Thing #14

I choose to make a mind map with bubble.us.  To try out the site I started with the main theme "objectives for finishing the semester."  Tab would allow me to make a new bubble and control enter created a "child bubble."  If I hovered over the bubble I could change the color, adjust the size, or connect it with another bubble by using an arrowed line.  I played around with setting up folders, sharing and exporting.  I also found a setting for "auto save" which was useful when I hit the "mind map" tab to see what it would do and realized it started an entirely new page.  Even though I had not saved my previous mind map it was still available thanks to the "auto save." I also discovered you could establish a "team" of users that belong to a certain mind map and even designate that team into "groups."  You can also pick a customized bubble.us link for your team with a welcome message and instructions.  However, when I went to the team details page and set it for 28 users (what I imagined a typical class size would be) I realized this service would cost $147.90 per month!!!  While this is a nice way for an individual to organize ideas or information and export it to share, because of the expense I do not see it as a practical interactive tool for teachers.  For my flowchart I choose Gliffy.  The first thing I had to figure out was that Gliffy offers tons of stuff, flowchart was simply one of many choices.  Once I clicked on flowchart I then clicked on "create document."  What popped up were two "sample" flow charts that I could use as an outline, but change the text or add to it.  On the left were numerous tools for creating (floor plans, shapes, venn diagrams,uploading images etc).  I couldn't really figure out what to do with the templates so I went back to the original "categories" and simply choose "blank."  This gave me all the same design choices but without the "example" flowchart template.  I clicked, dragged, added lines, and made a venn diagram.  After about thirty minutes I still didn't have anything very impressive, so I went to the "about tab" and choose "examples."  It was easier for me to visualize the uses for this when I had several completed examples to look at.  The "Vacation Decision" tree and Volleyball Rotation chart were really nice.
This is a wonderful tool for anyone with an exact purpose and huge imagination.  The creative choices are almost limitless; however, creativity is not one of my strengths----I'm much more linear in my thinking.  For this reason I preferred bubble.us.  It was much easier for me to figure out, and while its too expensive to use interactively in the classroom, I can imagine many other uses.  In a history class you could choose a person or event as your central theme and then mind map cause/effect, trickle down effects, and correlating factors.  The fact that you can export your completed mind map to your own computer allows you to get around the "only three for free" rule.  Just export your complete map and then delete it from your bubble account freeing up space to start a new one.