Inspiration Graphic Organization

Wow, I can't believe a whole month has gone by since my first post. Well Instructional Technology class has been keeping me busy. Since creating the newsletter I have created a concept map using Inspiration. A free graphic design program that I downloaded to my computer. I also created a hypermedia power point program that can be used as a review game and I learned about Google Docs and created a spreadsheet through that program.

I'll focus on the Inspiration assignment this time. I was already for using graphic organizers in teaching science. I think it is so much easier to remember concepts when they are presented visually and you can see the relationship between items. The inspiration program made it easy to create a concept map. The hardest part of the assignment was deciding what topic to do and how to arrange it!

The things I liked about the program

• ability to move graphics around, even whole sections at a time while connected with links
• easy to insert pictures
• easy to insert hyperlinks
• ability to color code sections
• plenty of work space
• free!
• easy enough for students to use
• Inspiration/Kidspiration websites had plenty of examples

I would recommend using Inspiration or Kidspiration to create concept maps for your classroom. I would also recommend that students try to create one themselves. It is fun!