Take It Easy: J2E

Every once in a while I run across something that's educationally useful and fun to play with, too. For instance, I stumbled across a playfully powerful Java-based (word?) processor that does some incredibly spiffy stuff. Although the site is for profit, j2e is currently free for individual users and worth exploring. It's just too easy to like this resource.

Caught in a Web of Collaborative Concept-Mapping

I always knew this day would arrive. After being a dedicated user of Inspiration software for almost two decades and having seen related services such as Cayra, CMap, FreeMind, Mind42, Mindmeister, and Mindomo pop up on the web, I wondered when Inspiration would follow suit and unveil its own flavor of collaborative concept-mapping tool. Well, the wait is over. It's finally here.


After signing up for a beta account and playing around with the resource, I was able to generate a concept map in pretty short order. The experience was not unlike using Inspiration. That's a definite plus. For example, the user-interface for the original, offline version looks like this:


The newer, online version of the product is very similar to its predecessor. There's not much more a user must learn in order to get started. Tinkering with Webspiration is relatively easy as the trappings are pleasingly familiar. The web version of the user-interface looks like this:


It's easy to migrate to Webspiration. As with Inspiration, users are able to switch to outline mode at any time, a feature that other online mapping resources haven't fully mastered at this point. That said, I am puzzled about one aspect of the new version. Webspiration currently lacks Inspiration's ability to automatically rearrange symbols in a concept map into configurations such as Top-Down or Right-Tree diagrams like the original program does. I'm confident that users will want this functionality.


Still, Webspiration is in its beta iteration. There are bound to be a few kinks that'll need to be ironed out.

Related links:

• Let others see what's on your mind with the nifty, free resource called Text2MindMap.
• Looking for information? Trying to find your way around a particular topic? Feeling a little lost? Consult a map--a mindmap--from MindMapPedia?
• If fact, mind mapping is on your mind swing by Mappio–the Mind Map Library.
  

Learning in a Flash: Quizlet

Teachers who employ flashcards as part of their instruction may want to make use of Quizlet. It’s a FREE, simple, tech-driven way to go beyond the confines of ordinary flash cards. Without costing a dime, Quizlet allows users to...

• work with randomly generated vocabulary quizzes and collaboration tools
• keep track of the words they know (only retesting them on the ones they don’t know so well)
• share their lists of vocabulary terms with classmates and get notified by email when others make new lists for them
• import words from a file without having to retype them and
  
• use quizzes that have been created by other teachers (what a time-saver!)
  

Even better is the fact that terms can be tagged as well as linked to Answers.com. This makes Quizlet a nifty alternative to traditional flash cards. Quizlet also promotes collaboration among students and teachers.