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Each year, I participate in Jane Hart\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning<\/a> survey. In recent years, she broke the list out into three categories:<\/p>\n My 2017 votes<\/a> included tools that fit into each of those three categories.<\/p>\n After publishing this year\u2019s list, Jane Hart developed A Modern Professional Learner\u2019s Toolkit for 2018<\/a>. These are tools that pursue and support lifelong learning, such as social networks, web course platforms, news and curation tools, and communication and collaboration tools.<\/p>\n In this post, I share my professional learner\u2019s toolkit, with links to the tools I use. At the conclusion of this blog, links to others\u2019 posts with their own toolkits will be shared.<\/p>\n Learning is central to my work and sense of purpose. I enjoy finding tools that help me locate resources that will contribute to my growth, synthesize and organize that learning in such a way as to have it be useful to me now and in the future, and then be able to share what I am learning with others.<\/p>\n The majority of my time taking in new information is spent within my preferred podcasting app: Overcast<\/a> (iOS). I find podcasts to be an ideal way to learn<\/a>, since I can take them with me wherever I go. My favorite podcasts<\/a> are ones that I look forward to listening to each chance I get.<\/p>\n Wikipedia<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, and TED Talks<\/a> are other sources for inspiration.<\/p>\n Twitter<\/a> represents the majority of my personal learning network (PLN)<\/a> connections. It is staggering to me how much I have learned from being in community on this platform. I also enjoy the opportunities to keep up with professional connections and former students on LinkedIn<\/a>. Instagram<\/a> is great fun for compelling photographs (like these from National Geographic<\/a> and these that were #shotoniPhone<\/a>). Pinterest<\/a> is fun for ideas for our kids<\/a>, as well as recipes<\/a> that I never use (#aspirational). Facebook<\/a> gets less and less valuable for me, though I am glad to be able to reach out to people when I have lost track of their email address.<\/p>\n I browse primarily on the Google Chrome browser<\/a>. It tends to be the most compatible with the web tools I use. However, it is worth mentioning that the Apple Safari browser<\/a> keeps coming out with cool new features that make me wonder if I should check it out. Google<\/a> meets my needs as far as search goes, though I know this is an area I should explore more.<\/p>\n I have written and spoken extensively about my personal knowledge management (PKM) system<\/a>. This post describes my PKM tools<\/a>, including Feedly<\/a>, Instapaper<\/a>, and Pinboard<\/a>. Recently, I have started reading more on Apple News<\/a>. I am also getting tempted by the RSS reader Innoreader<\/a> as a possible replacement for Feedly. Since it supports subscribing to students\u2019 blogs and bringing them into a common feed, as described by Laura Gibbs on her Innoreader post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Browsing content on my iPad<\/a> is incredibly easy. I spend about an hour a day reading on the iPad<\/a>, usually just before bed. My iPhone<\/a> and Apple Watch<\/a> are good companions, particularly for listening to podcasts. The AirPods<\/a> represent one of my all-time favorite gadgets in recent years, as they make listening to content via my iPhone<\/a>, iPad<\/a>, or Apple Watch<\/a> even easier.<\/p>\n My blog is a self-hosted WordPress site<\/a> on the FlyWheel web hosting service<\/a>. Buffer<\/a> helps me spread out content that I want to share on social media. On \u201cgood weeks,\u201d I spend about an hour setting content up to be shared throughout the week.<\/p>\n I have also shared quite a bit about my productivity systems<\/a> over the years. Most essential to my productivity systems are my task manager (OmniFocus), my calendar (Fantastical), and my email \u201cassistant\u201d that moves unimportant emails out of my inbox (SaneBox)<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lynda.com<\/a> has content for learning software, business, and creative skills. This link<\/a> will let you try Lynda.com for ten days. If you wind up signing up, we receive a small referral. I am also really enjoying the course I am finishing with CreativeLive<\/a> on storytelling through podcasting, with Alex Blumberg. You can get $15 off your first class using this link<\/a>. I\u2019m also taking Katie Linder\u2019s The Academic Book Promotion Toolkit course<\/a>, which is fantastic.<\/p>\n Evernote<\/a> is my tool of choice for when what I want to save is better being kept private. Otherwise, Pinboard<\/a> is what I use under the News and Curation Tools (above). Evernote<\/a> is also where I track my goals, and professional development pursuits.<\/p>\n I primarily use Office 365 applications<\/a> for creating documents (Microsoft Word), presentations (PowerPoint), and spreadsheets (Excel). Most of my blog posts start out in a text-based, Mac writing app called Ulysses<\/a>. That\u2019s also where each podcast episode\u2019s show notes begin, until they get moved over to WordPress.<\/p>\n At my recent keynote for the DET\/CHE 2017 conference<\/a>, I asked people what their favorite collaboration tools were. The web conferencing tool, Zoom<\/a>, was given more than any other answer (by a lot). I\u2019m a huge fan, as well. My second go-to collaboration tool (particularly when it comes to sharing) is Dropbox<\/a>. However, Google Docs<\/a> is a stand-out for it\u2019s ease of use when wanting to collaborate on a document.<\/p>\n After Jane Hart's original post about her professional learning toolkit, many others have followed suit. Here are some of the posts that resonated with me and inspired me to share my toolkit:<\/p>\n What tools did I not mention that are stand-outs in supporting your learning?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Each year, I participate in Jane Hart\u2019s Top 100 Tools for Learning survey. 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My Professional Learner\u2019s Toolkit<\/h2>\n
Trusted Set of Resources for Problem Solving and Inspiration<\/h3>\n
Social Networks to Build a Diverse Personal Learning Network (PLN)<\/h3>\n
Web Browser and Search Engine to Make the Most of the Web<\/h3>\n
News and Curation Tools to Discover New Resources, Store, and Share<\/h3>\n
Smart Devices for Ubiquitous Access to Content and People<\/h3>\n
Blogging and Website Tools to Share Ideas and Thinking<\/h3>\n
Productivity Tools to Help Work Effectively<\/h3>\n
Web Course Platforms to Acquire Knowledge and Skills in a Formal Way<\/h3>\n
Personal Information System to Store Web Clippings, Experiences and Ideas, and Track Professional Development<\/h3>\n
Office Tools to Create Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets<\/h3>\n
Communication an Collaboration Tools to Interact, Share, and Learn with Others<\/h3>\n
Other Posts on Professional Learning Toolkits<\/h2>\n
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Your Turn<\/h2>\n