Some other options for concept mapping software

I was inspired by the YouTube video that Brianna found about Tablet PCs and thought this week I would explore YouTube to see what sorts of concept mapping software videos were posted there. (Yes, I did get distracted on YouTube for a few minutes -- but quickly got myself back on track :) I found a few things which all looked very interesting...

PiCoMap is a software for Palm Pilots which is explained in this video (the video is just under 9 minutes long). At first, I wasn't really sure what the benefit would be to having students do the concept maps on Palms instead of desktops or laptops, but the "Gloved Palm Ladies" (as the narrators refer to themselves) point out a couple of good reasons for using the palms. I think the implicit assumption is that this would be used in a school in which students are assigned Palm Pilots and use them for a number of different applications. I liked the idea of having students do their concept maps on a Palm. For one thing, the students become familiar with a new technology (the Palm). The students don't have to worry about losing drafts (since the Palm saves automatically). Also, if the teacher had covered several new concepts in class and wanted the kids to add them to their concept maps, it seems like it would be easy to have the students pull out their Palms and spend 5 minutes updating their concept maps (if the students were using desktops, all of that 5 minutes would be wasted getting to the computer lab and logging in).

Another video (around 1 minute long) that I found that shows some neat concept mapping software is this one about Tabula Touch. I'm not sure about its application in school environments, but it sure looks cool (and perhaps would be really useful for ESL students or students with language disabilities?).

Happy viewing!

Podcasting 101

As a complete newbie to the world of podcasting, I was fascinated by the links to Audacity.com and epodcast producer. I downloaded audacity.com and was able to record my voice. But as is mentioned in the CNET video, audacity is not really built as a podcasting application, which means that although I can easily record my voice, it actually would take a bit of work and know-how to turn that recording into a podcast. Not being familiar with FTP and xml and the other things mentioned by Brian Cooley, if I were going to do podcasting in my library, I would either need to take a class/have someone teach me how to turn an audacity recording into a podcast OR I would need to use epodcast producer. Although $250 is a lot of money, it would likely be worth the investment if I was going to use podcasting regularly in my library. I did notice that epodcast producer is only available for Windows, which made me wonder what similar products there are for Mac users. I did a little searching and came up with "podcast maker" which is a product made just for macs.
Given the right training and/or a fairly straightforward podcasting program, I would definitely be interested in having podcasting be a part of my library. I am very inspired by the collaborative technology projects that some of our classmates are doing that involve podcasts. I would be interested in using podcasts as a way to record and publish kids' book reviews. Also, I can imagine using podcasts as a way to introduce and recommend books.

Using Concept Maps

This week I thought it would be interesting to try out some concept mapping software. By far the most commonly used concept mapping software is Inspiration/Kidspiration (a version of Inspiration for grades K-5). I found out that you can download a free 30-day trial of either Inspiration or Kidspiration from http://www.inspiration.com/freetrial/index.cfm

I downloaded the Kidspiration software (warning... at least on my computer this took about 15 minutes!) and have played around with it a little bit. It is very user friendly, and even K and 1st graders could use it, as it will "speak" your choices to you (so you don't need to be a proficient reader. I haven't really used Kid Pix (basically PowerPoint for kids), but from the little I've seen of Kid Pix, Kidspiration seems similarly user-friendly (and the layout seems similar to Kid Pix as well, so if a kid had used one, I think they would be able to transition to the other fairly easily).

I also found this neat site which provides an overview of what concept mapping is, some ways to use concept maps and some good "coaching" questions to ask kids as they are creating their concept maps. They also discuss the advantages and limitations of concept mapping and provide several examples of concept maps made with Inspiration.

All for now,
Nat

Thoughts on DOPA

In this week's lecture we were asked to share our thoughts about the Deleting Online Predators Act (which now seems to be going by an additional name -- "Protecting Children in the 21st century act"). In any case, although it seems that the bill had good intentions... I mean, who doesn't want to protect kids from predators!...it doesn't seem well thought out to me. The way the bill is set up, it would ban any website that allowed networking and chatting. But in our increasingly web 2.0-type of world, LOTS of sites allow networking and chatting... and LOTS of them are educational (or at least have the potential to be). For instance, it would ban access to Flickr -- where currently the LOC has a bunch of its pictures posted -- and if a teacher wanted to have something like a book discussion blog, the access to that would be banned too.

And anyway, if the web is going to become more and more networky and chatty, but kids at school aren't allowed to access those types of sites, how on earth would we instruct them about how to chat safely or how to use social networking for educational reasons? Also, it seems like it would be holding the kids back from the most current technology.

As the article (The Moral Panic over Social-Networking sites by Roush) points out, passing DOPA would also serve to widen the digital divide in that kids whose only computer access was at school/the public library would be effectively banned from a whole (most current and exciting) segment of the web. They would be reduced to second-class web citizens only able to access web 1.0 type of sites.

For all these reasons, I would definitely not be in support of passing DOPA and am therefore glad it is tied up in committee in the Senate.

paper & pencil vs. computer based concept mapping

Hi Elise and Mariah,
I'm kind of glad that you both see some benefit in the pencil & paper method. Although technology is great, I too think it is important to not just "throw the baby out with the bathwater" so to speak. That being said, I definitely concur with both of you that there is a place for both the old and the new technologies. I love Elise's analogy of measure twice, cut once. And I think Mariah makes a great point regarding that we actually end up spending less time on the content if we get too sidetracked by all the bells and whistles of computer generated concept maps.

Actually, reading Mariah's thoughts on the pros and cons of pencil & paper vs. computer based concept mapping got me wondering if anyone has studied this. Well, they have! In an interesting study done eighth grade language arts students (who were using concept maps as a prewriting technique for an essay test), it was found that although the students using the computer based concept maps had better idea generation and higher quality of their prewriting concept maps, the students who used pencil & paper concept maps actually had better final essays. One reason the researchers think this was that case was that this was a timed test, and because the kids doing the computer generated concept maps spent quite a bit longer creating and tweaking their concept maps, they actually had less time to write and proof read.

More on which sort of concept map is best to use in which situation later!

concept mapping in the classroom

This article provides an interesting look at how concept maps can be used in the classroom, and why computer generated concept maps are better than their pencil and paper brethren. Initially the article points out how, when one is creating an outline of ideas, the flexibility provided by a concept map which is on a computer is preferable -- since you don't have to worry either about erasing or starting over. The article goes on to point out that by having your concept map on the computer, you can include hyperlinks and clip art as well as creative colors and designs. I also like that computer generated concept maps have templates (such as the poetry analysis template mentioned in the article). This could really come in handy to get a student started on an assignment.

At this point I started seeing that computer generated concept maps: pencil & paper concept maps as PowerPoint: (film) slideshows.
I don't know everyone's age -- but I certainly have seen and even (gasp!) created slideshows using film slides. PowerPoint is a snazzy upgrade (from slideshows) with which we are likely all familiar. Just as PowerPoint allows us to add hyperlinks, clipart, images, text, etc., so to does concept map software.

This gets me thinking of how we tend to toss out the old technology when the new comes along... What do you think -- are concept maps made on the computer clearly superior? Or are there certain benefits to making concept maps by hand?

(as a sidenote: after typing this post, one thing I AM sure of is that computer generated concept maps need a svelter, catchier name! Just as we say PowerPoint rather than computer generated slide show, this technology needs a handle!)

concept mapping -- an introduction

The first technology I am exploring is Concept Mapping Software. But I want to begin at the beginning. So first, what is a Concept Map? A Concept Map is a type of graphic organizer. There are lots of different kinds of graphic organizers used in education, such as K-W-L charts and matrices. A Concept Map is a specific kind of graphic organizer that is "a visual diagram... used to show the links among important related concepts" (Harada & Yoshina, 2005). Concept Mapping was developed by Joseph Novak. He thought that concept maps helped students tie in new knowledge with what they already knew. It provides a hierarchical way to arrange information. Here is an example of a concept map (from http://ausweb.scu.edu.au/aw05/papers/refereed/rees/conceptmap.gif):






















Concept maps are used commonly by students when they are organizing their thoughts about what to write about.

Concept Mapping Software is just computer software that allows you to easily make concept maps. This article explains how concept mapping software (specifically Inspiration and Kidspiration) can be used to help make learning about a new concept not only less intimidating -- but actually fun! One thing mentioned in this article that I thought seemed particularly neat was how students can go from their concept maps to creating an outline. I can imagine how creating the concept map (especially on the computer) would seem pretty fun to kids. If they then understood how to easily turn this map into an outline, it would put them well on their way to being able to write about their topic. One thing I wasn't sure of was whether the software automatically generated the outline based on the student's concept map, or whether the student used the concept map to create an outline.

I thought that Patricia Knox, who was quoted in the above article, made a great point when she said, "Kids love computers. If we hand them a blank concept map on a piece of paper, they will learn how to organize their ideas. But, if we sit them at a computer and make pictures, sounds and colors available to them, they will love learning how to organize their ideas!"

In my view, anything that makes kids excited about learning is worth knowing more about!
All for now,
Nat

To start with... By Natalie

I started this blog as an assignment for a class in library school about technology. Although I use the Internet daily, this is my first experience with using (or for that matter reading) blogs. I grew up in Oregon and went to college in Indiana. I have lived in northern (really far north -- Ottawa Canada is our nearest city!) New York for 8 years. I live here with my partner and a bunch of pets -- we now have 2 cats and 2 dogs (just got a black lab puppy during winter break).

I have worked in the field of education, though mostly not as a classroom teacher. I have been an environmental educator, camp counselor, summer program director, before & after school program director, math tutor and science teacher. Now I am getting into the field of library science. It is my plan to stay in the field of education by becoming a school media specialist (otherwise known as a teacher librarian or school librarian). I have always enjoyed working with and educating young people and I love children's books.

For this class I will be learning about and posting about different kinds of technology and, if you read my blog, you can follow along my learning curve!

Nat