My time in Mumbai has been frantic. Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I ran 12 one and half hour long sessions on the ITGS syllabus and assessments. It was intensive, demanding and immensely beneficial.

I frequently refer to Dale’s learning cone in my presentations and consider it as I teach, but this workshop reinforced the accuracy of this research. The best way to learn something and retain it is to teach it. My level of understanding of the ITGS course has improved dramatically. This experience has been, on a professional level hugely beneficial.

One of the expectations set for me as a workshop leader was to model appropriate teaching techniques within my workshop. This is a dilemma in many ways as with any course of fixed and limited duration (we only had 18 hours), and a vast volume of content we had to cover, the first port of call for conveying this information is “The lecture”. I have to be honest, for some of the sessions it was a chalk and talk approach. But I tried to build into each session interactive elements, often collaborative to reinforce concepts and processes, to illustrate and elluminate, I tried to model teaching techniques I had used successfully with my ITGS students to stimulate the delegates. Providing different styles of media, varying tasks from butcher paper to wikis and wordle, providing video stimulus material and engaging in delegate presentations and reviews marking examination and assessment material to writing specimen questions and publishing these on the wiki. These thing help to provide variation for me and to engage those learners.

18 hours seems like a huge amount of time at first glance. It seemed to me as I approached and prepared for the workshop to be a lifetime, but the reality is that it is too short a period of time if you are going to engage in more than just lecture style, chalk and talk teaching. If you want you participants/delegates/students to learn by: doing, demonstrating, or by teaching; if you want them to participate, engage, consider, question, practice, experiment, attempt, reflect, evaluate, debate, argue, disagree, critique, support and contribute then 18 hours is too short a timeframe.

One challenge is to pick what is essential and to deliver it in a mode that maximises it value for the participants. I was provided with access to my participants via email for weeks prior to the workshop and I was able to get from them an indication of what they wanted from their learning experience. This combined with the goals and objectives of the workshop made the job easier. My role was easier still by the commitment of the participants who works happily through out the 3 days.

The second challenge is to not sit back and just recycle the materials I have when I next come to present a workshop, to learn from my experiences and to change and modify my approaches as a result. But this is how we should approach teaching too. It is not acceptable to develop a course of work, or a unit of learning and deliver it verbatim year in year out. Our teaching practice and our curricula should be living things changing, adapting, maturing and evolving.

When it comes to setting goals I like the SMART concept:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timely

The goals we set for our program or project must be transparent.

The goals and objectives we set need to be very specific. When examined the goals and the  benefits derived from them must be clearly and easily seen. How often have we seen objectives and goals that clouded, complex and broad. Many goals also tend to be fluid and dynamic, a moving goal like a moving target is much hard to hit.

Part of any successful project, and therefore its goals is being able to measure when you have achieved it, how far you have progressed and how far you have to go. Hence our goals & objectives should be measurable. We need to be able to accurately set the goals and the milestones we need to reach them. To be measurable we need to breakdown the task, project or program into small steps or increments.

Each step we take in completing our task should be achievable. For it to be something we can complete we should consider several different aspects:

• Cost – can we do it within our budget?
• Skills – do we have the skills to complete this or do we have to use other skills sources
• Resources - do we have the resources available to achieve the goal?
• Do we have time to complete this task? Can we do it within the time frame we have?

One of the biggest questions to ask is “Is this project Relevant?” This refers back to the expectations of the community that is driving the project or program. With in relevance we should ask “what are the benefits of this programme or project?” What will we be able to deliver? Will these be relevant, useful and appropriate to our end users?

Our goals must be timely. We need the project to be delivered and available when we need it and when our students need it. The timing for the goals & objectives and there milestones we take must be specific, achieveable and realistic.

Our goals and objectives must bring benefits to us. To obtain these benefits these outcoms we must be able to plan to reach these goals. Setting and planning for goals should be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

Here is one quote from the article

“In Denmark, the government has taken the bold step of allowing pupils full access to the internet during their final school year exams.
A total of 14 colleges in Denmark are piloting the new system of exams and all schools in the country have been invited to join the scheme by 2011.”

Doesn’t this make sense? Isn’t this reflective of what we expect our graduate to do? Isn’t this preparing them for the future?

Many, many schools have invest huge amounts of time, effort and money in integrating the use of technology in the classroom. It is clear that this investment is as valuable as teaching students to write was in the pen and papers days of the mid 20th century. Technology should be ubiquitous. Do we say to students you must learn how write with a pen and then give them a crayon in an examination?

Now the technology they are discussing here is so much more than a pen and paper, a mere means of communication. We all know the power of the internet, the facilities inherent in a spreadsheet or a word processor, the tools for communication in an instant, synchronously anywhere anytime.

Here is another quote…

“One of the teachers stands in front of the class and explains the rules. She tells the candidates they can use the internet to answer any of the four questions.
They can access any site they like, even Facebook, but they cannot message each other or email anyone outside the classroom”

In the “real” world beyond the gates of the classroom memorization of all knowledge is not a per-requiste and  what is valued is Information fluency, the ability to:

• identify
• access
• process
• present
• and suitably cite and reference

pertinent and appropriate information. To do this you MUST have a good depth of knowledge. The Danish in this trial have realised that the ability to research and process is key. You can guarantee that the questions asked in the examination will be one requiring higher order thinking skills (See Blooms Digital taxonomy). These questions will not require memorization, definitions or simple regurgitation of facts. Rather these lower order thinking skills will be inherent in the Analysis, Evaluation and Creativity expected in the probing and challenging questions set.

There is also an element of trust, ownership and responsibility too in their approach. “The main precaution is that we trust them. I think the cheat rate is very low because the consequences of cheating are very big.”

In trusting them, our students, it implies you have developed a relationship with them. They are not just number in a class, they are not just contributors to your workload. In trusting them and placing the onus of responsibility on them the students are owners of their learning. (see the digital citizen)

I will watch this process with interest, as for me this approach ticks many of the boxes of 21st century learning and assessment.

Recently, I have been working on a program for the senior school and it is interesting to reflect on this. The first point of reflection is the “why” question. Why do we want to incorperate technology into the program, and this isn’t just a technology program it is actually about any form of change.

I believe that this is directed from 5 different sets of stakeholders who will influence to greater of lesser extent the change in schools. Each brings with them a bias and a unique perspective to the process of change. For some the change is on a macro level and for others on a micro scale.

They are:

• The government, school district or legislative body over seeing the school
• The school board
• The community
• the teaching staff
• the students

Arching above all, is the legislative body responcible for education. These have a huge influence and often as not, they set direction for  education. They can provide clarity and purpose, focus and support.

Unfortuantely, these are usually political appointments and while often done with best of intents, are reactionary, popularist and frequently uninformed. Am I being harsh? Yes, perhaps I am but realistically, politicians are making decisions from their lofty view point which is poles apart from the perspective of the classroom teacher or the young learner in the classroom. Most politicians and administrators at a senior level have never been in a classroom or if they have it was years prior and in a 19th Century paradigm. We only need to look at well intentioned but nightmarish programmes like NCLB or national standards which have failed in so many countries to see this.

School boards provide the financial control for the school. They help shape direction of the school. They make appointments, approve projects and ally shape the environment of learning.

Usually, containing elected members of the community, they are meant to be the peoples voice, and indeed many are. But like politicans, the experience of most board members is harkening back to their own school days. Many will see the integration of Technology as important and will feel that more computers is a good thing, but the mechanics in a classroom? The oneof the things that oncerns me about school boards is the tendency for them to attract crusaders. Those on a mission to become elected, to bring in their agenda or ideas, to right percieved wrongs. How often do we see a very limited selection of nominees for school boards, and those who do nominate themselves having an often worthy agenda but with a limited perspective or holistic overview?

The communities influence is often a quieter one, the average parent who does not have time to be a board member as they are working to put food on the table. And as such does not have a great deal of influence except in the carpark as they talk amongst themselves or when they vote with their feet.

Parents want their children to succeed. They want them to be engaged and motivated and enjoying school. They too are influenced by their own educational experiences and this often temers their view of what happens in the classroom. The classic “it  worked for me and look how I turned out.” comments. If the only mode of education you have experienced is teacher centric, chalk and talk, rote learning; the dynamic, flexible and sometimes seemlingly chaotic world of students centric differentitated learning can be disconcerting. So the community to brings in its bias.

Teachers are the catalysts of change. Like a chemical reaction depended on a catalyst you can bring the reagents together, foster an optimal environment, but without the catalyst the reaction is painfully slow often to the point of being immeasurably tiny. Add the catalyst and the reaction proceeds at pace.

In a chemical reaction, the catalyst is often not used up or effected. In the classroom, teachers are always effected and to frequently are changed or just worn out. So we must have a supply of new catalysts – this places an onus of responcibility on pre-service educators.

The quietest of voices and alas the least influencial of stakeholders is the students themselves. Those on whom we are bestowing our educational wisdom, our hope and future, have the least say in direction. This is a hard balance to make how much influence should a student have on their learning? They can lack the wisdom (wisdom = Knowledge + experience) to be able to plot a learning course. They are often living in the now rather than considering the future. They struggle to scaffold and conceptualise why we proceed as we do in the classroom.

BUT does this mean they should not have an input, they should not be involved in shaping the direction of their learning? No they are vital, we must have their buy in, but unfortunately we can actually and do survive with out this.

So where does this leave us?

The shape of any program or change within a school is shaped by the degree of influence of these 5 stakeholders.  For collaborative, sustainable change to occur the expectations of all the groups must be considered and balanced.

Change is  influenced by the expectations and drivers of each of these groups. Sustainable change will see the expectations of each group considered, valued and balanced. The overall goals and objectives are derived from this.

One of the problems that all of the productivity suites have is the level of complexity for the younger students. Many adult users do not come close to the full capacity of their productivity suite and students particularly in the younger years certainly wont.

So imagine my suprise when this morning Miguel Guhlin and Julie Lindsay both posted in there blogs about OOo4Kids – open Office for Kids.

This is great. Its still in Beta, but the screenshots look excellent and I have downloaded the Beta to trial.

The layout is simplified, the icons larger and clear and better suited for the younger learners. The removal of the majority of the buttons makes its more applicable (see below). I am looking forward to this coming out of Beta and into Gold.

So it suits younger users, is free, small download, is ethical (you are not pirating it). Excellent

http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Main_Page

Download – http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Download

Video demo – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJkyPcP-TeU&feature=player_embedded

The Digital Citizen Acceptable use agreement details six facets of behaviour that a digital citizen should follow to be an appropriate and respectful digital citizen. The statements are kept deliberately broad and generalised and provide outlines for suitable behaviour.

As we are working to implement this, I have been asked to expand on the different aspects or facets and give the students some more concrete ideas about what they need to do to be respectful and protect themselves. So the list below represents some starting points for taking the Six facets of digital citizenship into the real world we operate in.

Respecting and Protecting yourself by:

1. looking after your hardware appropriately, carrying your laptop/mobile device in a bag, securing it in a safe place and keeping it charged

2. saving your work regularly

3. backing up important data regularly (recommended minimum is weekly)

4. scanning your computer for viruses regularly, update the virus definitions regularly.

5. applying patches and updates to your operating systems and software

6. selecting suitable online names, that you can use in professional communications

7. selecting strong passwords and changing these regularly. Recommendations are:

• 8 characters or more

• Number and letters

• Special characters

• Upper and lower case

8. protecting your passwords, don’t share these with anyone. Locking your computer.

9. managing your files

10. using descriptive file names

11. creating and organising into folders

12. considering what personal information is made public. This can be on your social networking site, when you sign up to services or register software.

13. only put required information in online profiles.

14. considering who you allow to be your friends online.

15. building positive relationships online, keeping these open and transparent. Being cautious in who we share information with and who we meet.

16. posting only material that portrays you in a positive light.

17. consider which images of yourself you publish

18. keep email addresses and personal details private

19. considering carefully when and where I use my credit card details etc

20. remembering anything you say online is public and usually permanent

21. reporting any attacks or inappropriate behaviour directed at you

22. acting with integrity and respect.

Respecting and Protecting others by:

1. reporting abuse to appropriate authorities when I see it.

2. not flaming or abusing people

3. not forwarding junk mail, spam or inappropriate materials

4. not visiting sites that are degrading or inappropriate

5. not entering private spaces or change other people pages

6. informing people appropriately when they have left open their profile etc

7. not using anyone else accounts, log ons etc.

8. asking permission before I publish images ot content that may contain details about other people.

9. respecting other people’s rights to privacy and anonymity

10. respecting the trust others have in me by protecting other people email, IM and skype addresses and contact details.

11. protecting other on my network by having a protected, updated and antivirus checked computer.

12. always acting with integrity and respect.

Respecting and Protecting Intellectual Property by:

1. having an understanding of the rules and laws applying to:

• copyright
• intellectual property
• Fair use
• creative commons

2. asking permission before I use materials and respect the owners decision regarding this material.

3. only using software and media that I have permission to use. This can be material made available under creative commons or the public domain, material I have purchased etc.

4. not sharing my media or software with others unless the license allows me to do this.

5. using free and open source alternative software and medias instead of pirating licensed or copy written ones.

6. registering my software and alway considering what information I need to provide the company. I will read the options and make sure that I understand that my information and details may be distributed and sold.

7. validating all information sources

8. citing my information sources using a suitable bibliography method.

9. giving credit to and acknowledge people and sources that have influenced my thinking or products.

10. Acting with integrity and respect

This is not meant to replace the six facets rather is an expansion and some detail on what each means. I would as always appreciate any feedback regarding this.

This material is available as a PDF or in an expanded form on the Edorigami wiki

]]> http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2009/10/29/digital-citizenship-aup-expanded/feed/ 3 http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2009/10/26/standards-presume-good-intent-or/ http://edorigami.edublogs.org/2009/10/26/standards-presume-good-intent-or/#comments Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:33:57 +0000 andrewch http://edorigami.edublogs.org/?p=1069 Claire replied to my last post on standards and I commented. As I wrote the comment I felt this is possibly more that just a reply, so I have posted it here. Thanks Claire

There is a sign on a wall of an office near my classroom that says “Presume good intent“. I believe that intention here is good.
As I said in the post I use standards all the time. I am moderator for the International Baccalaureate organisation. I moderate their standards and my moderation is also moderated.

I don’t have a problem with standards if they are used for the improvement of learning. I do have a problem with the baggage that goes with them. I do have a problem with ranking kids, in marking them above or below the norm. I do have a problem with the potential for league tables and ranking teachers. With workloads and teaching to the test.

While I was in the States earlier this year, I saw the impact of national testing. I saw teachers who taught to the test for an entire year. I spoke to teachers who were focusing only on the national tests and forsaking  all other teaching because, quite literally, their jobs depended on it. I spoke to administrators desperate to make a difference but tied to a funding system dependent on students making the national grade.

I don’t want to see teacher teaching to the “test’ oophs standard. I don’t want to see teachers performance in the classroom based on one or two annual events. We all ready see this in secondary schools with national examinations. I want to see flexible, dynamic teaching, with a clear and robust reporting system that helps and supports the learning of our children, rather than ranking or graphing.

I don’t want to lose the teachable moment for the sake of rote learning a book for the national standard.

We are not looking at national testing, we are looking at standards. The intention is a good one. The intention is, in my opinion, to clarify communications with parents and help all 3 sides of the hone-school-student partnership to understand where they are going. However, much that I have heard fails to convince me that this intention will become a reality.  There is too much other stuff blurring the focus and fuzzying the edges.

I hope we don’t see teaching to the test, league tables, performance linked employment, ranking students & classes & teachers & schools.  As Greg said in his blog “I only know of ONE principal who has told their BoT this is going to be great.  And that’s because they see it as a great marketing opportunity and a way to sock it to their neighboring schools.”

I want to see dynamic, exciting, vibrant learning & the child,  school, home partnership enthused with clear communications and the appropriate use of standards.

You never know we might be the first country in the world to get it right!

There is another adage that sadly does spring to mind. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions“.

Educational standards provide a platform for equity, a target to work to and beyond, a framework to scaffold learning from.

I don’t have a problem with reporting either. I believe the relationship between school and home is vital and the reporting system we currently have is the opposite of 21st century educational goals of transparency, timely and appropriate feedback.

I do however, have a number of problems with the potential outcomes of the implementation of national standards.

I am troubled in the first instance that standards of learning are set against age, with the expectation that each child at this age will be measured and judged against these criteria. This fails to take into account that children mature and develop differently. It fails to account for the differences between boys and girls.

I am concerned that whether intended or not, the graphing of the child’s performance against a bench mark criteria of “normal” performance will have children condemned irrespective of their actual learning. For the struggling child who has made huge progress forward, who is striving to reach their potential but falls below the benchmark for their age, they are judged by this standard not by their actual learning. For the unmotivated and unengaged student who scores well above the bench mark will be marked as achieving or succeeding while they are well below their potential. This is not accurate or appropriate feedback.

I am concerned that education will become a competition, with Johnny measured against the illusionary milestone of achievement for cohort.

I am concerned about normal distribution and the bell shaped curve creeping in. A standard does not conform to the bell shaped curve.

I am fearful that the next step we may see is national testing. That the scourge of NCLB may visit us. That we may see education and learning in schools focusing wholly on achieving good scores or standards rather than fostering creativity. This is the sad reality of many schools in America. Where the focus of  a year’s learning is achieving at the national standard at the cost of so many other educational endeavours.

I am worried for those children’s whose talents do not lie in the academic realms of the 3R’s Readin, Riting & rythmatic will be ostracised, marked as failures and not recognised for the talents and diversity they have.

I am frightened that these tests will be used to form a league table measuring schools. In NCLB failure to reach certain levels results in reduced funding, sanctions and in some case closure. The same could happen here with selection of schools based on performance to inaccurate standards tied inaccurately to the perception that a “normal” child can do this by this stage of their school career.

I am concerned that this increased loading on teachers will hamper teaching and learning and make teaching less attractive. That other activities will be sacrificed, that the focus may change from the whole person – well rounded, balanced, inquiring, questioning, curious, imaginative, creative, analytical and evaluative – to a more singular purpose of achieving against the national standard or god forbid mean.

BUT YES I SUPPORT STANDARDS

I want to know that my children have reach this standard or that, not that they are in 95th percentile for the country. I want clear statements that detail what my child can or can’t do – these are standards. I want to know whether they are focused, engaged and motivated or struggling, bored or out of their depth. I want to know the progression of levels that my child’s learning would progress through as they mature as a learner, I need to know where they are in that progression and if they are in need of support and assistance or challenge and extension (or even both).

But I don’t need to know they are at 30% compared to the norm. I don’t want a report that condemns them as poor, below average, an under achiever or dumb.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10604965

Accessing recreational sites during classes and while at work is an issue facing employers [3] and schools alike. The cost, in dollar terms, can be huge and in lost productivity, is significant. Various strategies are employed to manage this but these are often ineffective, draconian or dictatorial. How can we manage this issue better?

The digital world we live in provides us with ample opportunities to work any where and conversely play anywhere. We often see our students sitting in the corridors, on the edge of wireless connectivity, web surfing during their break times, lunch hours and before and after school. The ubiquitous connectivity that modern devices presents us means that essentially we are online anytime. This is both a blessing and a curse.

Recent articles in ITNEWS[2] and the New Zealand Herald [1] have highlighted the cost that universal connectivity can bring to industry. IT News reported that as much as 40% of the companies bandwidth is used for non business related web activity.[2] The New Zealand Herald reported that this level of activity cost the New Zealand economy 2.7 million dollars a day.[1] At work, unlike school such activities can have huge repercussions for the work including dismissal [4].

As teachers, we must prepare our students for the world they live in now, but also for the world beyond the walls and boundaries of our institutions. This includes when it is appropriate to surf and when it is not.

The Digital Citizen [5] has an understanding of when and where it is appropriate to use the internet and online resources for recreational purposes. They know what time it is!

As teachers and administrators, we can help to develop and scaffold the self management skills and attitudes of our digital citizens. These will stand them well in the wider world beyond our gates. We do this, not by having restrictions, rather by gradually removing them; by encouraging an ethical approach to the use of technologies rather than applying draconian measures.

So how can we educate our students? Is it appropriate to unleash unfettered internet access on Middle School students? The answer is no. Students, particularly those in the middle years live in the now. They are in a period of great change, growth and are often experimenting and pushing boundaries. Here we need to provide guidelines and restrictions as they are often morally and ethically immature.

But as the students enter into the Senior School, it is appropriate to shift the focus of control from the teachers to the students. This is not to say “its all open, of you go” rather it is appropriate to gradually release the controls and shift the onus of responsibility on to the students.

We need to have clearly established guidelines for what is and is not acceptable, and we also need to be able to justify why these are not acceptable. For some aspects this is easy. For example surfing pornography is unacceptable for a number of reasons ranging from the legal to the ethical and moral aspects of it being an industry founded on abuse, portraying an unrealistic and inappropriate view of relationships and sex.

But what about facebook, myspace and other social networking sites? These are not fundamentally unethical. Often schools will block these sites as they are potentially opportunities for cyberbullying. But this strategy will not stop them being used for this rather it drives the practice underground and after school.

A better and more constructive approach to social networking sites (and other recreational sites) is to set clear guidelines for their use and make them available. Informing the students that the use of computers in class is strictly for educational purposes and other activities are detracting from their learning, sets the foundations for this. Informing them, Senior Students, that they can in their own time (before and after school, interval and lunch) access social networking/recreational sites, as long as their behaviour is appropriate and acceptable, brings the use of these sites from the realm of proxy tunnels and hidden activity and into the open. Student surfing and accessing social networking sites during learning time are suitably dealt with, while appropriate use in their own time is rewarded by continued access.

This style of approach prepares students for a world where the consequences of inappropriate activity are far more severe and potentially far reaching. We, as educators facilitate appropriate behaviours and chastise those that fail to reach these. The students who use technologies that bypass our restrictions are obviously accessing sites that are deemed unacceptable and inappropriate, rather than just trying to access their social networks or email.

The traditional approach of blocking just drives the behaviours underground and away from school environments. These approaches, blocking and banning do reduce the incidents at school but are hardly a holistic approach. Where as a partnership, based on trust and understanding, supported by the six facets of digital citizenship [5] makes the use of these site open, manageable and transparent. Students develop the skills and attitudes that will stand them in good stead beyond our gates, in the world of employment and further education.

References:

1. Hart. Steve, Saturday Jul 19, 2008 Slackers hurting net result http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/news/article.cfm?c_id=11&objectid=10522283
2. Williams Ian, Feb 11, 2009 IT Managers losing control of the network http://www.itnews.com.au/News/136844,it-managers-losing-control-of-the-network.aspx

3. staff writer 11 September 2007 facebooks costs businesses dear http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6989100.stm

4. staff writer Saturday, 25 April 2009 ‘Ill’ worker fired over Facebook http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8018329.stm

5. Churches, Andrew. The Digital Citizen. http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen

• Productivity suite – this is a word processor, presentation tool (slide style), Data processing tool (Spreadsheet) – this could be iWorks, MS Office or Open Office
• Image editing tool - alter and edit existing images and pictures – there is a wide selection of tools from companies like adobe, Corel or OSS products like The GIMP
• Graphics tool – this is a tool that allows me to create graphics – this can also be an image editor too (See above) add in Paint.net, Tux paint etc
• Mind mapping tool – these are brilliant tools often called graphical organisers – examples are Mind manager, Inspiration or OSS tools like Freemind and C-Map
• Web development tools – this could be a simple text editor or a more complex html tool – there is the standard Adobe Dreamweaver or OSS tools like KompoZer
• Video editor – Most operatings systems come with a basic video editor like iMovie and moviemaker, but these are limited.
• Audio editor - Mac has a beauty in garage band, and microsoft’s offering sound recorder is very poor. For me I like Audacity
• Media player – lots of flavours here, but you want a couple to cover all of the different codec – I quite like VLC
• Internet browser - A wide selection all have good and bad points I use IE, Firefox and Opera
• VoIP Client – Skype – what a stunner
• Communication tools - these are your email clients – Most OSes come with a simple version like Outlook express I like First class but its much more than just a email client
• Instant messaging tools – your choice of course – I use the First class IM tool and Skype
• Desk top publishing tools - Some are powerful and well respected and others are we friendly but not great – my preference is trhe OSS tool scribus
• CD/DVD creation tools
• Archiving tool – Winzip or even the windows archive tool

Specialist tools

• GIS tools (GIS = Geographical Information systems) – got to love Google earth
• Animation tools – I like SAM from TUFT University  – Free and very cool. I guess you could include Microsoft photostory in this category too.
• Comic creation tools - My favourite is plasq’s comic life but there are some online alternatives
• programming tools – I like and use VB.Net 2008 express, Game maker, Marvin
• project management tools - the OSS tools openproj and ganttproject are my favourites here
• PDF reader and creator. For my reader I can go past Adobe Acrobat Reader. For my creator – open office does this natively and cutepdf does the rest

Looking at this list most categories have a FOSS (Free or open source – these are in Bold) alternative. These are worth considering .

So what is missing and what could you add to a list of tools we need.