Elearning Tools and Resources: Writing Content and Tools

Looking for good elearning tools online for writing? Here is a list of great tried and tested tools for electronic learning that will help instructors and instructional designers to save a lot of precious time. A wealth of resources for writing courses has always been available in the internet; the key is to determine which ones are usable and accurate. Guides on documentation, citation, grammar, research, and writing in general are available in the following:

* EasyBib – EasyBib is a software that helps with citations. Of course, a lot of these kinds of applications are available online. Some of them are free and some are not. However, most of them do not provide accurate results. And of course, accuracy is the most important factor in citations. For young students of course, using citation software would result in dependency. But for those who feel that it is okay for their students to use citation software, then have them use EasyBib because it is easy to use, free, and precise.

*Bartleby – Bartleby.com is a great place to find reference texts for a broad range of topics. Classic literatures that are free of copyrights because they were published at a certain date are all accessible from this site. This is a great resource for those looking on information on authors, quotations, whole texts from Emily to Grey’s Anatomy quotes.

*Dictionary.com – This is a one stop shop kind of website for anyone in need of definitions, synonyms, or antonyms. Dictionary.com is great because the entries are complete and extensive. Examples of the words usage are provided. Latin and Greek etymological roots are also listed. It’s definitely one of those invaluable elearning tools one can’t live without.

*Norton Field Guide to Writing – This is one of the best resources for any writer. And now, it’s free online. This is not only great for students, teachers and writers will also benefit from this resource. There are lots of links to writing tutorials and samples. There are also guides to documentation and research. One can also find inspiration in the writing exercises provided here.

*OWL – OWL was created in Purdue University. It is basically a writing lab for both teachers and students. There are short module guides for essay, outline, and research writing. There are also slide show lessons on how to write papers and explanations of literary analysis.

Visuwords – This is unique from most reference type elearning tools. Visuword is a visual dictionary and thesaurus. This certainly has many advantages especially to any course that is geared towards young children. Visuword has a unique color coding system to organize and index each part of speech so that it can easily be identified. Therefore, it can also serve grammar courses. Visuwords is linked to Dictionary.com.

Research and Documentation Online – The major styles of writing formal papers have always been an issue to many students and not all elearning tools online are complete. Research and Documentation Online is a complete resource to help guide learners on how to follow the correct format whether it is in APA or MLA style.