![\"2024](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/TOP-TOOLS-for-learning.jpg\")
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Each year, I look forward to reviewing the results of Jane Hart\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning<\/a> and to submitting my votes for a personal Top Tools for Learning list. I haven\u2019t quite been writing up my list every single year (missed 2020 and 2023), but I did submit a top 10 list in 2015<\/a>, 2016<\/a>, 2017<\/a>, 2018<\/a>, 2019<\/a>, 2021<\/a>, and 2022<\/a>. I avoid looking at the prior year\u2019s lists until I have identified my votes for current year.<\/p>\n Below are my top 10 Tools for Learning for 2024. The biggest change in my learning tools involves using social media less, most specifically that service that used to have an association with a blue bird and can most closely be associated with a cesspool these days.<\/p>\n This podcast catcher is a daily part of my life and learning. Overcast<\/a> has key features like smart speed and voice boost, which you can have for free with some non-intrusive ad placements, or pay a small fee for a pro subscription and have them hidden from view. Overcast<\/a> received a major design overhaul in March of 2022<\/a>, which led me to reorganize my podcast playlists to take full advantage of the new features.<\/p>\n While Overcast<\/a> is for the spoken word, Unread<\/a> is primarily for written pieces. Powered by real simple syndication (RSS), Unread<\/a> presents me headlines of unread stories across all sorts of categories, which I can tap (on my iPad) to read, or scroll past to automatically mark as read. I use Unread<\/a> in conjunction with Inoreader<\/a>, which is a robust RSS aggregator that can either be used as an RSS reader, as well, or can be used in conjunction with an RSS reader, such as Unread<\/a>.<\/p>\n The biggest change from prior year\u2019s surveys has to do with social media. The bird app just isn\u2019t like it used to be. I\u2019ve found most of my professional learning via social media takes place on LinkedIn<\/a> these days. If you\u2019re on LinkedIn, please follow me<\/a> and the Teaching in Higher Ed page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once I found out that I could subscribe to new YouTube<\/a> videos on my RSS reader, Inoreader, it changed how often I watch YouTube videos. That, plus subscribing to YouTube Premium<\/a>, which means we get ad-free viewing as a family, makes me spending a lot more time with YouTube. I even have my own YouTube channel<\/a>, which I occasionally post videos on, most recently about my course redesign<\/a> and use of LiaScript.<\/p>\n The expression tells us that it is better to show than tell in many contexts. Loom<\/a> is a simple screen casting tool. Record what\u2019s on your screen (with or without your face included via your web cam) and as soon as you press stop, there\u2019s a link that automatically gets copied to your computer\u2019s clipboard which is now ready to paste anywhere you want. I use Loom<\/a> for simple explanations, to have asynchronous conversations with colleagues and students, to record how-to videos, and to invite students to share what they\u2019re learning. If you verify your Loom account as an educator<\/a>, you get the pro features for free.<\/p>\n I primarily read digitally and find the Kindle iPad app<\/a> to be the easiest route for reading. I read more, in total, when I am disciplined about using the Kindle hardware, but wind up grabbing my iPad most nights.<\/p>\n It is so easy to highlight sections of what I\u2019m reading on the Kindle app and have those highlights sync over to a service called Readwise<\/a>. The service \u201cmakes it easy to revisit and learn from your ebook and article highlights.<\/p>\n My use of the graphic design website Canva<\/a> has evolved over the years. I started by using it to create graphics and printable signs for classes. Now I also use it to create presentations (which can include embedded content, slides, videos, etc.). For some presentations I\u2019m doing in the coming weeks, I\u2019m experimenting with using Beautiful.ai<\/a> for my presentations. I still think Canva is great, but am having fun trying something new.<\/p>\n Probably more than any other app, I use Raindrop<\/a> on a daily basis. It is a digital bookmarking tool. I wrote about how I use Raindrop in late 2020<\/a>. I continue to see daily benefits with having such a simple-yet-robust way of making sense of all the information coming at me on a daily basis.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t change my core productivity apps very often. In the case of Craft<\/a>, once I made the switch, I never looked back. This app has both date-based and topic-based note-taking, as well as individual and collaborative features. From their website: \u201cCraft is where people go to ideate, organize, and share their best work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Those are my top ten for the year, not in any particular order. The first draft of this post had eleven items, since I lost count as I was going. I wind up using Zoom as so much a part of almost every day, it winds up getting forgotten, given its ubiquity in my life. I'm leaving it on this post, even though it takes me over my count of ten.<\/p>\n I use Zoom<\/a> so often that one of the years, I entirely left it off of my top ten listing, because it is just always there. Recent enhancements I have grown to appreciate are the built-in timer app, the AI transcripts and summaries, and that you can present slides while people are in breakout rooms.<\/p>\n Would you like to\u00a0submit a vote with your Top Tools for Learning<\/a>? You can fill out a form, write a blog post, or even share your picks on Twitter. The\u00a02024 voting<\/a>\u00a0will continue through Friday, August 30, 2024 and the results will be posted by Monday, September 2, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each year, I look forward to reviewing the results of Jane Hart\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning and to submitting my votes for a personal Top Tools for Learning list. I haven\u2019t quite been writing up my list every single year (missed 2020 and 2023), but I did submit a top 10 list in 2015, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"coauthors":[195],"class_list":{"0":"post-18594","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-educational-technology","8":"entry","9":"gs-1","10":"gs-odd","11":"gs-even","12":"gs-featured-content-entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18594"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=18594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}My 2024 Top Tools for Learning<\/h3>\n
Overcast<\/h4>\n
Unread<\/h4>\n
LinkedIn<\/h4>\n
YouTube<\/h4>\n
Loom<\/h4>\n
Kindle App<\/h4>\n
Readwise<\/h4>\n
Canva<\/h4>\n
Raindrop.io<\/h4>\n
Craft<\/h4>\n
Zoom<\/h4>\n
Your Turn<\/h3>\n