Screencasts, mind maps etc.

Today we spent most of the day exploring screen capture technology, and mind map creation software. It was definitely informative as I had never used either type of technology before (I have made mind maps with paper and pen in the past... but never digitally).

Some of the quick examples I made of each are below. The first is a jpeg image of a mind map created with help from the bubbl.us website. The second is a youtube clip of a screencast I made using screencast-o-matic.com, showing how to use bubbl.us to create mindmaps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-GeKlnSg9s

I can definitely see that introducing students to these technologies would be very useful. Students would be able to use these to create mindmaps and to create tutorials. If I had had more time, it would have been easy to add sound to my tutorial, which is something that I would love to teach students how to do.

Also we took a look at collaborative software and websites like googledocs, imaginationcubed.com and dabbleboard.com which would also be something which I might introduce my students to. In particular I think that googledocs would be a wonderful tool for extending class participation outside of the brick and mortar classroom. Students would be able to access a collaborative space in a word document or spreadsheet form wherein they could share information and ideas. The other sites would be less useful as they cannot host a whole class in one space, but I feel that students who are working on presentations or homework together would love to know about this technology.

Still working on the animation. Its coming along. Slowly!!!!