RSS/iGoogle - Keeping pace with information is a major challenge so my first choice is a technology that drives what I look at every day when I open my browser – 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 - This is a great free tool. Internet telephony is changing the way people work and communicate. We use it to conference call for free. Even my dad has just got Skype and keeps in touch wherever I am. Though I have deliberately avoided getting a video camera. Though you should never call a mobile you can call landlines across the rest of the world for months for £10.

3

Freemind - Still on the free tools. I love this free mind mapping software. Easy to use and a great way of managing and recording meetings live.

4

Moodle - I am not sure if this counts as a tool but Clive included it! Moodle will change 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.

Yugma - Collaboration is coming of age on the web and Yugma through its free online conferencing service is a useful way of exploring these developments. Up to 10 users are free, including desktop sharing, annotation tools and whiteboarding. If you don’t want the ads you can pay $90 a year.