DOWN 6 places in 2021

Microsoft Word is a popular and versatile word processing tool used for creating all kinds of documents.

Website: microsoft.com/word
Cost: Commercial. Free Trial
Availability: Download. Online at Office365

Ranking on the 2021 sub-lists

Overall rankings in the previous 14 surveys: 2007-2020

Comments on Word in 2021

“I do not think that I have ever listed Word as one of my top tools … even though I have used Word for the past two decades (WordPerfect before that!).  But in reflecting on my work this past year, much of that work involved mentoring doctoral students on their dissertations … and that meant lots of back and forth editing in Word documents.” Britt Watwood, Academic, Canada

“Yes, not totally pleased about the provider, but I have yet to find a tool with better industrial strength outlining. And, well, I’ve been using it since around 1989, so…there’s some familiarity…” Clark Quinn, Author and Consultant, USA

“I use Word to collect training notes and ideas that I am not yet ready to collate into a polished presentation. I also use Word to organize the weekly micro-learnings that I send out to my colleagues.” Quality Assurance and Training Administrator, USA

“easy to create lesson plan and worksheets for students” Caroline, teacher, Malaysia

Previous comments

“I am constantly using Word to track what I am doing, write reports, formulate my thoughts, design course materials, document references – I am amazed at how it continues to evolve and meets all my needs. It seems only limited by how much time I can spend learning about what else it can do but, even so, it’s very intuitive to use.” Aaron Johannes, Instructor / Consultant / Researcher, Canada, 2020

“I’ve been using Word for years, so I’m familiar with most of its features. I use it to take notes, gather ideas, and write elearning module scripts. Of course, I use it to write letters and produce other formal documents as well.” Training Manager, Switzerland, 2020

“use it for making documents such as handouts, assessments, promotional material” Steve, Teacher, Australia, 2020

“Ease of use, familiar, easy review of content and sharing as most users also have this program. Now supported in Dropbox too.” Tracie Regan, Instructional Designer, Australia, 2020

“Flexible word processing. Great for reflection and for organizing information.” Elaine Carr, Instructional Design Manager, USA, 2020

“Writing is arguably the top way I reflect. And, so that’d put Microsoft Word at the top of my list. That’s where I write books and articles first … Writing is a way to sort out how I think about things.” Clark Quinn, USA

“Rapid development of complex documents (table of contents, list of references, great templates) Plus, easy to ensure document is fully 508 compliant and available for everyone to access.” Penny Pearson, Coordinator, USA, 2020

“When it comes to producing stuff (i.e. resources), I now believe in keeping things as simple as possible; I don’t over-engineer content. I find that I can quickly create effective content using basic tools like Word and PowerPoint. At the end of the day, the people I create the content for are adults and don’t need trivial or gratuitous “bells and whistles” to be encouraged to read the stuff – they just want the content.” Jane Hart, 2020

Quick Guide to Word 

Here you will find some links to some guidance and links that look at how to use Word for teaching, training, learning and development.