Top Free Tools for Learning

The Top Free Tools for Learning Jane Hart Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies www.C4LPT.co.uk

What is “free”
Freeware
offered free of charge.
might have an End User Licence
each license will be particular to the software, but generally you can't re-sell it although you might be able to redistribute it.
Open source
tightens up sometimes loose freeware arrangements.
made available as source code under a copyright license which allows users to copy, use and modify it provided that you agree to provide the source to others.
a number of open source licences, e.g. the GNU Public License.
Liteware
free version of commercial software.
often doesn’t offer full functionality, or will display ads, or will only support a small number of users or pieces of content.
Trialware
free software that expires within a period of time or watermarks the content until the full software is purchased.

Availability
Download
Install on personal computers or servers
Online
Web-based tools or services

Top Tools for Learning
“What are your 10 favourite tools for your personal learning/working or for creating learning for others?”

Results
109 respondents from academic and corporate training worlds
Over 400 tools mentioned
100 tools mentioned 3 or more times
50 mentioned twice
Not all “dedicated” learning tools – many are multi-purpose tools
Over 75% of tools are FREE

Top 100 Tools
Personal Tools tools for managing your own learning
Producer Tools tools for creating and delivering informational, instructional, collaborative and performance support solutions

Personal Tools
Free tools for managing your own learning

1
“ window into the Web”
“ ease of use”, “functionality”
“ hundreds of add-ons”, e.g. Zotero, ScribeFire, FireBug
Firefox 3 very soon!

online social bookmarking tool
“ store, tag and share bookmarks”
“ search for and find bookmarks”
“ find out about new things”
2

instant messaging tool to download
“ VoIP and low-cost calls to landlines”
“ useful for collaboration”
“ third-party add-ons extend its functionality”
3=

invaluable search engine
“ Googling” is essential
“ ultimate e-learning tool”
for some “represents the whole Google brand”
3=

most popular e-mail tool
web-based (although now IMAP)
“search”, “tagging”, “threaded conversations”
“large amount of storage space”
7=

open source cross-platform email client
from Mozilla (as Firefox)
“ stable”, “easy to use”, “easy on memory”, “reads RSS”
“ growing range of add-ons”
22=

7=
web-based RSS/feed reader
“ to read blog postings and other news”
“ to learn from others”

web-based start page tool
“ to aggregate all the Google resources on your desktop” – gMail, Google Calendar and productivity apps
“ personalised desktop”
17=

Producer Tools
Free tools for creating and delivering informational, instructional, collaborative and performance support solutions

web-based document creation
“ create, store and share documents and spreadsheets “(now also presentations)
“ work on your own or collaboratively”
publicly or privately viewable on the web
import docs from MS Word or OpenOffice
14

Open source office suite to download
Documents, spreadsheets, presentations
Convert materials to PDF, and presentations to SWF
26=

popular hosted blogging tool (1m+ blogs)
easy to use, attractive themes, useful widgets, stats reporting
“ for personal and professional blogging and networking”, “helping others learn via blog”
6

online wiki tool
for “collaborative working and learning”
for “collaborative documentation”
for “brainstorming”, “formal class websites”, “discussions”, etc
15

online tool for hosting and sharing presentations (public or private)
created in PPT, OO or Keynote
link or embed
synchronise with MP3 file for slidecasting
for screencasting too
26=

upload and share videos (public or private)
public videos = useful resource
link to or embed videos (web and blog pages and PPT)
for company & product briefings, screencasting, etc
22=

cross-platform open source sound editor and recorder to download
“ easy to record and edit”
“ for recording audio files and podcasts”
11

instant real-time desktop sharing
“ virtual meetings and web conferencing “
“ whiteboard, annotate and share files”
invite up to 10 people for free
Skype plug-in now available
liteware
72=

tool to create and customise your own social network / community
for “sharing information”, “discussion”, “blogging”, etc
26= Ning

open source course management system
to download and install on server
provides sophisticated functionality of an educational CMS and more
easy to use
12=

open source authoring tool to develop web pages for e-learning
aimed at teachers at academics
can export as web pages (for a webserver) or SCORM compliant content (for a CMS)
72=

course authoring tool + course templates
WYSIWYG environment – PowerPoint-like interface
courses can include narration
can be published to web, LMS or CD
101=

PDF Top 150 Tools – by popularity Top 150 Tools - by category Top 150 Tools alphabetically (cost, availability, platform)

Top Tools 2008

www.C4LPT.co.uk

http://www.c4lpt.co.uk	127
http://c4lpt.co.uk	72
http://janeknight.typepad.com	21
http://www.weebly.com	6
http://www.slideshare.net	5
http://www.shortcourseunit.com	2
http://192.168.10.100	1
http://bb.coursenligne.net	1
http://mausekolah.weebly.com	1
http://72.14.203.104	1
http://legeducacional.com.br	1
http://www.sbconsulting.kr	1
http://bupphachart.wordpress.com	1
http://79.170.40.33	1
https://wiki.courtnexus.com	1
http://www.techgig.com	1

Top Free Tools for Learning

by Jane Hart on Nov 24, 2007

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Top Free Tools for Learning — Presentation Transcript