Professional tool
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Definition
- (In this context) we define a professional tool as a tool that is used in a work context and hat has been mainly developped for it.
- In education, and in particular in the school system, that kind of software seems to be the most popular category of educational technolgogies.
- There may be several interrelated explanations:
- Such tools are used in the real world and therefor did demonstrate their usefulness within given tasks.
- Such tools are used in the "real world", therefore augment authenticity and learner motivation
- Such tools are well suited to support project-oriented learning scenarios, i.e. support activity-based teaching
- Teachers know how to use them (e.g. they use them to prepare courses or demonstrations).
Different types
- Office tools (word processors, speadsheets, presentation tools)
- Some cognitive tools like concept maps and note-taking tools like the Scribe note-taking application
- Internet publication tools like web-pages, CMSs
- Reference managers, links managers, etc., in particular those who allow to share informations with others.
- Computer-assisted design tools
- Simulation and modeling tools
- Visualization tools
- .....