Concept mapping and mind mapping resources

Thanks Roy from Teach and Learn Online, aka TALO, for this great guideline online tools for mind and information mapping. Botts also recommends checking out "Vue" and "FreeMind"


http://www.informationtamers.com/WikIT/index.php?title=Special:AllPages
a wiki about many types of information maps: Concept maps, mind maps, spider diagrams and others (computer based and hand-drawn). Covers how to make them, how they are used, which type to use in which circumstances and the benefits of the various styles.

http://www.exploratree.org.uk/
a free online library of "thinking guides" you can either print out or use online. Templates include tracking an enqjuiry, the Futures Wheel, from a different angle, thinking boxes, compare and contrast, and a lot more. Each template is customisable; you can also use them to collaborate on projects with other people.

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Original and valuable presentation of many ways of seeing data, information, concepts and strategies.

http://www.mind-mapping.org/
Just about all the mindmapping, concept mapping and other graphical information organizers are covered there. Also has articles about information mapping.

http://www.mindmapsearch.org/
Search engine that just looks at mind mapping sites or articles, and so produces highly relevant results. Has categorized lists of such pages as well.

http://www.topicscape.com/mindmaps/
Directory of mind maps (hundreds) tagged and categorized.

http://www.nancymargulies.com/resources.htm
Inspiration for information mapping.

http://www.wikimindmap.org/
Turn Wikipedia pages into mindmaps automatically.

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Concept_mapping
Materials for learning how to use concept mapping
Jane Hart's Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies has a big list of mind-mapping tools. Her reviews link back to reviews from many ed-tech-ucators around the world.

Training Packages Unwrapped

This is an excellent website developed by Shaggy from out west.

On this site I'll be looking at how to present the units of our NTIS Training Packages in an easy-to-use format, along with a few teaching resources such as moodle frameworks, tiddlyWiki's and wikiversity ready text.

Top Reasons for weBlogging in Class

We have been using blogs to share ideas and resources. Micheal Nelson uses blogs successfully to enhance classroom delivery. He has made up a short list of reasons to blog. I particuarly relate to the following point:

Encouraging your learners to learn beyond the course
Beyond the course both in content and duration! As you develop your own skills using a blog for learning, your learners may be encouraged to join the network and start contributing themselves (lessening the dependence on you - the “teacher” - providing the content!)

I believe this to be the key to our use of social software, it liberates our learners from instition controlled frameworks enabling them to grow their learning and own it.

Connected Learning Community - CLC

Connected Learning Community is a fantastic site to check it particularly if you are looking to improve your personal learning and looking for new tools to upgrade your site.
Alex states that this site is about

... exploring web 2.0 tools in education, networked learning, personal learning environments and informal learning networks. This a 2006 e-learning networks project.

Great work team :>)

Stuff: Ed

This is Stuff: Ed great blog to check out. It has info on some great interactive tools to use particularly with youth. Jo Kaye's blog is about new technology and how to use it in education. She states that she works

...in Educational Technology, providing technical support, professional development and elearning resource development services in the vocational education sector.

My current research focus is on Web 2.0, Mobile Learning and Virtual worlds and the possibilities these new technologies offer to us all - as publishers, teachers, learners, global citizens.

Click here to visit stuff: ed

Blog.....Blogger......Blogging

A blog is a web-based publication, where you can create and write stuff on a continual basis. On most blogs, the new or latest stuff shows up at the top of the blog, so that visitors to your blog can read what's the new or latest goss. Blog visitors are able to comment on your ‘goss’ or follow your link/s in it or send you an email (that is of course if you provide these options on your blog).
There a 2 or 3 steps that allows you to easily create a blog and you are able to maintain the blog with a minimum knowledge of technology. Creating a blog will take just minutes (and its FREE).

Your blog can be whatever you want it to be. Blogs are elegant, powerful and look very professional. It can be a place for you to share your thoughts and opinions on any topic including world issues. All you need do is to create a blog, then from then on login to your blog, input the information you want to put on the web (including all the normal formats eg images, audio and loads of other file types) then press a button, and your blog is updated.

There are lots and lots of blogs. In fact I’m told there are literally millions of blogs on all sorts topics and because these are all differently constructed there are no real hard and fast rules.

Blogging has reshaped the web, impacted politics, shaken up journalism, and enabled millions of people to have a voice and connect with others. Like other media, blogs often focus on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news. Some blogs function as online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic.

Popular blog hosts are

Software packages installed by weblog authors to run on their own systems

b2evolution


bBlog


blosxom


Drupal


Greymatter


Movable Type


Nucleus CMS


Radio UserLand


Serendipity


Textpattern


WordPress

Bathurst TAFE BAIT

Thinking of setting up a moodle for your class? Then check out Peter Shanks n co moodle at Bathurst TAFE Information Technology section. Peter attended the Dubbo Social Software Workshop and was kind enough to demonstrate their moddle with us. Thanks.

Great work Peter!

What is Social Software?

You may very well ask, And just what the hell is social software?

It was my endeavour to give a simple definition but I was taken aback when undertaking a ‘little’ research ….. there were lots and lots of quotes but far too many to go through and look for that common thread.

There were lots of definitions and discussions going on out in cyberworld as to what exactly is social software. N How is this being used? etc etc And to top it all off, get a load of this! There are like minded people out there using social software to define "What is social software?" Worth checking out!

So I thought what the hang…..Let’s start off an Outreach discussion on “What is social software?” So here is mine after one hour of research...

“Social software is a medium that allows individuals from anywhere around the globe to work collectively on a single task using a computer network.” A classical example of 'social software' is BLOGS and we r using it for NSWtox - Womenz Section!

Do you have a working definition for Social Software…..then add a post to this…...