RSS/iGoogle - Keeping pace with information is a major challenge so my first choice remains RSS feeds. My RSS feeds are set up using iGoogle – my Google home page but you can use any number of readers. I love the fact I can set up RSS feeds for news and issues I want to track.

Skype - Skype continues to change the way people work and communicate. We use it at Kineo to conference call for free and to communicate across our global offices. Though I have deliberately avoided getting a video camera!

3

Twitter - I am still learning about Twitter and its potential. At present I am using Twitter to follow many other people, and surprised at how much I am learning so it makes my top tools for the first time. The next stage is to contribute more myself.

4

Moodle - Moodle is changing the face of the e-learning industry in my view. It is an open source product which has come of age. It is easy to use, has masses of functionality and is very robust. Simply the best virtual learning environment and no licence fees!

5

Audacity - Audio is a versatile option for an e-learning. With the free Audacity tool it is easy to produce, edit and publish audio as an MP3 or other file formats.

6

Flash - Not easy to get to grips with but a great tool for creating interactive and engaging learning. Increasingly you can find base code for the animations you want and build a library of reusable code to make things much faster. Developments with xml and better accessibility means Flash will increasingly be a tool of choice for more many creative e-learning developers.

7

Articulate - This great tool also uses flash but makes it very easy to create engaging e-learning quickly and cost-effectively. Engage was a great addition, making it very easy for anyone to create flash animations and include these in their e-learning. Quizmaker is also a good quiz tool though hopefully we will see better integration with Articulate Presenter in the next releases.

8

Captivate - A tool which simply does what is says on the tin. An easy to use screen capture tool which can be used for a wide range of e-learning. Probably the most used tool in this area I suspect.

9

Photoshop - Along with Flash this is my creative space as I don't do music. Photoshop maybe a bit unwieldy but it is great for playing with images and optimising for the web. If you can't afford this you can always get GIMP which is free.

DimDim - We have been playing with DimDim this year, the open source virtual classroom tool and I have been impressed. Whilst it does not yet have the full features of many of the commercial alternatives it allows you to run virtual classrooms and its voice over IP is better than most I have used.