TOP 10 TOOLS 2007, 2008 & 2009
Jane Hart

Jane is a Social Media and Learning Adviser offering consultancy services to businesses and education. She is the founder of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.  More about Jane here.

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 21 February 2009

1. Google Reader - This is the tool I can't do with it.  Here I aggregate and manage all the RSS feeds I read. 
2. Typepad - This is still my blogging tool of choice for my blog Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day, although I have used Wordpress and Blogger for other blogging projects.
3. Twitter - This has become another important tool for me over the last 6 months.  I read all the tweets of the people I follow in the Firefox add-in, Twitterfox, and I use Twitterfeed to send my own RSS feeds into my Twitter accounts.
4. Delicious - Here I store all the news and resources I find.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed if you wish, but I also send the bookmarks down to my Twitter account: c4lpt
5. Slideshare - Using Slideshare to store my own presentations, has meant they've had much more exposure than just hosting them at my own website.
6. Google Docs - I have been using Google Docs more and more for lots of client projects recently, and finding Google Forms, particularly indispensable.
7. Google Sites - This is very useful for quickly setting up a website for individuals or groups
8. Elgg - It is Elgg that has become the key tool for me in the last few months.  I have used it to set up C4LPT.Net (a Social Learning Network for professionals), as well as for a number of clients, and I am now offering Elgg consultancy services too.
9. Dimdim - I'm using this more and more for large meetings; being open source is particularly important.
10. Snagit - This is a clever little tool that makes screen capturing very easy

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 5 July 2008

1. Google Reader: Reading RSS feeds is probably THE most important activity for me to keep me up to date what's going on in the learning technology world, and to ensure I am able to come up with a new e-learning pick of the day, every day.  I scan hundreds of feeds every day, and I've now finally moved them over to Google Reader from Bloglines.

2. Ning: Ning has become a very important tool for me as I've now created and manage two big communities, the 25 Tools community and Workplace Learning 2.0. 

3. TypePad: I continue to use Typepad to maintain my 2 blogs.  Although I have used both Blogger and WordPress, it still offers me the most functionality.

4. Moodle: I have a Moodle installation, and I use it to store a variety of secure materials and content including the different learning resources I have  produced (e.g. An Introduction to E-Learning, 25 Tools, Engaging with Social Media).  It's an easy way to add an authentication system to a site.

5. I still couldn't do without Skype, and use it frequently to communicate with colleagues, clients, friends and family all round the world. 

6. SnagIt still remains an important tool for me, for capturing screenshots or parts of screens.

7. I've also found Twitter a new way of disseminating content in my blog, use Tweetfeed

8. Google Search and Wikipedia are also indispensable tools for me too ...

10. ... as is iGoogle for aggregating it all on my desktop - a one-stop shop for all my activities.

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 1 January 2008

1. Bloglines continues to be an important tool for me to keep up to date with what is happening in the e-learning world.  It is open on my desk all day so I can see the news as it happens!

2. I have been creating some more tutorials with CourseLab recently, this time using the latest version.  Although I have struggled with it a little - there's a lot of functionality in it but it's not always that intuitive - I still think it is a high-performing tool and it's free.

3. I didn't mention Google Search in my list last year; I guess I just took it for granted.  But I now realise that it is one tool that I just couldn't do without it.  When I want to find out about something it always starts with a search on Google.

4. Now that FrontPage has been discontinued, I have been looking around for another web authoring tool and the free tool, Nvu, really has been impressing me

5. I still couldn't do without Skype, and use it frequently to communicate with  colleagues, clients, friends and family all round the world.  I have also been using it recently to provide live learning support for students of e-learning.

6. Although I have had OpenOffice installed on my  computer for some time, I have tended to continue to use Word and PowerPoint, but I have been using it more and more later as I really like some of the additional functionality it offers me.  For instance it is so easy to create PDFs from within it, and convert presentations to Flash.

7. I still couldn't do without Skype, and use it frequently to communicate with  colleagues, clients, friends and family all round the world.  I have also been using it recently to provide live learning support for students of e-learning.

8. I've been making more use of Slideshare recently - both as a consumer and as a publisher.  It really is an easy way to make presentations available to others online.  

9. In the past, I used  to capture screenshots, copy them into my imaging tool and mess around with them there.  But inspired by the high ranking of SnagIt on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2007 list, I tried out the free version.  SnagIt makes the whole process so much easier - I'm hooked.

10. To maintain my 2 blogs I continue to use TypePad.  I have tried other (free) tools but I still prefer TypePad.  Anyway, changing blogging tools means the RSS feed breaks, and until someone comes up with a way to re-direct feeds, shall stick with TypePad.

11. I have been helping a client produce some screencasts recently.  We trialled a number of products first to see which suited them best  One of the ones I really like is Wink, which is a great little free tool.  I shall be using more of it

Jane's Top 10 Tools as at 6 July 2007

1. I use Bloglines to aggregate and read the hundreds of different blogs and news feeds that I go through every day to keep up with what is happening in the learning technologies world.  I have the notifier running on my desktop so I can easily see when and how many new postings have arrived.  I find it indispensable in my work.

2. Recently I have been producing some short self-paced online tutorials, and have found CourseLab, a fairly new free authoring tool, very good for this. It has lots of great features and the output is very professional. It compares very well with some of the high-end commercial tools.

3. I use FeedBlitz to offer my blog readers the option to read my blog feed by email, rather than via RSS.  Feedblitz effectively converts my RSS feed into emails for all those subscribers who haven't ventured into the world of RSS yet.

4. I use MIcrosoft Frontpage to maintain the Centre's website.  I have used it for many years working up through all the versions from 98 to 2003.  Unfortunately it is no longer available and has been replaced by Expression Web and SharePoint Designer, neither of which I have tried.  But I will stick with FrontPage for the meantime.

5. For working collaboratively with colleagues, I set up wikis.  PB Wiki is great for this, especially as it is free, and I can quickly set up a space for any project I want.  PB Wiki has recently released some new features including a shared calendar and  spreadsheets.

6. Polldaddy is a great free tool, and I have been using it to create, host and manage all the tools polls that I am running at the website.

7. There are now lots of tools on the market to create narrated presentations from within PowerPoint and convert them to Flash.  PointeCast Publisher is one that I have been using for a number of years to convert online presentations and tutorials that require a voiceover into professional looking materials within an easy-to-use interface.

8. If I need to hold a small web meeting I use Powwownow.  It's so easy to set up a conference and give a presentation to 5 people.  I can even share my desktop with 2 other people.

9. I just couldn't do without Skype now.  I use it to contact colleagues, clients, friends and family - and although it isn't the only instant messaging tool that I use (some of my contacts are only available on MSN), it is the one I like best.

10. To maintain my blog [Jane's E-Learning Pick of the Day], I use TypePad, which is a commercial tool but it gives me some extra functionality not available in most of the free tools.  I particularly like the option to schedule postings, which means I can write them in advance and they are posted automatically for me at a time I want.