TOP 10 TOOLS 2007, 2008 & 2009
Jane Bozarth

Jane Bozarth, Ed.D., E-learning Coordinator for the North Carolina, USA, Office of State Personnel. Author of E-Learning Solutions on a Shoestring; Better Than Bullet Points: Creating Engaging E-Learning with PowerPoint  and From Analysis to Evaluation: Tools, Tips, and Techniques for Trainers.  Jane's website is the BozarthZone.

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 16 April  2009

1. iPhone. It completes me. Much more computer than phone, it’s on this list b/c of the apps (which count as “software”, I should think). It’s a mobile one-stop repository for productivity tools (Google, Evernote); entertainment tools (Pandora radio, Flixster), job aids (the first-aid reference Pocket Aid: even when out of phone range the reference material still works); and fun and games including real-time handheld Scrabble with friends anywhere in the world. Also excellent for settling barroom arguments, not that I’d know.

2. Google Reader: Pops up on my IGoogle home page with everything I want to follow, with minimal clutter and fuss.

3. PowerPoint: Still the best, least expensive, and most user-familiar “authoring tool” available. Good e-learning is about design, not software.

4. SnagIt: My single most-used application, ahead even of Word and PowerPoint. Very inexpensive., and version 9 is very robust, with excellent editing capabilities. From Techsmith.

5. Fireworks. I still say this beats Photoshop hands-down for creating graphics for the web and editing photos.

6. Quia: Inexpensive one-stop site for unlimited-use quizzes, Flash games, evaluations. Statistical feedback on quizzes rivals that provided by many much-pricier LMSs.

7. YouTube. The woefully misused “comment feature” is excellent for generating learner response and interaction with video/instructor. See, for instance, What Tonya TKO did.

8. Skype. I have lots of colleagues in the UK and Australia; this lets me talk to them via text or VOIP for free. For about US .17/minute I can also call most landlines worldwide from anywhere in the world without racking up extra charges on my cell plan. Can’t beat that.

9. Twitter. Any hour, day or night, there are dozens of people on Twitter who want to talk about things I didn’t know I wanted to talk about. And all in 140 characters or less. For those who believe it’s just self-centered updates, see some of the social learning experiments going on. “SLQOTD”, for instance, asks one social learning question of the day, to which anyone can respond. As of this writing: Day 80+ and counting.

10. WizIQ: FREE virtual classroom tool with good VOIP, some features to rival the big vendors (some of the big boys don’t yet offer the object-oriented whiteboard that WizIQ has had from Day 1).

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 8 March 2008

1. iGoogle. Create your own dashboard (mine includes weather, GoogleReader, and the best-thing-ever sticky note application). Show learners how to build their own dashboards for career development or job searching. Then Google yourself silly.

2. PowerPoint: This may be the only authoring tool you’ll ever need. PowerPoint can be so much more than a presentation tool for those willing to exercise some creativity: try it for building interactive quizzes and simulations. Intuitive and familiar. Great e-learning is about design, not software.

3. PowerConverter from PresentationPro I have been using PowerConverter for years with no problems, complaints or failures. Just a few clicks will convert narrated, animated PowerPoint programs to a smaller Flash file. Great for e-learning applications, less expensive than similar products, and it’s easy to control—unlike some other products, the PowerConverter lets you easily override its navigation buttons and slide counter.

4. SnagIt: This is the single most-used tool I own. Intuitive, quick, and versatile. My organization recently had something of a crisis  involving the implementation a new piece of software, and I was able to create, narrate,  and launch a video tutorial in under an hour with SnagIt. (You know it  does video, don’t you?) Problem solved; you can’t ask more from a tool.

5. Quia, developed for school teachers but easily adaptable by everyone else, provides easy drop-down menus for creating interactive flash games, online quizzes and tests, class home pages, and more. One administrator subscription is less than $100 US per year with unlimited users. The reporting features on the quizzes are comparable to those provided by much more expensive Learning Management Systems (LMS). Quia is an excellent all-around product and another I’ve been using for years with no complaint, technical failures, or other problems.

6. Elluminate: The best of the virtual classroom products: highly reliable, good quality VOIP, good support, dependable breakout rooms, and an object-oriented whiteboard, Now being challenged by a new FREE tool called WizIQ.

7. Blogger: While everyone seems to get the blog thing now, few are leveraging the technology for what, at its root, it really is: a very quick web page creator. It can be a place to list assignments, a site for student interaction and discussion, and even a location for structuring and hosting an entire course. Google “23 Things” to see a blog-for-training at its best.

8. Skype: instant messaging that does what email was supposed to do: provide an efficient, quick means of communicating. Chat is free and searchable; international phone calling option is very inexpensive. I have many international contacts and this enables me to keep in “human touch” easily. Skype has so much functionality that there’s a “Skype for Dummies” book out now.

9. Yahoo groups — I don’t understand why more courses aren’t hosted on sites like this. Online groups offer free, robust do-it-yourself websites that provide e-mail-based message boards, file and photo storage, polling (aka quizzing),and simple database features.

10. Pipebytes . This file transfer tool is better than most: it allows the recipient to start downloading while sender is still uploading. Great for those of us who send lots of image-heavy handouts and other large files.

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 27 July 2007

1. Google Search, Google Maps, Google Books, Google Gadgets Google yourself silly.

2. PowerPoint - Great for creating so much more than “presentations”, like interactive quizzes and simulations with branching decisionmaking. Short learning curve and ‘free’ in the sense that most of us already have it. May be the only authoring tool you’ll ever need: remember, good training is about design, not software.

3. PowerConverter from PresentationPro - easily, couple-of-clicks action converts narrated, animated PowerPoint programs to a smaller Flash file. Great for e-learning applications and end products will run on virtually any user machine.

4. SnagIt - this screen capture tool is an excellent value.  Capture and edit regions or whole screens, and even create simple short narrated videos of desktop activities.

5. Quia - Easy drop-down menus let you create interactive flash games, online quizzes and tests, class home pages, more. One administrator subscription is less than $100 US per year with unlimited users. Reporting features on quizzing comparable to that for much  more expensive Learning Management System (LMS). An excellent all-around product.

6. Gabcast - free tool lets you phone in audio posts to your blog, provides podcasting and rss services, more.

7. 10 minute email - need to provide/verify an email address for  a product registration or request for information, but don’t want to give out your own address? 10minutemail.com provides you with exactly that: an email address and inbox that self-destructs in 10 minutes.

8. Skype - instant messaging that does what email was supposed to do: provide an efficient, quick means of communicating.  Chat is free; international phone calling option is very inexpensive.

9. Yahoo Groups - free, robust do-it-yourself websites that provide e-mail-based message boards, file and photo storage, polling (aka quizzing),and simple database features.  Can be repurposed for hosting an e-learning course or replicating an LMS to host a whole catalog. (See Jane's website for examples.)

10. GetACoder lists projects and accompanying bids; not only is this a good source for contacts, it's also a good way to get a feel for what particular work should cost