, a time piece, a camera, a video camera, a text messaging tool, a reminder, an alarm and .. as a phone. I use it to connect to some of the sites below (Shozu, Jaiku and Twitter)

5. eSnips  I use eSnips as my own learning platform. I use it to share Office files, videos and images (although see below)

6. Shozu allows me to send full-fat photographs from my 5mega pixel mobile phone to flickr and from there it is RSS'd to Jaiku - along with any SMS comment I may have made. A sort of media board!

7. flickr   I'm just beginning to use Flickr, after years of using Photobox, I have found the RSS offered by Flickr to be far more useful. Great for showing images of - whatever. These are used independently or within other pages (blogs, googlepages etc.). The RSS feed can also be employed in microblogging sites like Jaiku.

8. Jaiku  I have used Jaiku for almost a year now and its potential is becoming apparent. Because of its ability to combine RSS feeds I choose, I get contributions from 'friends' and from their RSS feeds too. Jaiku is a 'micro-blog' that, when used with these features, becomes a media board of sorts.

9. Google Page Creator  Free, simple web authoring tool that allows content from other sites to be embedded. See Example pages

10. del.icio.us  At last a favourites (bookmarks) site that works on any computer. And, I can see those posted by like minded colleagues and friends.

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David's Top 10 Tools as at 30 July 2007

1. PowerPoint  A much maligned tool.  When people say 'death by PPT' - what they should say is 'death by inappropriate use of PPT'. PPT is an easy win when trying to bring my teaching colleagues on board with 'e'. They can already use the tool - they just need showing how to use it wisely.

2. Word  As PPT. I've seen colleagues see the e-Learning 'light' (and need for interaction) after being shown how to use Forms and Comments

3. Excel  As PPT, but for the more advanced tutor. With excel, fully interactive formative tests can be delivered quickly and cheaply to those that need them

4. Mobile phone My current phone is a Sony Ericsson W800i but I am in the market for a K810i. I use my phone as a calendar, a time piece, a camera, a video camera, a text messaging tool, a reminder, an alarm and .. as a phone

5. eSnips  I use eSnips as my own learning platform. I use it to share Office files, videos and images (although see below)

6. YouTube I've used YouTube for some time now as a delivery vehicle for 'how to' video clips. These are used independently or within other pages (blogs, googlepages etc.)

7. flickr   I'm just beginning to use Flickr, after years of using Photobox, I have found the RSS offered by Flickr to be far more useful. Great for showing images of - whatever. These are used independently or within other pages (blogs, googlepages etc.). The RSS feed can also be employed in microblogging sites like Jaiku.

8. Jaiku  This is fairly new to me but there seems to be great potential with it - for instant communication.

9. Google Page Creator  Free, simple web authoring tool that allows content from other sites to be embedded. See Example pages

10. del.icio.us  At last a favourites (bookmarks) site that works on any computer. And, I can see those posted by like minded colleagues and friends.