Steve Rayson is a
Director of the e-learning consultancy,
kineo
based in Brighton in the UK.
Steve's
Top 10 Tools as at
16 September 2008
Sugar CRM
- An open source customer relationship management system
that does everything you need. Manage contacts, campaigns,
opportunities and newsletters. We use this at Kineo to
manage our client contacts and sales opportunities.
RSS feeds - I think
this is simply one of the simplest and best technologies
around. The first real push technology which delivers what I
want.
iGoogle- I love my Google home page. I have set
it up with a range pages of RSS feeds to keep me up to speed
with what is happening in the market.
Skype - Skype is
still the best when it comes to communication. I
increasingly use it at work to chat to colleagues and
clients, share files and have conference calls.
Moodle - Moodle
goes from strength to strength. Over a quarter of small and
medium sized businesses now use Moodle. It is an open source
product which has come of age. It is easy to use, has masses
of functionality and is very robust. Simply the best virtual
learning environment and no licence fees!
Articulate -
This simple tool makes it very easy to create engaging
elearning quickly and cost-effectively. Engage was a great
addition, making it very easy for anyone to create flash
animations and include these in their elearning. Quizmaker
is also a good quiz tool though hopefully we will see better
integration with Articulate Presenter in the next releases.
Joomla - One of the
best open source content management systems for building
websites. Our own sites such
www.kineoopensource.com are built with Joomla.
Chrome - The latest from Google and already my favourite
browser. Simple, clean and easy to use. The Apple Mac of
browsers.
Surveymonkey
- A powerful yet simple to use online survey tool. You can
customise, share results and password protect your surveys.
Facebook - I was
reluctant to add this one but this is where I keep up with
what my kids are doing. I am amazed at the number of times
they get tagged in picture albums. Their whole adolescent
history is being documented in photographs on Facebook. Not
that they always want me to see.
Steve's
Top 10 Tools as at
11 January 2008
iGoogle
-
This is still my
number one tool.
My RSS
feeds are set up
using iGoogle – my
Google home page.
However, you can use
any number of
readers. I love the
fact I can set up
RSS feeds for news
and issues I want to
track.
Articulate -
A great tool for
creating engaging elearning quickly and
cost-effectively. See the free rapid elearning
course created by Clive Shepherd at
60 minute masters to see what is
possible.
Server based authoring
tools. I have been very impressed with the potential
of server based authoring tools and the use of
online commenting for reviews. Two of the best I
have used are
Atlantic Link and
Mohive.
Skype-
Paying for your
telephone calls is so last century. Internet telephony is
changing the way people work and communicate. We use it to
conference call for free. The quality has declined a little
recently but I suspect this is due to its overwhelming
popularity and usage
FreeMind-
Still on the free tools. I
love this free mind mapping software. Easy to use
and a great way of managing and recording meetings
live.
Moodle-
Moodle just gets better and
better. Never had installing your own LMS been easier. It
is so easy to use, has masses of functionality and is very
robust. Simply the best virtual learning environment and no
licence fees! No wonder over 24% of small and medium sized
US corporates use Moodle
Audacity-
Audio is a
versatile option for an elearning. With the free Audacity
tool it is easy to produce, edit and publish audio as an MP3
or other file formats.
Flash-
Not easy to get to
grips with but a great tool for creating interactive and
engaging learning. Increasingly you can find base code for
the animations you want and build a library of reusable code
to make things much faster. Developments with xml and better
accessibility means Flash will increasingly be a tool of
choice for more many creative elearning developers.
Captivate-
A tool which
simply does what is says on the tin. An easy to use screen
capture tool which can be used for a wide range of
e-learning. Probably the most used tool in this area I
suspect
Photoshop-
Along with Flash this is
my creative space as I don't do music. Photoshop
maybe a bit unwieldy but it is great for playing
with images and optimising for the web. If you can't
afford this you can always get
GIMP which is free.
Steve's
Top 10 Tools as at
12 July 2007
RSS/iGoogle
-
Keeping pace with
information is a
major challenge so
my first choice is a
technology that
drives what I look
at every day when I
open my browser –
RSS feeds. My RSS
feeds are set up
using iGoogle – my
Google home page but
you can use any
number of readers. I
love the fact I can
set up RSS feeds for
news and issues I
want to track.
Skype-
This is a great free tool.
Internet telephony is changing the way people work
and communicate. We use it to conference call for
free. Even my dad has just got Skype and keeps in
touch wherever I am. Though I have deliberately
avoided getting a video camera. Though you should
never call a mobile you can call landlines across
the rest of the world for months for £10.
FreeMind-
Still on the free tools. I
love this free mind mapping software. Easy to use
and a great way of managing and recording meetings
live.
Moodle
-
I am not
sure if this counts as a
tool but Clive included
it! Moodle will change
the face of the
elearning industry in my
view. It is an open
source product which has
come of age. It is easy
to use, has masses of
functionality and is
very robust. Simply the
best virtual learning
environment and no
licence fees!
Audacity-
Audio is a versatile
option for an elearning. With the free Audacity tool
it is easy to produce, edit and publish audio as an
MP3 or other file formats.
Flash
-
Not easy to get to grips
with but a great tool for creating interactive and
engaging learning. Increasingly you can find base
code for the animations you want and build a library
of reusable code to make things much faster.
Developments with xml and better accessibility means
Flash will increasingly be a tool of choice for more
many creative elearning developers.
Articulate-
This great tool also uses
flash but makes it very easy to create engaging
elearning quickly and cost-effectively. Engage was a
great addition, making it very easy for anyone to
create flash animations and include these in their elearning. Quizmaker is also a good quiz tool though
hopefully we will see better integration with
Articulate Presenter in the next releases.
Captivate-
A tool which simply does
what is says on the tin. An easy to use screen capture tool
which can be used for a wide range of e-learning. Probably
the most used tool in this area I suspect
Photoshop-
Along with Flash this is
my creative space as I don't do music. Photoshop
maybe a bit unwieldy but it is great for playing
with images and optimising for the web. If you can't
afford this you can always get
GIMP
which is free.
Yugma-
Collaboration is coming of
age on the web and Yugma through its free online
conferencing service is a useful way of exploring
these developments. Up to 10 users are free,
including desktop sharing, annotation tools and
whiteboarding. If you don’t want the ads you can pay
$90 a year.
What are your
Top 10 tools - for
your own personal working and learning
and/or
creating, delivering or supporting others' learning?
Let us know
