Jane's Pick of the Day

Trailblazing at the Royal Society

Trailblazing is an online, interactive timeline launched to commemorate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary in 2010.

Compiled by scientists, science communicators and historians it celebrates three and a half centuries of scientific endeavour.  It is a "explore-at-your-own-pace" virtual journey through science.  It comprises 60 articles selected from more than 60,000 publisheed by the Royal Society between 1665 and 2010.

Trailblazing 

[More interactive, multimedia resources in the C4LPT Showcase]

Wallwisher

Here's another tool that didn't quite make the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 list: Wallwisher.

Wallwisher is an online notice board maker.

No registration required - click, write, post - that's it!

Here's a demo wall:

Wallwisher

Cost Benefit Analysis Tool for Learning Investments

Manish at Brainvisa wrote to tell me about this free iPhone and iPod Touch application they have created to help out the Training Manager to choose between classroom training or elearning, based on various parameters like development budget, frequency of updates, average salaries for instructors, etc. The application has been designed on the Dialogue-Driven Learning (DDL) approach, an instructional approach that simulates a conversation with the user to achieve specific objectives.

Here's the link to the CBA app in the App Store store

Video Lobby

Until now running a live webcast was complex and labour-some, VideoLobby provides a simple yet powerful web-based production solution that makes publishing a professional live show as easy as setting up a blog.

Who is it for?

• Businesses can now engage clients with minimum overhead
• Media can expand their reach and effectiveness at no extra cost 
• Not for Profits can stay connected with their supporters in no time 
• Individuals can afford to run a cool show online for free

VideoLobby

[via FeedMyApp]

C4LPT Guide to Social Learning

I recently did quite a bit of updating of the C4LPT Guide to Social Learning, so thought it was worth posting about it again here. Here's the contents list:

Introduction

From e-learning to social learning

What is social media?

Examples of social media in learning

Social media and 5 types of learning - Pt 1

Social media and 5 types of learning - Pt 2

Drivers for social learning

Social learning in the workplace

Social Media & Learning

For Formal Structured Learning

For Personal Directed Learning

For Group Directed Learning

For Intra-Organisational Learning

For Accidental & Serendipitous Learning

Integrated Social Learning Environment

Social Learning Strategy

Choosing the tools

Comparison of Facebook, Ning &Elgg

Dealing with sceptical managers

Social media guidelines and policies

Online community management

Measuring the success of social learning

Reading List

Social Learning Reading List

UpsideLMS v4.0

Upside Learning recently told me about the latest version of the UpsideLMS:

"UpsideLMS version 4.0 now comes with a framework that lets users access social tools from within the LMS in a secure environment for connecting to and sharing with fellow users.  Users can build profiles - the human face required for social interactions and an elaborate social network by adding individuals in the enterprise they interact with regularly as friends. Communities are a recurring theme in UpsideLMS, as we believe all the tools we provide aid the organization to build communities that are alive, constantly sharing knowledge and learning as a result.

"Extensive support for user micro-blogging to quickly connect users with their network of friends and followers through a series of short status messages about work and life. The constant feed of messages makes the LMS alive and alert. Integration with the Twitter micro-blogging services allows these networks to reach beyond the enterprise. An integrated wiki module that now allows individual users to create their own shared knowledge repositories. This feature plays a huge role in taking tacit knowledge in the enterprise and giving it a constantly updated but documented form. A similar purpose is met by the message board feature, with varied discussion threads taking knowledge from out in the wild and documenting it for repeated reference later in time. Individual users can also use the system to host their blogs, inviting comments and counter posts from across the enterprise. Users can also share photos and videos with friends and followers in the system.

"The social learning framework provides a unique way to capture the various types of knowledge that are prevalent in the enterprise. It goes beyond the conventional view of courseware, assignments and assessment. While doing so it still allows for enterprises to manage their training and learning efficiently."

Upside Learning

[160 course/learning management systems are listed on the LMS page of our Directory of Learning Tools

Voki and Calameo

Today, a further two tools that just missed out on being placed on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 list.

Voki

Voki is a free service that allows you to create personalized speaking avatars and use them on your blog, profile, and in email messages, as in the example below

Click here to comment on this Voki.
Get a Voki now!

Calaméo

Calaméo is a way to publish, search for and share all your documents online. You can organize your publications into subscriptions. In addition, you and others can add comments to and start discussions on each publication!

Photopeach and Toondo

Today, two more tools that just missed being placed on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009 list:

PhotoPeach

The idea of Photopeach is to help you ..

"tell better stories online using photos...  You can create a rich slideshow in seconds to engage your friends or family in a natural way. This is done by allowing two-way commenting right at each photo in the show and automatically pausing so you have time to express yourself before continuing."

They also support zooming comments, sound-effect smilies, and music so you can elaborate on your story further.

Toondoo

Toondo is a free comic-creating tool and a fun site for kids. Here you can create and share your comic strips.

Similar sites here: Story-telling/Comic strip/Screenwriting tools

Comic Life and GoAnimate

I am going to start to feature some of the tools that didn't make it to the Top 100 Tools 2009 list.  In this posting I'm highlighting two tools that just missed being placed on the list:

Comic Life

Comic Life lets you create astounding comics, beautiful picture albums, how-tos... and more!  The easy-to-use interface integrates seamlessly with your photo collection. Drag in your pictures, captions, Lettering text (‘ka-blam!') and speech balloons and your work is done! 

GoAnimate!

Create your own cartoons and animations easily using this free tool and you don't need to learn Flash.  You can do this online or using GoAnimate-in-a-Box, a turnkey solution that enables your community to create, watch, rate, and share animations on your own site.

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009: The Final List

Here is the final list of the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009, compiled from the contributions of 278 learning professionals - from education and workplace learning - worldwide.  Thanks to all who contributed their Top 10 Tools for learning. 

Below is the presentation I have shared on Slideshare.  You will also be able to find the full list at my main C4LPT site: Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009.

View more documents from Jane Hart.

I have also produced two other related lists:  One shows the Top 100 Tools by category.  Here you can find, for example, the top blogging tools or mindmapping tools or e-learning authoring tools on the list.

The second list shows the Winners & Losers in 2009, e.g.

• the new tools on the list this year, 25 of them - of which the highest placed is Evernote, followed by Prezi.
• the tools that returned to the list this year after a break in 2008, including Elgg and Picasa
• the tools that moved up the list this year.  Note although Twitter moved up 10 places this year to become the top tool, in fact there were other tools that moved up even more places, e.g. YouTube has jumped 15 places to come in at 3rd place, Slideshare up 13 places, and Google Apps and Bubbl.us moved up 28 places
• the tools that moved down the list this year, e.g. Delicous and Google Reader moved down one place, Powerpoint and Moodle down 5 places, Firefox (2007 winner), Skype and Facebook down 7 places, Word  down 14 places and Bloglines down 56 places
• the tools that moved off the list this year, e.g. MediaWiki, Adobe Reader, Ustream, Yugma, Polldaddy, Exe and Google Scholar

To summarise then: I think this year's list, once again, is a great demonstration of how learning professionals are making use of a wide range of both traditional and innovative tools and services both for personal learning and within formal structured learning contexts.  The fact that Twitter is now the Number 1 tool shows that learning professionals clearly appreciate the power of social media technologies for learning and are demonstrating its use in ways that would have been unimaginable a few years ago.  I also believe that although some well-known tools have moved down or even off the list this year, this doesn't necessarily mean they are  no longer of value for learning; it is much more likely that they are now just "taken for granted".  This year's list once again shows that learning moves on!