Play the drum roll sound because it’s that time of year again to share with you My Top 10 Learning Tools for 2016 in Jane Hart’s survey. (Entries close on 3 October 2016 so you still have heaps of time to submit yours!).
Every year I submit my learning tools to this survey as it’s a great way to sit back and reflect on what tools have been used for work and learning. Some tools stay the same over the years and you can guess these stalwarts such as Google, YouTube and Twitter. However every year, new ones sneak in and this year, Snapchat made its debut on my list.
So what are my Top 10 Learning Tools for 2016?
Number 10: Google Documents
I use Google documents when I need to work on documents in my own business. Never with corporate clients. Not that it’s about fear of privacy, confidentiality or security. It’s because in 99% of my corporate clients have glitches trying to get Google documents or apps through their firewall. So I don’t even bother anymore. It explains why I still use Microsoft products.
Number 9: PowerPoint
It’s pretty self-explanatory. The majority of corporate clients use this software program for pretty much everything. Guidebooks, presentations, checklists, you name it – they want PowerPoint. I have a love-hate relationship with it.
Number 8: YouTube
I’m loving YouTube more and more. It’s my go to reference site sometimes more than Google. As I’ve been dabbling with film of late, it’s the place where I lurk and watch what people are doing on their videos then try to copy them (oops, read learn from them).
Number 7: Google
Self-explanatory. Be all and end all. That is all.
Number 6: Evernote Premium
It’s my own reference site. I keep many notebooks and notes in here that I’ve found online. Everything is tagged and it’s the third place (after Google and YouTube) that I search in to find information I need. I also have set up client folders where I share my notes and references through public links because for some reason, they seem to go through their firewall but it stops anything from Google. Go figure.
Number 5: Medium
This is my zone out website. Usually, when I have some time to read, I pull out the Medium app on my phone and read the articles from the authors I follow. Medium is growing on me because I like how you can add your own comments and see highlighted areas of text where others have also found it useful. I treat Medium like a magazine. One that you can flick through over a cup of coffee.
Number 4: Yammer (It’s reappeared for a short time only – and in all honesty, will be off the list again as soon)
I only have this in there this year simply because I’ve been working with a client that needed some community management training. I have neglected Yammer in the last year and now only use it to specific Yammer references within the external networks. There’s a treasure trove of references within the Shared Notes and Files section of the Yammer networks so most of the time there’s absolutely no need to recreate anything from scratch – it’s all there. So this year, it’s been more about using this tool to keep up with the communities I’m a member but I’ve found that I’ve been lurking more than contributing.
Number 3: Twitter
Self explanatory. Twitter is and will continue to be the place I connect with my personal learning network although I have noticed a reduction in the conversations happening online in the last year or so. It’s meant that I had to find other media where people happen to be talking, connecting and collaborating – and it looks like to be in sites where there are live streaming.
Number 2: Appear In
This is a brilliant site that allows you to conduct a video call with one click. No plug ins to download AND it goes through corporate firewalls (WIN!) it’s the way that I communicate with people now. (Although I have also been using Skype with other freelancers – never corporate clients because once again, their firewall stops access).
Number 1: Snapchat
I’m still exploring this brilliant tool for the purposes of learning and admittedly, 2016 has been the year of live streaming for me. I think I found the PERFECT tool that melds education, broadcasting, working out loud, creativity and captures an entire day’s timeline of my work PLUS the uniqueness and personality of presenters. Imagine blending Twitter and YouTube, you have Snapchat. I’ve enjoyed chatting with people who follow me and I follow them – they’re all in different fields too, sales people, microbiologists, dentists, artists, property developers, start-up entrepreneurs – they’re all out there sharing and showing their work. I highly recommend it (Follow me if you like – download the app and then in Settings, scan the code below).
I took some snaps of my Top 10 Learning tools in Snapchat (and towards the end shows my reaction to winning the Jay Cross Memorial Award) recently so that you can see how I’m using my number one tool in sharing and showing my work during my work day (if you’re interested)…
As always, I do like to review previous year’s tools. If you would like to see my previous years learning tools (oh, they provided a laugh for me….remember Google Reader? Learnist? Google+? Skitch?….long gone into the ethernet cemetery….)
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