The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) recently compiled a list of this year’s top 25 free websites for teaching and learning.

Each site comes with a description of how it can be used by teachers or students, and while some of the sites are specifically academic, many provide online and mixed-technology solutions for anyone interested in collaborative, interactive, or long distance projects and communication.

Here are just a few of their suggestions, and how they could be used in the business world:

Mindmeister

Finally an organizational site for the visual thinker. Mindmeister’s mind map format is easy good for brainstorming, outlining documents, taking minutes, and general project planning and management. The maps can be stored securely online, and accessed from anywhere in real-time, allowing everyone viewing the maps to see changes as they are made.

Polleverywhere

This site allows you to conduct interactive polls almost anywhere without the need for specialized hardware. Ask a question and people can text, twitter, or use a website to send their response. The results can then be updated live directly into your web browser or Power Point presentation.

SimplyBox

Do you remember clipping pictures and articles out of magazines? Well now you can do that online too. Simply box lets you quickly and easily capture, organize, and share information found anywhere on the web. Members are able to box and save information from anywhere on the web. By returning to the Simply Box website members can drag and drop their clippings to lay them out in whatever way seems appropriate. They can also view the clippings as they originally appeared, see where and when they took the clipping, return to the original site with a single click, make notes on the various clippings, and even share the clippings and comments with others.

Skype

By now it seems that almost everyone has heard of this free online video call program. Not only can you use the program to get long distance face time with your clients, but you can also invite distant speakers and lecturers to join board meetings and conferences without having to fly them out in person. For a small fee, you can also use Skype to call and take calls from conventional phone lines.

And Much More…

Useful sites like these can be found throughout the list, and I suggest that anyone considering an e-learning solution of their own should take a close look at every recommended site, even those that do not look like they directly serve your needs.

Remember, each site is either geared towards education or can be made to serve an educational function. By looking at what librarians and teachers are doing to help each other out you may get some good ideas for what sort of resources you want to include in your own online planning, online communication, or e-learning package.

For the full list, vist the AASL section of the American Librarian Association’s website.