Week Three

This week was spent exploring the graphic organizers listed. I had used inspiration with my children on projects they completed for the middle school and found it easy to use, colorful and useful in organizing their work. I felt the use of inspiration increased their understanding of the material covered.

Bubbl.Us
Is a brainstorming web application. It is quick and easy to use. It is free and you can easily create simple bubble graphic organizers. I believe this would be a simple application for the students to use as well.

The Cmap tool could not be down loaded onto my work laptop and so had to wait.

Education Oasis
Seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers. This site was also free.

Exploratree
Was also a free online application. It used thinking guides which are tools or frameworks for thinking through an issue. You had the freedom to create you own or use a ready made thinking guide. They seemed to be pretty well organized and easy to use. I viewed several of the ready made guides and found them apperanty useful, though they each contained a category that confused me. I created a link to a thinking guide I used to critiue or evaluate the exploratree site. http://www.exploratree.org.uk/c/?x=father710223803u993horse

Hope it works, let me know what you think.

* bubbl.us brainstorming web application
* creates bubbles in a graphic organizer
* very easy to use
* limited to bubbles and colors but quick and dirty


Cmap tools needed to be downloaded to my computer which I cannot due on my laptop

Downloaded to my desk top easily enough. Found it much less intuitive than the others though that may be because it is more powerful. Yet to be determined. I could not gain access to the public Cmaps which was frustrating. So overall I would have to give the Cmap an incomplete though it is lacking in convenience and ease of use.

Inspiration used in the past bubbl.us seemed to be the same at its basic level

Education Oasis graphic organizers

* seemed to be helpful though not opened ended as the others still an instructor may find some very useful preformed organizers.

Exploratree

Use thinking Guides tools or framework for thinking through an issue.

you can create from scratch or you can use a ready made thinking guide, pretty flexible and free, can work collaboratively but only one at a time hmmmm.

I have used power point in the past to produce flow charts or graphic organizers I could see how each of these tools would aid in their production.