Today is a holiday for those of us here in the US. This gives me a little bit of extra time to share my top 10 learning tools for 2024. I’m dishing out the good stuff as part of Jane Hart’s yearly roundup. So, grab a seat, and let’s see what did and didn’t make my list this year!
Feedly
Want to stay on top of your game without drowning in info? Feedly is your new best friend. It’s like a buffet for your brain, serving up all the good stuff from blogs and websites you love. No more jumping from site to site – Feedly brings it all to you in one spot. Just pick your faves, sort them how you like, and boom! You’ve got a custom news feed that keeps you in the know without the headache. It’s my secret weapon for staying up on everything I want to know.
Use these with Feedly, and it gets even better!
- Buffer – share what you learn via social media
- Kill the Newsletter – get your email newsletters via RSS/Feedly
- FetchRSS – create an RSS Feed for sites that don’t provide one
WordPress
WordPress is like the Swiss Army knife of websites, and it is super easy to use. I’ve hosted my website/blog there for what seems like forever now. For most uses, you can even start with their free version.
Canva
Canva is my go-to tool. I use it almost daily. It’s great for making slides, graphics, websites, and stuff to print. No other tool can do so much so well. Once you start using Canva, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.
Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini
AI helpers like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini are game-changers. They’re not just tools – they’re a secret weapon for getting more things done faster and better.
Raindrop.io
I”‘ve tried a lot of different online bookmarking/organization tools, and Raindrop.io is my new favorite. As someone saves and shares a lot of bookmarks, I love most is how it lets me organize my online chaos into neat little collections and tags. The collaboration features are another big plus. But my absolute favorite? The web clipper. It’s pure magic. I can snag any part of a webpage I want, making my content curation so much more precise. No more saving entire pages when I only need a paragraph. Raindrop.io should be in everyone’s toolkit.
PowerPoint
PowerPoint is the OG of my toolset. I still love working in it, and it is still my ‘go-to’ for creating presentation decks. Add-ins like BrightSlide, The Noun Project, Slido, and others extend its capabilities even further. Canva is gaining ground for presentations, but I’m mostly sticking with PowerPoint for now.
Google Docs
I have written more this year than ever before, and Google Docs is my go-to. This classic tool, paired with add-ins like Grammarly, feels like having a writing superpower right in your browser.
MailerLite
One of my favorite things to do is write my newsletter every week. I’ve tried a lot of options, and MailerLite is my favorite email platform. Even if you don’t have a newsletter, MailerLite is also great for use in your learning programs.
Craft Docs
Craft.do makes digital notes look great. It’s perfect for writing down ideas and making presentations/ workshop resources available to your audience. You can do much more with it too. It’s a step up from normal note-taking and sharing apps.
Zapier
Zapier is a handy tool that links your apps to work together on their own. It uses “Zaps” to connect apps and make them do tasks for you. When something happens in one app, it can make another app do something else. This saves you time by doing boring tasks for you. Zapier works with lots of popular apps, so you can automate many parts of your work without needing to know how to code.
Check out other Top 10 Learning Tools lists:
Curious to see what’s in the toolbox of other learning pros? Here are a few other’s lists that I’ve found. If you have one too, leave me a link and I’ll add it here.
Mike Taylor 