About a year ago, I produced my own list of
Top 10 Tools for distance learners, inspired by Jane Hart’s annual Top 100
tools survey (http://c4lpt.co.uk/top100tools/).
Since then I’ve had an opportunity to try
out a few more, and they are listed below:
|
Tool
|
How it can help distance learners
|
|
1.
YouTube
|
Can provide concise, easy-to-follow guidance for a range
of tasks. Links can be integrated into VLE and/or learning objects
|
|
2.
wikis
|
Scope for collaborative activity
|
|
3.
Online referencing guides eg.
University of Leeds
|
At-a-glance advice on referencing different types of
sources
|
|
4.
Slideshare
|
Useful source of information on a range of topics
|
|
5.
Twitter
|
Opportunities to keep in touch, and learn, in an
informal way
|
|
6.
Pinterest
|
Useful way of collecting useful images and sharing
with others
|
|
7.
Office Mix
|
Add-on for Power point to make/embed video
|
|
8.
TED talks
|
Thought-provoking, entertaining, videos on key
topics by experts
|
|
9.
WhatsApp
|
Messaging app for individuals and groups. Good for
broadcasting
|
|
10.
Explain everything
|
A whiteboard annotation app
|
Tools such as YouTube and Slideshare- need
to be used judiciously because of the mass of material present, not all of
which is worthwhile. Hence, guidance from tutors/mentors on what exactly to
look at can be very helpful. Some tools have highly specific uses (such as
online referencing guides), while others are very flexible (eg. twitter).
I
have yet to try the apps in the last two lines, but I’m fairly sure that a lot
of digital learning is heading in the direction of mobiles, and increasing accessed
via apps. This is important as e-learning becomes an increasingly acceptable training
avenue for the workplace, as indicated by Jane Hart in her ‘10 trends for
Workplace Learning’ (http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/blog/2015/10/02/10-trends/
). However, the use of these tools needs to balanced with ‘face-to-face’
delivery, because in my opinion this is
still the best way to teach and learn.
