So much has happened to the potential to teach in 6 years since I started blogging.
At that time my choices were limited to just one two system which was leased to and controlled by institutions . Subsequently open source tools have been developed and made freely available to all who have the interest and skill to teach and an audience, or the ability to recruit an audience.
25 tools (from the introductory page at 25 tools):
- Web browser – Firefox
More than just a browser with 100s of extensions available to provide an enormous range of extra functionality not found with other browsers.
- Email tool – gMail/Google Mail
No more worrying about an email client on your desktop and dealing with spam and viruses – and tons of free storage space.
* Resource gMail/Google Mail: Mini Tutorial
- Instant Messenger – Skype
An easy way of not only text messaging your contacts but also free voice calls – with low charges out to landlines.
- Social bookmarking tool – Delicious
Store your bookmarks online, tag them and share them with others, students, colleagues and so on.
- RSS Reader – Google Reader
Subscribe to website and blog feeds and the news is delivered automatically to you. Effortless!
* Resource Google Reader : Mini Tutorial
- Real-time messaging tool – Twitter
If you want to stay in touch with people no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
- Online calendar – Google Calendar
Don’t keep your calendar to yourself, share it and make scheduling events an easier process.
* Resource Google Calendar : Mini Tutorial
- Office suite – Google Docs
An online suite of office tools for personal use or to collaborate with other. It can read in Microsoft Office documents too.
* Resource Google Docs : Mini Tutorial
- Mind mapping tool – FreeMind
For organising your thoughts or just brainstorming
- Start page tool – iGoogle
Aggregate all your resources, mail, RSS feeds, etc, in one place.
- Blogging tool – WordPress
Use it to create a personal or professional blog
- Web authoring tool – Nvu
A versatile web authoring to build web pages and web sites.
- Wiki tool – PBwiki
Create editable websites for collaborative writing and working.
* Resource PBwiki : Mini Tutorial
- Photo hosting and sharing tool – Flickr
Host your personal or professional picture collection, and share them with friends, colleagues and others.
- Presentation hosting and sharing tool – Slideshare
Upload presentations, tag them and share them with others. Synchronise them with an audio file to create a narrated presentation
- Video hosting and sharing tool – YouTube
A large collection of shareable videos – host your own there tool.
- Collaborative presenation tool – Voicethread
Create a slideshow around images and invite comments (audio or text) from others.
* Resource Voicethread : Mini Tutorial
- Podcasting tool – Audacity
Record and edit audio and, with the extra encoder, convert your audio files into MP3 podcasts
* Resource Audacity : Mini Tutorial
- Screen capture and screencasting tool – Jing
An “always-ready” program that instantly captures and shares images and video.
* Resource Jing : Mini Tutorial
- Polling and survey tool – PollDaddy
Want to get some quick feedback? Set up a poll, and track responses.
* Resource PollDaddy : Mini Tutorial
- Web meeting tool – Yugma
For small meetings of up to 10 people, to whiteboard, annotate and share files. You can even use Skype.
* Resource Yugma : Mini Tutorial
- Live broadcasting tool – Ustream
Live interactive video broadcasting to a global audience. All it takes is a camera and an internet connection.
* Resource Ustream : Mini Tutorial
- Social networking tool – Ning
Create and customise a private (secure if required) community for a group of like-minded people, large or small.
* Resource Ning : Mini Tutorial
- Course authoring tool – eXe
Create SCORM-compliant learning content that doesn’t require you to be proficient in HTML or XML markup.
* Resource eXe : Mini Tutorial
* SCORM/AICC eXe Tutorial - Course management tool – Moodle
Host a complete course or program or simply provide user authentication for other training materials.
* Resource Moodle : Mini Tutorial
