A replacement for My Webspiration

In my last post I discussed how My Webspiration will no longer be free in April.  I also discussed how Google Docs Drawing no has connectors so it can be used to create concept maps.  Well, a few days ago I was searching through Google’s Chrome Web Store and ran across Lovely Charts.  If you are a Google Chrome user, you can install a free version of this very powerful diagramming application.

To use the free version you have to be using Google’s Chrome Web browser (here is the link to download Chrome). After you have Chrome installed, go get Lovely Charts here from the Web Store.

The free version does have a few limitations.  For instance you can only save one editable diagram at a time and can only collaborate on one diagram at a time (I have not tried this feature yet….)  Straight from Lovely Charts here is what they say about the free version:

Please note that Lovely Charts free version only allows you to maintain one editable chart of your own and collaborate on one chart at the time.
You certainly CAN create this new diagram, and you WILL be able to export it if needed, but you WON'T be able to save it for later revision, unless you delete the already existing diagram or decide to upgrade your account.
A premium account is exceptionally available from as little as €29/year for now, would you like to upgrade now?

I have “played” with it for awhile now and it is very user friendly.  It has a lot of stock symbols and shapes.  You can also import your own!  So give it a try, it might be just what you need!

My Webspiration is no longer free….

Ok, everyone is familiar with the saying that the only constant in education is change. I would like to extend the same saying to technology. The only constant in technology is change. Let’s face it, people find ways of doing or making things better, faster, cheaper, etc. Just take a moment and think back to 1996. Do you remember the sound your modem made when you were dialing into your ISP? When you finally connected, pages with pictures took forever to load and web pages were static. Now look at the page you are reading right now. The page and picture loaded almost instantly. There are hyperlinks you know that if you click on them they will open in seconds. Google even returns thousands of hits in milliseconds! Change is good.

It is unfortunate in education that we are limited by money. This is why teachers and educators are always looking for a “free” way to do something. I was extremely excited to find Webspiration, an online concept mapping tool. It is fantastic! I got my students to use it and they were completing concept maps and sharing them with the world. All for free.

But then the constant of change reared its head. Starting in April of this year, Webspiration will no longer be free (See this page to learn more: No longer free). Although the subscription price is extremely reasonable, I cannot bring myself to pay it.

 

But just as quickly that Webspiration is no longer free, Google docs adds “smart connectors”!! This allows you to add arrows between shapes and if you move a shape the arrow stays connected! Oh, and Google docs is still free!

You can find the info about using the new connectors for Google docs at this link: Google Docs Drawing Connectors.  And if you don’t have a Google account yet (and why not?), you can get one here: Google Accounts (Note: if you already have a Gmail address then you have a Google account. If you need a Gmail address go to www.gmail.com and get one.)

So, thanks to change I will still be able to have my students make concept maps and share them with the world!!

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff – TechLearning.com

Tech Learning TL Advisor Blog and Ed Tech Ticker Blogs from TL Blog Staff – TechLearning.com

 

I believe this article was written by Lisa Nielsen. The following is a direct quote from the article:

 

Principal Patrick Larkin from Burlington High School in Massachusetts has this advice for administrators who are considering whether to embrace cell phones as a learning tool, “Start now. If you haven’t embraced cell phones as learning tools, you are missing out on a valuable resource to engage students. At the very least you can save money on the response systems that many companies are pushing in schools.”

It is about time we embraced the technology that students use on a daily basis and use it to educate!!

The article does offer some interesting ways on how to use cell phones in education. Also Lisa Nielsen's blog can be found at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/

She offers even more ideas on how to use them in class.