Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009
Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! I hope that you all enjoyed restful and happy Thanksgiving holidays.
I wanted to share the 2009 List of the Top 100 Tools for Learning. This list, compiled by the Center for Learning & Performance Technologies, describes the top technology teaching tools of the year. You can learn more about the Center and the Tools list on founder Jane Hart’s blog.
The top 10 tools for 2009 are:
- Delicious
- YouTube
- Google Reader
- Google Docs
- WordPress
- Slideshare
- Google Search
- Audacity
- Firefox (tied for 9th with Audacity)
You can view the list of tools by category here. So, what are your thoughts on the best technology-based teaching tools of 2009?
Happy Monday,
Amy (Dr. C)
Facebook ideas for instructors
Happy Monday to all! Can you believe that it is Thanksgiving week?! I hope that you all enjoy a happy, restful, and turkey-filled Thanksgiving! 
Instructors ask me fairly often how they can use Facebook, or if they should use Facebook, or why shouldn’t they use Facebook, or…you get the idea.
I want to share a blog post that I read this morning. The title of the post is “100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook” and you can access the blog post here. Not all of the ideas listed will be applicable to you, but you might find one or two that you like. The authors also posted some great tips (toward the bottom of the post) to help you to be professional in your approach to Facebook (and to protect yourself).
My personal favorites on the list are:
#6 – Create your own news source
#11 – Bring literature (or any subject) to life
#16 – Post class notes
What ideas do you have about using Facebook? How have you been using Facebook?
Warm regards,
Amy (Dr. C)
Hacking it and other ideas…
Happy Tuesday to all!
I wanted to post a quick blog entry about a few new instructional resources I found. I hope that one or some of these resources will have value to you as well. Feel free to reply to this post with questions about these resources or with any of your own resources to share.
First off, ProfHacker.
ProfHacker is a blog written for higher education professionals, mostly targeting professors. You’ll find that they talk a lot about productivity and GTD (Getting Things Done), but you will also find helpful teaching tips, classroom ideas, new technologies, and advice. I am particularly fond of Natalie Houston’s Syllabus: Extreme Makeover post and Julie Meloni’s Getting Started With Google Docs in the Classroom post. By the way, did you know that the CETL has a Lunch & Learn on Google Docs? Check it out.
Anyway, I highly recommend that you check out the ProfHacker blog.
Next up, Prezi…
Do you ever get sick of trying to use PowerPoint to convey information? Do you think your students ever get sick of PowerPoint? Prezi is a web-based presentation tool that can help you to re-think your presentations. Prezi lets you map out the key ideas of your presentation and present them in a logical and conceptual way, rather than a hierarchical manner. Check out some examples (Amy’s tip: stick to the Educational examples) and then check out Ethan Watrall’s blog post on ProfHacker about Prezi.
Finally, let’s move on to another tool I like and…surprise, surprise…it’s a wiki tool. As you probably know by now, I am a wiki fanatic. I think that wikis are fantastic instructional tools when used correctly (of course).
One of the keys to using wikis correctly is finding the right wiki for what you want to accomplish. Well, I thought I had found the perfect wiki tool in Wetpaint. In fact, I’ve been teaching Texas Wesleyan folks about Wetpaint for close to a year now. And it’s still a great tool…but Wetpaint recently took away the free no-ad wikis for educational institutions. Now, instructors either have to arm-wrestle intrusive ads or pay $19.95 a month to remove the ads. So, I say “boo” to Wetpaint and I have been looking at other solutions.
Lucky for all of us, there is a great tool called WikiMatrix that allows users to compare wiki services. Just click on their Wiki Choice Wizard, tell WikiMatrix what you want in a wiki, and they will show you wikis that meet your needs. Win!
Oh, and when you’re ready to start your wiki, give me a call and I can provide any guidance you want.
So I hope that you find one or all of these tools useful. I will have more to post soon.
Make this a great week,
Amy (Dr. C)
