Search Results for: top tools

I continue to be a fan of Jane Hart‘s work, and her annual survey of Top 10 Learning Tools is only one of the reasons (another being her co-conspirator, along with Harold Jarche & Charles Jennings in the Internet Time Alliance). As a consequence, it’s time for my annual list, this time the Top 10 Learning Tools for 2022.

To be fair, my list could be reproduced from last year’s. However, a couple of tools have become more prevalent, and one’s slipped back, so…  I’ll rearrange my list for this year, given that I’m not writing a book right now, with an expectation that it may swing back.

Text

Writing is a primary way for me to think through things, and that’s not changing. I could say email, but that’s not where I put my most cogent thoughts.

1. WordPress. My blogging tool, is a major part of my learning process. In meeting my commitment of at least a post a week, I’m motivating myself to continue to explore new topics.

2. Google Docs. In collaborating with folks on a suite of things we’re working on, we’re learning together. We’re using a few other tools as well, one in particular, but it doesn’t allow simultaneous editing. Sorry, allowing people to work at the same time is the future.

Visuals

Tapping into our spatial processing capabilities ends up being important for me, both to personally understand things as well as communicate.

3. OmniGraffle. While I seem to have not used it as often, it’s still a major way I experiment with syntheses of ideas. Dear, and with much more capability than I need, but I haven’t found a reasonable alternative. Diagramming, mapping conceptual relationships to spatial, is a powerful way for me to make sense of things.

4. OmniOutliner. I don’t use all the features, and it’s dear, but again, haven’t found another outliner with the one key addition I need, columns. Spreadsheets don’t support outlining, as far as I’ve seen. And this is visual in that the representation of the structure is critical for me.

5. Keynote. Creating presentations is another way to think about how to share. The need to link elements together into a bigger picture is an important element of learning, to me.

Social

Interacting with others is a big part of learning, for me (despite my introversion).

6. Twitter. Following folks on twitter, even occasionally interacting with them, is a way to keep track of what’s happening, and what’s interesting.

7. LinkedIn. The posts I see on LinkedIn are often of interest, and occasionally people point me to things that are worthy of my attention (in one way or another!).

8. Discord. This one is new to me, and it’s still early on in my experience, but I’m finding it an interesting way to interact with colleagues.

9. Zoom. Like everyone else, I’m on a fair amount of Zoom calls (still my preferred environment for videoconferencing), fortunately not enough to experience fatigue yet ;).

Search

Search is a great part of my learning, looking up anything I hear about and don’t know.

10. Duck Duck Go. Duck has become my preferred search engine, because it’s claim to not track is comforting to me. I don’t use their browser, but I find their hits to be pretty spot-on.

So there, that’s my Top 10 Learning Tools for 2022. I encourage you to find a way to add yours to Jane’s list. It’s always interesting to see what emerges from the aggregate responses.

As always, I like to participate in my Internet Time Alliance colleague Jane Hart’s Top 10 Tools for Learning survey. However, in reviewing last year’s list, things haven’t changed much. Still, it’s worth getting out there. So there’re my selections for 2021  top 10 tools for learning.

One of the major things I do is write: book, blog posts, articles, and more. So the first two tools I use are for writing:

1. Word. Yes, not totally pleased about the provider, but I have yet to find a tool with better industrial strength outlining. And, well, I’ve been using it since around 1989, so…there’s some familiarity…

2. WordPress. Of course, that’s how I’m writing here. I also use it for writing for the HPT Treasures blog (I post once a month, third Friday. Also I can occasionally use it for managing other sites (e.g. IBSTPI).

Another way I get my mind around new understandings is by representing information structure. So:

3. OmniGraffle. While this is Apple only, and dear, it so far is the best tool I’ve found to make diagrams. It’s got more capability than I need, but it also works the way I think, so…all told it’s still the winner.

4. OmniOutliner. Outlining is another way I think. While for writing it can be in Word, for other things: checklists, presentations, etc, it helps to have a dedicated tool. Again, Apple only, dear, and overkill, but their cheaper version doesn’t include columns, and that can be helpful!

I also do a fair bit of presentations: keynotes, webinars, and more. While I’m often forced to end up using Powerpoint…

5. Keynote. My native presentation tool.  (yes, I’m an Apple person, what can I say?). It’s just cleaner for me than alternatives.

From there, we get to social tools:

6. Twitter has been a long-standing tool. Tracking other folks, participating in dialogs, and even asking questions, Twitter’s an ongoing contributor to my learning.

7. LinkedIn is where I professionally socialize, and it’s becoming more prominent in my interactions. People reach out to me there, and I also track some folks, and there are occasionally interesting discussions.

8. Zoom has, well, zoomed up to the top of my interaction tool suite.  I’ve used it for chats, meetings, and webinars.

Then, of course, there’s searching for answers.

9. DuckDuckGo. I’ve switched to use this as my search engine, as it’s less-tracking, and provides good results.

10. Safari is still my browser of choice. I’ve experimented with Brave, but it hadn’t synched bookmarks across my devices. Now it does, but it’s hard to switch again.

So that’s my 2021 top 10 learning tools list. (Not really in any order, but I’ve numbered anyway. ;) It’s a personal list, since I’m not formally in education nor part of a workplace. I’ve been using Teams  more, but I still find it has silly limitations, so my preference is Slack.

 

 

Every year of late, Jane Hart has polled about people’s top 10 learning tools. From this, she creates a list of the top 100 learning tools. It’s a fun and valuable exercise, so as usual I’ll weigh in with mine (in no particular order).  Looking at last year’s post, I see I’ve switched from Google to DuckDuckGo (privacy issues), and from Skype to Zoom (functionality).  And I mention email over Slack, the former of which I may not always mention but use, versus Slack which has kind of slowed down for me.

1. DuckDuckGo: a search engine is my first recourse when I have questions. And not liking the tracking, I’ve switched and made DDG my default.
2. Twitter: drinking from the fire hose that is twitter is one way I see what other people are talking about.  And share what I discover.
3. Mail: I still use email (yeah, I know).  I talk to people that way, and respond to requests, but also get questions answered and pointers to things.  (I’m bad about using the phone, mea culpa.)
4. GoodReader: I use GoodReader on my iPad to read longish PDFs, white papers, and things. Also to read and mark up the journal or conference submissions I review. Or for requests for colleagues.
5. MS Word: writing is one of the first ways I make sense of the world. Articles, columns, books.  And they all get written in Word. I wouldn’t mind disentangling myself, but it’s pretty much a lingua franca  and has industrial-strength outlining, which I rely on for longer writing.
6. WordPress (e.g. this blog): is the other way I write and make sense of the world. It gets autoposted to LinkedIn and Facebook (at least, notifications), so comments there or here are a way for me to learn.
7. Keynote is the presentation tool I use, and I create the stories I present at conferences in Keynote.
8. OmniOutliner: another tool I use to be organized is OmniOutliner. Outlines are great ways for me to think in, or even just related columns. I can’t see how to do the outline function as well in something like a spreadsheet, or I would, because the columns in OO are, well, very expensive to upgrade.
9. Omnigraffle: another way I make sense is to diagram. And…while I’m a bit grumbly at their support right now, OmniGraffle is still my ‘go to’ tool for this. I don’t need all the power, and it’s expensive, but I haven’t found a replacement yet that works as intuitively.
10.  Zoom: I’ve pretty much switched to Zoom over Skype, so talking to my ITA colleagues,  or having video chats with folks is most often through Zoom these days.

Please do share your list, too!

Jane Hart is running her annual Top 100 Tools for Learning poll  (you can vote too), and here’s my contribution for this year.  These  are my personal learning tools, and are ordered  according to Harold Jarche’s Seek-Sense-Share models, as ways to find answers, to process them, and to share for feedback:

1. Google Search is my go-to tool when I come across something I haven’t heard of. I typically will choose the Wikipedia link if there is one, but also will typically open several other links and peruse across them to generate a broader perspective.
2. I use GoodReader on my iPad to read PDFs and mark up journal submissions.  It’s handy for reading when I travel.
3. Twitter  is one of several ways I keep track of what people are thinking about and looking at. I need to trim my list again, as it’s gotten pretty long, but I keep reminding myself it’s drinking from the firehose, not full consumption!  Of course, I share things there too.
4. LinkedIn is another tool I use to see what’s happening (and occasionally engage in). I have a group for the Revolution,  which largely is me posting things but I do try to stir up conversations.  I also see and occasionally comment on posting by others.
5. Skype  let’s me  stay in touch with my ITA colleagues, hence it’s definitely a learning tool. I also use it occasionally to have conversations with folks.
6. Slack is another tool I use with some groups  to stay in touch. People share there, which makes it useful.
7. OmniGraffle is my diagramming tool, and diagramming is a way I play with representing my understandings. I will put down some concepts in shapes, connect them, and tweak until I think I’ve captured what I believe. I also use it to mindmap keynotes.
8. Word is a tool I use to play with words as another way to explore my thinking. I use outlines heavily and I haven’t found a better way to switch between outlines and prose. This is where things like articles, chapters, and books come from. At least until I find a better tool (haven’t really got my mind around Scrivener’s organization, though I’ve tried).
9. WordPress is my blogging tool (what I’m using here),  and serves both as a thinking tool (if I write it out, it forces me to process it), but it’s also a share tool (obviously).
10. Keynote is my presentation tool. It’s where I’ll noodle out ways to share my thinking. My presentations  may get rendered to Powerpoint eventually out of necessity, but it’s my creation and preferred presentation tool.

Those are my tools, now what are yours?  Use the link to let Jane know, her collection and analysis of the tools is always interesting.

It’s that time again: Jane Hart is running her 2016 (and 10th!) Top 100 Tools for Learning poll. It’s a valuable service, and points out some interesting things and it’s interesting to see the changes over time.  It’s also a way to see what others are using and maybe find some new ideas.  She’s now asking that you categorize them as Education, Training & Performance Support, and/or Personal Learning & Productivity.  All  of mine fall in the latter category, because my performance support tools are productivity tools!  So here’re my votes, FWIW:

Google Search is, of course, still my top tool. I’m looking up things several if not many times a day. It’s often a gateway to Wikipedia, which I heavily rely on, but a number of times I find other sources that are equally valuable, such as research or practice sites that have some quality inputs.

Books are still a major way I learn. Yes, I check out books from the library and read them.  I also acquire and read them on my iPad, such as Jane’s great  Modern Workplace Learning.  In my queue is Jane Bozarth’s  Show Your Work.  

Twitter is a  go-to. I am pointed to many serendipitously interesting things, and of course I point to things as well. The learning chats I participate in are another way twitter helps.  Tweetdeck is my twitter tool; columns are a must.

Skype  is a tool I use for communicating with folks to get things done, but also to have conversations (e.g. with my ITA colleagues), whether chat or voice.

Facebook  is also a way I stay in touch with friends and colleagues (those colleagues that I also consider friends; Facebook is more a personal learning tool than  a business tool for me).

LinkedIn  is a way to stay in touch with people, and in particular the  L&D Revolution group is where I want to keep the dialog alive about the opportunity. The articles in LinkedIn  are occasionally of interest too, and it’s always an education to see who wants to link ;).

WordPress is my blogging tool (where you’re at right now), and it’s a way I think ‘out loud’ and the feedback I get is a wonderful way to learn.  Things that eventually appear in presentations and writing typically appear here first, and some of the work I do for others manifests here (typically anonymized).

Word  is my go-to writing tool, and while I use Pages at times too (e.g. if I’m traveling with my iPad), Word is my industrial strength tool.  Writing forces me to get concrete about my thinking.

Omnigraffle  is as always  my diagramming tool, and it’s definitely a way I express and refine my thinking.  Obviously, you’ll see my diagrams here, but also in presentations and articles/chapters/books. And, of course, my mindmaps.

Keynote  is my presentation creating tool. I sometimes  have to export to PowerPoint, but Keynote is where I work natively.  It helps me turn my ideas from diagrams and/or writing into a story to tell with visual support.

So those are my ‘learning’ tools, for now. Some are ‘content’, some are social media, some are personal representational tools, but reading and talking with others and representing my own thinking are  major learning activities for me.

 

Jane Hart has been widely and wisely known for her top 100 Tools for Learning (you too can register your vote).  As a public service announcement, I list my top 10 tools for learning as well:

1. Google search: I regularly look up things I hear of and don’t know.  It often leads me to Wikipedia (my preferred source, teachers take note), but regularly (e.g. 99.99% of the time) provides me with links that give me the answer i need.
2. Twitter: I am pointed to many amazing and interesting things via Twitter.
3. Skype: the Internet Time Alliance maintains a Skype channel where we regularly discuss issues, and ask and answer each other’s questions.
4. Facebook: there’s another group that I use like the Skype channel, and of course just what comes in from friends postings is a great source of lateral input.
5. WordPress: my blogging tool, that provides regular reflection opportunities for me in generating them, and from the feedback others provide via comments.
6. Microsoft Word: My writing tool for longer posts, articles, and of course books, and writing is a powerful force for organizing my thoughts, and a great way to share them and get feedback.
7. Omnigraffle: the diagramming tool I use, and diagramming is a great way for me to make sense of things.
8. Keynote: creating presentations is another way to think through things, and of course a way to share my thoughts and get feedback.
9. LinkedIn: I share thoughts there and track a few of the groups (not as thoroughly as I wish, of course).
10. Mail:  Apple’s email program, and email is another way I can ask questions or get help.

Not making the top 10 but useful tools include Google Maps for directions, Yelp for eating,  Good Reader as a way to read and annotate PDFs, and Safari, where I’ve bookmarked a number of sites I read every day like news (ABC and Google News), information on technology, and more.

So that’s my list, what’s yours?  I note, after the fact, that many are social media. Which isn’t a surprise, but reinforces just how social learning is!

Share with Jane in one of the methods she provides, and it’s always interesting to see what emerges.