Learn, Share, Innovate & Develop

Let's explore the idea that there is at least one excellent free learning tool (or site) for every learning problem, need or issue!

Social Networking tool? Tricky one! Facebook
Tool to create study groups and manage group projects? GroupTable
Tool to keep track of my schoolwork (assignments)? Soshiku
3D online virtual world where I can socialize, connect and learn? Second Life
Content Management System (CMS)? Joomla
Tool to create my own website? Google Sites or Webnode
Hosted Virtual Classroom? WiZiQ
Tool to broadcast myself to the world? USTREAM
Tool to make calls from my computer? Skype
Videoconferencing chat service? Vawkr
Content authoring tool? How about two? eXe & CourseLab
Alternative to Microsoft Office? OpenOffice
Online suite of office tools? Google Docs or Zoho
Tool that accurately converts my PowerPoint to Flash (including animations)? iSpring Free
Web authoring tool alternative to FrontPage and Dreamweaver? NvU or KompoZer
Personal online notebook? Google Notebook
Blogging tool? WordPress! Why aren't you using WordPress? Good Question!
Blogging tool for educators? Edublogs
Directory of edubloggers from around the world? International Edubloggers Directory
Microblogging tool? Twitter
Microblogging tool for education? Edmodo
Microblogging tool for companies? Yammer
Wiki tool? PBwiki
Tool to track plagiarism? Plagium
Encyclopedia, which I can add to or edit? Wikipedia
Community dedicated to collaborative development of free content? WikiEducator
Audio recording tool? Audacity
Tool to record and host my audio recordings online? Odeo Studio
Tool to convert text to speech? vozMe or iSpeech
Tool to transform media into collaborative spaces with video, voice and text commenting? VoiceThread
Tool for storytelling? Here are 50!
Screencasting (recording) tool? Wink
Hosted screencasting tool (more options)? Jing or Flowgram
Mindmapping tool? FreeMind
Tool to brainstorm and create mindmaps online? Bubbl.us or MindMeister
Easy-to-learn 3D authoring software tool? Google SketchUp
Alternative to 3D Studio Max? Blender
Photo/image editing tool? GIMP or Picasa
Online photo/image editing tool? Splashup
Tool to create cool personalized images? Custom Sign Generator Widgets
Image Resizer? Dosize
Watermarking tool? uMark
Screen Color Picker? ColorSchemer
Tool to highlight text in a webpage? The Awesome Highlighter
Tool to create flowcharts, diagrams, technical drawings? Gliffy
Tool to create comics and cartoons? ToonDoo
Tool to create animations? GoAnimate
Tool to make screenshots from different browsers with one click? Browsershots
Tool to create PDFs from any Windows program? PDFCreator
Tool to convert PDF to Word? PDF2Word Online
Online file conversion tool (e.g. Word >PDF>PowerPoint)? Zamzar
Online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tool? Free OCR
Tool to share my slides? SlideShare, SlideBoom or authorSTREAM
Tool to share my videos? YouTube or TeacherTube
Tool to share any type of file with unlimited storage capacity? Internet Archive
Online science research sharing portal? SciVee
Online community to share and discuss instructional teacher videos? TeacherTube
Online community to share, discuss and learn about the uses of educational technology? EdTechTalk
Online community to test my big ideas? Big Think
Tool to download videos from any video sharing site (YouTube, Metacafe, etc.)? ClipNabber
Self-publishing tool (books, papers, articles, etc)? Scribd
Tool to share my pictures? Are you joking! Flickr
Space to upload and share my files? eSnips
File hosting solution that allows me to share files up to 250MB each? FileCrunch
Online quiz tool? ClassMarker
Tool to create interactive quizzes and puzzles? Hot Potatoes
Tool to create web and print-based crossword puzzles? EclipseCrossword
Inquiry-oriented lesson tool? WebQuest
Multimedia flashcard software? MemoryLifter
Online polling tool with a bit of fizzle? Polldaddy
Online survey tool? Click here to choose!
Tool to create Flash games (templates)? ClassTools.net
Investment Simulation Game? Virtual Trader
Interactive 3D business simulator? INNOV8
Game to understand cancer better? Re-Mission
Game to understand the scientific method and 21st Century Skills? River City
Game to understand variable manipulations for urban management? SimCity
Game to understand social studies better? Quest Atlantis
Game to understand world hunger and efforts to alleviate it? WFP Foodforce
Game to learn more vocabulary and help hungry people? Seriously! FreeRice
Range of interactive tools to help me understand maths concepts? Shodor Interactivate
Step-by-step math problem solver? Mathway
Tool to publish my data online and create comparison tables? Tablefy
Tool to create my own search engine tailored to my needs? Google Custom Search Engine
Human-powered search engine? Mahalo
Metasearch engine with visual display interfaces? What! Here is KartOO!
Search engine that groups the results by topic via automated clustering technology? Vivisimo
Science-specific search engine? Scirus
All-in-one research search tool? Schoolr
Tool to help me collect, manage, and cite my research sources? Zotero
Tool that generates detailed statistics about the visitors to my website? Google Analytics
Tool to search, discover, rank and compare different sites around the world? Alexa
Tool to search the full text of books? Google Book Search
Tool to search for scholarly literature? Google Scholar
Tool to search for patents? Google Patent Search
Tool that sends me email updates of the latest relevant Google results (e.g. e-Learning)? Google Alerts
Energy saving search engine? Blackle
Online visual dictionary and thesaurus? Visuwords
World digital library? World Digital Library
Tool to build and distribute my own digital library? Greenstone
Site to find and search across all OpenCourseWare (OCW) courses? OpenCourseWare Consortium
Repository and learning network of Open Educational Resources (OER)? OER Commons
Site to get the latest updates on OER and OCW? OER Blogs
Portal to non-formal OER and training resources? Open Training Platform
Encyclopedia of video tutorials to help me learn any software? Edumax or Wikivid
e-Book to learn more about e-learning 2.0? Learning 2.0 eBook
Site to learn more about rapid e-learning? The Rapid e-Learning Blog
Site to learn more about Online Course Development? Hitchhiker’s Guide to Course Development
Crash course in learning theory? Click here!
Database of Learning Theories? Click here & here!
Tool to help me understand and use learning styles effectively? Learning Styles Online.com
Repository of creative and critical thinking tools? Mycoted to the rescue!
Route to learn more about the 21st century skills? Route 21
Repository of how everything works? HowStuffWorks
Repository of lectures from the world's top scientists? Videolectures.NET
Repository of resources and simulation tools to learn more about nanotechnology? The nanoHUB
Directory of academic open access repositories? OpenDOAR
Site covering today's top social, political, and tech issues? FORA.tv
Site to improve my learning skills? Study Guides & Strategies
Gaming tool to help me learn ICT? ReviseICT.co.uk
Tool to improve my typing skills? Peter's Online Typing Course
Tool to improve my reading skills? ZAP Reader
Interactive courseware to improve my workplace skills? ALISON
Multimedia site that enhance our understanding of war and its history? Maps-of-War
3D human anatomy visualization tool? Visible Body
Site to learn languages? Free Language
Tool to explore the World? Google Earth
Tool to explore the Universe? WorldWide Telescope
Tool to visualize human development? Gapminder
Tool to answer all my questions? Wolfram|Alpha, Google Squared or Answer.com
Site with talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers? TED is a good starting point!
Article to reveal the secrets of the super-learners? Click here!
Link to the most innovative web 2.0 (and 3.0) lab in the world? Google Labs
Tool to stumble upon and discover great websites, videos, photos, etc. ? StumbleUpon
Daily newsletter that keeps me updated with the latest news on online learning? Stephen's OLDaily
Site dedicated to tracking the changes occurring in education today? Open Education