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Taking a Look at the Top Tools for Learning 2019

Posted on 10/09/2019

Since 2007, Jane Hart from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies in the UK has been compiling an annual Top Tools for Learning List from the results of an open survey of over 2,500 participants from 46 different countries. Each participant is invited to share their top 10 digital tools for learning, and the results are used to compile a list of the top 200 tools, which are further broken down into three sublists: Top 100 Tools for Higher Education, Top 100 Tools for Personal and Professional Learning, and Top 100 Tools for Workplace Learning.

Infographic plotting the EDU100 tools around these 4 key learning areas. Didactics, Discovery, Doing, and DiscourseImage from TopTools4Learning.com

In addition to the annual list which has been tracking learning tools for a number of years and their movement up and down the scale of popular usage, Hart has created infographics that further organize the tools in each of the sublists around the 4 D’s of didactics (formal learning), discovery, discourse (social learning), and doing. When looking at these infographics, it’s very easy to see the top tools organized into areas that can help our instruction and student learning. For example, under didactics, tools are organized by presentations and documents, quizzes and surveys, video/animation, and classroom engagement. Understanding the 4 D’s and their categories help teachers and students zero in on tools that further the goal of integrating technology into teaching and learning.

Hart also maintains much longer lists in her Directory of Learning & Performance Tools, organized by Instructional Tools, Content Development Tools, Social Tools, and Personal & Professional Tools. Here, a user can once again find the Top 200 Tools among other tools that didn’t make the list, giving the user many more options to explore in a particular teaching or learning area.

OTAN has incorporated a number of tools into many different face-to-face and online trainings. If you would like to schedule a training and learn more about the tools used for presentation, assessment, communication, social media, and other areas, please contact us at support@otan.us or call us at 916-228-2580 to discuss the possibilities.

Website: Top Tools for Learning 2019 from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

Website: Directory of Learning & Performance Tools from the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies

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OTAN activities are funded by contract CN220124 from the Adult Education Office, in the Career & College Transition Division, California Department of Education, with funds provided through Federal P.L., 105-220, Section 223. However, OTAN content does not necessarily reflect the position of that department or the U.S. Department of Education.