![\"2025](\"https:\/\/images.coachingforleaders.com\/cb:ztCJ~31fd5\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/f:best\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-TOP-TOOLS-for-learning.png\")
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Drat. I missed getting to officially contribute to the votes for this year\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning<\/a>, collected and analyzed by Jane Hart. I\u2019m still going to write mine up, as I do like to reflect on the tools I\u2019m relying on for my own and others\u2019 learning, but I\u2019ll need to wait until 2026 to get back into the mix of having my votes reflected in the grand total.<\/p>\n I used to be more regular with my votes, but did miss a few along the way. Here are my past Top 100 Tools for Learning: 2015<\/a>, 2016<\/a>, 2017<\/a>, 2018<\/a>, 2019<\/a>, 2021<\/a>, 2022<\/a>, and 2024<\/a>. I avoid looking at the prior year\u2019s lists until I have identified my votes for current year.<\/p>\n This year, given that I missed the deadline for submitting my top ten list, I\u2019m using a longer format than normal and structuring this reflection on Harold Jarche\u2019s personal knowledge (PKM) framework<\/a>, since so much of my learning is centered on it:<\/p>\n Throughout all of my days, I\u2019m plugged into intentional ways of seeking knowledge, wisdom, and sources of curiosity. In a way, sense-making is a part of my way of being, especially on those days when I allow myself to slow down enough for the deeper insights. Finally, I\u2019m someone who delights in fueling my curiosity and imagination even further by sharing what I\u2019m learning and inviting others to do the same.<\/p>\n Curious to learn more about personal knowledge mastery? My absolute favorite source for more than a decade now is Harold Jarche<\/a>, who defines PKM as:<\/p>\n Personal knowledge mastery (PKM) is a set of processes, individually constructed, to help each of us make sense of our world and work more effectively. PKM keeps us afloat in a sea of information \u2014 guided by professional communities and buoyed by social networks. – Harold Jarche<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those who want to dig even deeper should consider joining Jarche\u2019s Personal Knowledge Mastery cohort, starting in October 2025<\/a>. Me: Going to look at my schedule and seeing if I've got the time to dive in at that time this year. Good stuff.<\/p>\n Seeking is finding things out and keeping up to date. Building a network of colleagues is helpful in this regard. It not only allows us to \u201cpull\u201d information, but also have it \u201cpushed\u201d to us by trusted sources. Good curators are valued members of knowledge networks. – Harold Jarche<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Not a day goes by that I don\u2019t use Overcast, my preferred podcast catcher. On my iPhone, it is always my most used app on any given week.<\/p>\n Get ready to celebrate International Podcast Day<\/a> on September 30. I\u2019ve already got an episode queued up featuring Dominic Conroy & Warren Kidd<\/a> to commemorate the event. Get your ears on and subscribe to Teaching in Higher Ed, if you haven\u2019t already, using your favorite podcast app (search for Teaching in Higher Ed and hit subscribe\/follow), YouTube<\/a>, or Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n While my backlog of episodes yet to be listened to is ridiculously long, Overcast\u2019s playlists feature means I can tailor my audio consumption according to genre (news, technology, teaching, etc.), to my incoming priority\/preferred podcasts, or to the queue list I have saved for the good stuff I want to get to when I have long drives or alone time.<\/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>. – From my 2024 Top 10<\/a> blog post (note: I only copied this text over after identifying what tools would be on this year\u2019s list, as in I didn\u2019t \u201ccheat\u201d).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n One of the things I love about Unread<\/a> is that I an perform the entire reading process with two thumbs (insert that joke\/about \u201cwho has two thumbs and can\u2026\u201d and then add \u201coperate Unread\u201d at the end of it). I can browse the different folders\/collections I have set up to skim headlines. When I want to read one of the stories associated with a given headline, I can go into it and read with just a tap. To get back out to the headlines, again, I just swipe right.<\/p>\n One big update that Unread 4.5 gave us is support for reading paywalled articles within the app<\/a>. As of me writing this, I haven\u2019t had a chance to experiment with that feature, but am excited to do so over this long, holiday weekend in the U.S. Anything I can do to reduce friction in my PKM system helps me be able to expand my possibilities for deeper learning.<\/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. – From 2024 Top ten post<\/p><\/blockquote>\n YouTube Premium continues to be a way of life for our entire family. If you watch a lot of YouTube and don\u2019t have a means for watching ad-free, I can\u2019t recommend it highly enough.<\/p>\n This past year, we added a Teaching in Higher Ed YouTube Channel<\/a>. Each time an audio podcast episode gets posted on our hosting platform, Blubrry, it automatically gets shared on the channel. They used to not allow audio-only podcasts on the platform but made changes their rules such that now it is encouraged. In addition to listening to Teaching in Higher Ed, or watching an episode with Dr. Stephenie Cawthon accompanied by two ASL interpreters<\/a>, you can also see other videos I\u2019ve made this past year, such as:<\/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. – 2024 Top 10 Post<\/p><\/blockquote>\n New on the list for this year is Audible<\/a>. I was attempting for a few months to better balance my daily news reading with sources that would give me a longer-term view of the world. As I write these words, I feel like I\u2019m back to failing at this, but it was a good pursuit there for a while. Part of this attempt at balancing was made possible through listening to audio books in addition to podcast episodes.<\/p>\n Sometimes audio is better because it allows us to get more reading into our days. Other times, audio does something that the written word could never do. In the list below of some favorite audio boos from this past year, I\u2019ll indicate with (best via audio book) at the end of the line if the audio book was particularly geared toward the audio medium.<\/p>\n Sensing is how we personalize information and use it. Sensing includes reflection and putting into practice what we have learned. Often it requires experimentation, as we learn best by doing. – Harold Jarche<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I decided to move off of Amazon\u2019s Goodreads for my reading tracking this year and have been loving StoryGraph<\/a> so far. I just wish more people were there to be friends with and share reading ideas. What I mostly use StoryGraph<\/a> for is setting an annual reading goal and tracking my progress toward that. I also have quite a large queue of books I would like to read someday.<\/p>\n I understand that some people have a hard time finding something to read. This is not my problem. Trust me. I\u2019ve got the what to possibly read thing down pat. But for those who are looking for suggestions, StoryGraph<\/a> has that feature nailed, too. If anyone is on StoryGraph and wants to connect, my StoryGraph username is Bonni208<\/a> (as it is across most social networks that I\u2019m on). Those curious about why the number 208 is significant to me, check out Teaching in Higher Ed Episode 208<\/a>, where Dave helps me tell the 208 origin story.<\/p>\n Dave<\/a> has been using Obsidian<\/a> for years now and long-heralded the way that these types of note apps don\u2019t lock you in, long-term. Using plain text (Markdown<\/a>) documents that are stored where you want to keep them (not locked within the note service\/subscription\/app) means that Obsidian<\/a> gets used as a way of viewing and adding to your plain text documents. That\u2019s an oversimplification and one that meant I took longer than others to get to the party that is Obsidian<\/a>.<\/p>\n One thing to know about Obsidian is that there is a learning curve. I would suggest not trying to go your own way on it, but instead to invest in some tools to help with your onboarding. I have three recommendations:<\/p>\n Ok. Here goes. I use artificial intelligence, despite knowing that there are plenty of ethical reasons that people may choose not to use AI<\/a>. I encourage anyone thinking about shaming me or others who use it to read Maha Bali\u2019s post<\/a> suggesting that we not jump straight to that binary way of thinking about peoples\u2019 use of these technologies. I don\u2019t use it without continually refining my knowledge of what it is and isn\u2019t capable of\u2026 but I do find that to be effective in my job, I am required to use it. Additionally, to enable us to cost-effectively offer transcripts for our podcasts and otherwise make our materials more accessible, AI is a must there, too.<\/p>\n I list ChatGPT here, since that is my most frequently-used AI tool, as it relates to learning. I pay for the $20\/month paid service and occasionally find myself needing to use the separate pay-as-you-go API key for nich\u00e8 use-cases. I asked ChatGPT to use what it knows about me to list off the ways that I use it in my learning (seeking, sensing, and sharing), and here is an edited version of it\u2019s bulleted output:<\/p>\n It didn't mention this, but I have been closely following Mike Caulfield<\/a>‘s experimentation and research on what it can do using argumentation theory to come alongside us in our fact checking with his Deep Background GPT<\/a>. There\u2019s so much more I could say here, but I\u2019ll save it for future posts.<\/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. – 2024 Top 10 post<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I saw a video the other night which made mention of the ability to sync Readwise highlights with Obsidian (note taking tool) and that got me excited about that possibility. For now, I\u2019ll be disciplined about placing that idea on my someday\/maybe list and not going down the rabbit hole at this exact moment. Another thing on my someday\/maybe list to look into more is Lance Eaton\u2019s AI Practice: Building My Quote Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sharing includes exchanging resources, ideas, and experiences with our networks as well as collaborating with our colleagues. – Harold Jarche<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Much of my digital life revolves around digital bookmarking. I could have easily placed Raindrop in with sense making, as on an almost hourly basis, I find myself saving links and placing them in all the various collections (which are like folders) I have on Raindrop and applying tags. Whether I\u2019m reading on my web browser, or via my smartphone or tablet, I can easily save bookmarks and have them accessible to me anytime in the future.<\/p>\n Just the other day, I was talking with a friend who is doing a lot of reflection and reading about loneliness and I asked if he had ever watched Andrea Dorfman\u2019s How To Be Alone<\/a>. He hadn\u2019t and it was such a delight to be able to resurface that masterpiece and share it with him. I had an insight while watching it this time that since I have been spending more time working in our library lately that it seems like it may be the one place students feel more comfortable being alone than in other spots.<\/p>\n Another fun discovery, found within the deep crevasses of Raindrop was The Gap, by Ira Glass<\/a>. \u201cYour taste is good enough that you can tell that what you\u2019re making is kind of a disappointment to you\u2026 Most everybody I know who does interesting, creative work, went through this phase for a few years\u2026\u201d Ira normalizes this gap of knowing what you\u2019re doing could be better and being able to \u201cfight your way through the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n While most of my saved bookmarks (tags and collections) are private, I did decide recently to make an RSS feed<\/a> and page<\/a> with my saved links within an AI collection from Raindrop. This means that each time I save something related to AI on Raindrop, that anyone subscribed to that feed will have it show up in their RSS aggregator. Additionally, anyone who visits the page will see everything I\u2019ve saved about AI within Raindrop. Candidly, as public as I am with the podcast and many other things, sharing this feed makes me a bit nervous, as I wouldn\u2019t want people to think that I\u2019m necessarily endorsing everything I\u2019m saving. I\u2019m pretty sure people would know that but given how polarizing the topic of AI can be, I still feel a bit nervous about this aspect of my sharing.<\/p>\n Would you like to\u00a0submit a vote with your Top Tools for Learning<\/a>? Unfortunately, you\u2019re in the same boat as me and will need to wait until 2026. In the meantime, watch out for the 2025 Top Tools for Learning results<\/a> to be posted by Monday, September 1, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drat. I missed getting to officially contribute to the votes for this year\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning, collected and analyzed by Jane Hart. I\u2019m still going to write mine up, as I do like to reflect on the tools I\u2019m relying on for my own and others\u2019 learning, but I\u2019ll need to wait until […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20276,"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":[40],"tags":[],"coauthors":[195],"class_list":{"0":"post-20275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-knowledge-mastery","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\/20275","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=20275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20275"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachinginhighered.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=20275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Seek > Sense > Share<\/h2>\n
Seek<\/h3>\n
Overcast<\/h4>\n
Unread<\/h4>\n
YouTube<\/h4>\n
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Kindle App<\/h4>\n
Audible<\/h4>\n
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Sense<\/h3>\n
StoryGraph<\/h4>\n
Obsidian<\/h4>\n
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ChatGPT<\/h4>\n
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Readwise<\/h4>\n
Share<\/h3>\n
Raindrop<\/h4>\n
Your Turn<\/h3>\n