Grade Keeper: diagram making tools

Showing posts with label diagram making tools. Show all posts

Monday, April 25, 2011

Lucid Chart : a simple mind mapping and flowcharts making tool

Lucid Chart is a flowcharts and mind map making tool . It looks similar to the other tools i have collected here under the Mind Mapping Tools tab . The only difference here is that Lucid Chart offers many more design options then most of the others .

Some features of Lucid Chart

Here is a list of the main features of Lucid Chart :

It is free for teachers and students
It is very simple to use and has a nice interface
It uses drag and drop technique to draw charts
It lets you upload your own images into your diagrams
It has an extensive library of templates and shapes
You can share your drawings and diagrams online via Twitter and Facebook
You can also embed them in your wiki , blog or website
You can invite others to collaborate with you in real time
It has a built in group chat so that you can chat with your colleagues while working

How can i get started using Lucid Chart ?

Head over to Lucid Chart main page and sign up for your free account
Watch this tutorial video to learn more about Lucid Chart

Applications of Lucid Chart in education

Lucid Chart is a very important tool in education . It is practically useful for visual learners . Introduce it to your students and show them how to use it to create their own flow charts or mind maps . Give them brain storming assignments and let them develop concept diagramming .
That’s it about Lucid Chart : a simple mind mapping and flowcharts making tool .
You might also like :

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Spicynodes : create engaging visual mindmaps

Spicynodes is a pretty cool web2.0 tool . It allows its users to create a visually attractive nodes for their blogs, websites or wikis . Nodes are visually displayed pieces of information that helps visitors easily navigate the content of your site so that they find what they are looking for with the minimum time possible .

Some features of Spicynodes

Spicynodes offers the following services to its users :

It is partly free , there is a paid version with more options
It requires a sign up but you can use your yahoo , Gmail or Facebook account to sign in as well
It is very simple to use
It organizes ideas in such a catchy way
It helps brainstorm concepts
It create elegant mind maps like presentations
It is embeddable in your blog or website
It can be shared with others using different methods

How can i get started using Spicynodes

Head over to Spicynodes main page and sign up for a free account or use one of the account it offers to sign in

Once signed in then here is how to start your nodes :
click on create nodemap and give your node a title and description or upload your text to it then
edit styles
choose the style you want to apply for your nodemap

edit content
here you can edit titles , add urls and link and many more

preview your node
preview your nodemap before you publish it or share it with others

after you have finished making your nodemap you can then :

see it live
get URL
get embed code
get html

here is an example of a nodemap created for this blog :

Applications of Spicynodes in education

Since visual objects tend to stimulate students attention much more than any other thing then Spicynodes would just do the same . It would allow students to create visually engaging mind maps about interesting concepts and would catch their attention much more than any other diagram and mind mapping tool would do . It would also help them create organizational charts a thing which biology , history , language and maths teacher would benefit from a lot .
That’s it about Spicynodes : create engaging visual mindmaps

Here are some other Tools you might want to check out :

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools

:

slatebox :a real-time diagram tool

Slatebox is another great presentation and online mind mapping tool . It allows its users the freedom to create as many nodes and maps as possible . It is still in beta and all free now but premium versions are coming soon too .

Some features of Slatebox

Here are the main features that Slatebox offers to its users :

It is partly free
it is simple to use and has a very user-friendly interface
It allows you to bed slates and embed them anywhere
It is reliable and many browsers support it
It lets you Customize your slates : colors, shapes, sizes — from connecting lines to nodes to the backgrounds.
It does not require any plugins
It allows you to Embed, enmesh, or simply link to your slates and share them with the world.

How can i get started using Slatebox ?

First head over to Slatebox main page and sign up or use one of these account

Click on ‘new slate’ button and select the theme you want

Click on ‘ double click ‘ to choose what kind of node you want

Double click in the empty space to create a node
use the right hand bar to “

customize the shape of your node
embed image or video
select the lines , borders and text
change the background image , colour and border

Click on ‘ properties ‘ button to give it a title and description and choose privacy settings

click on ‘ collaborate’ to allow collaboration

Once you have finished with your slate click embed button on the top bar

if you want to export it as an image click on ‘ export’ button

Applications of Slatebox in education

Slatebox is a very important tool that we need to introduce to our students .Students can use it to create their own slates and mind maps and brainstorm ideas about a certain topic .They can also work in groups to create slate relating to a given assignment . They can collaborate while they are working on their slates using the collaborative option that slatebox offers . There are many other ways you can think of in which Slatebox can be used in the classroom .
That’s it about Slatebox: a Real Time Diagram Tool .

You might also want to check out these other tools :

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools :

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Mind42 :a good Collaborative mind mapping tool

Mind42 is a great collaborative mind mapping web2.0 tool . It is a browser-based online mind mapping application that allows you to keep track of all your ideas and create easy mind maps .It does not require any download or installation software , just log to your browser and launch the application .

Some features of Mind42

here some of the features that Mind42 offers to its users :

It is completely free
it is very simple to use
It requires a sign up
It helps you create easy mind nodes instantly
It allows you to add images, links and notes to your mind maps
It lets you invite others to collaborate with you on the edition of your mind map in real time
How can i get started using Mind42

Log on to Mind42 main page and sign up for a free account
once signed in you can start working on your mind map just as shown in the instruction of this tutorial video

Applications of Mind42 in education

Mind42 is a good tool for students . They can use it to create engaging mind maps enriched with multimedia clips . What i really like about this application is the possibility that offers for collaboration so students can be divided into groups and assigned tasks to work on together . They can collaborate with each other to create diagrams and share them with other groups . This is great in enhancing team work that our students are in badly need for .
That’s it about Mind42 :a good Collaborative mind mapping tool

Here are some similar mind mapping tools you might like :

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools :

Friday, April 1, 2011

Gliffy : a great diagram software for educators

Gliffy is a diagram making web2.0 tool . It allows you to create great looking diagrams and drawings in a snap . It is similar to Bubbl.us , diagram.ly , Creately and webinspiration that i have talked about in earlier posts . Gliffy is not all free but you can sign up for a 30 day free trial period .

Some features of Gliffy

Here are the services that Gliffy provides for its users :

It is partly free
It has all the authoring tools you can ever imagine
It alows multiple collaboration when working on a diafram
you can easily create professional-quality flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans, technical drawings
It has an easy editor bar to help you create good looking drwings
you can share your final work with your friend or colleagues
you can also embed your diagram into your wiki or blog using an embed code

How can i get started using Giffy ?

Head over to Giffy main page and sign up for a 30 day free trial
Once you signed in then here is how you can start creating your diagrams : watch the video tutorial

Applications of Gliffy in education

I know since Gliffy is not all free then most of us will not be using it a lot .But if you have ever decided to use it then you can really create such fantastic diagrams to use with your students in the classroom .What i like the most about Gliffy is that when you embed a diagram into your blog or wiki and then later on decided to make some changes on that diagram then these changes are automatically displayed on your blog or wiki so there is no need to embed it again . i hope you like Gliffy and that you would consider giving it a try .
That’s all about Gliffy : A Great Diagram Software for Educators :

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools :

Creately : Nice and Free Diagrams in no time

Creately is an online diagraming and design application that is very easy to use . It offers a great way of working with teams in multiple locations and on several projects .It has both a free and premium version and of course the paid version has always more features to work with .Anyway we will content ourselves with just the free version .

Some features of Creately ?

Here are some the feaures of creately :

It is partly free and if you want to see the different features of both paid and free version check this table
It has a very elegant web interface
Upload your images and manipulate them using the drag and drop technique
It is functional and does not need any download or installation software
Creately allows you to filter your diagrams using tags to organize & manage all your diagrams in Projects.
It offers some beautiful templates as backgrounds
It has a smart editor and authoring tools
You can invite your colleagues to work with you on your diagram
you can share your work with whomever you want
It is secure and your work will never be lost
It has an interactive feature through the use of comments

How can i get started using Creately ?

Log on to Creately main page and sign up for a free account
once you are signed in then here the tutorial you need to watch to learn how to work on it .

Applications of Creately in education

Creately offers a larger freedom for students to create their own diagram presentations with many more possibilities . They can use it to create flowcharts , mind maps ,and diagrams of all kinds . They can also use it to share , review , collaborate and track diagrams online . Give it a try and you will see .
That;s it about Creately : Nice and Free Diagrams in NoTtime

Here are other presentation tools you might want to check out :

Popplet : The educative presentation ,mind mapping...

authorSTREAM : The Educative web2.0 Presentation S...

SlideRocket your educative presentation tool

280Slides :The teacher’s best tool to make present...

Popplet : The educative presentation ,mind mapping...

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools :

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Webinspiration : The instant way to create diagrams

Webinspiration is a nice web2.0 tool . It is all about mapping out ideas and creating beautiful concept maps and diagrams . It also allows its users to organize their ideas in an interactive outline and even invite others to collaborate online .

Some features of Webinspiration

Webinspiration offers different features to its users such as :

It is completely free
It is simple to use
It requires a quick sign up
It has a set of sophisticated authoring tools
It allows you to create nice diagrams , outlines , brainstorm or capture ideas
It also allows you to save your work ,share it with others or embed it in your blog or website
It lets you invite others to join you in the building of a diagram
You can use the chat service while you are working on a concept map

How can i get started using Webimspiration ?

Log on to Webinspiration main page and sign up

Once you are signed in click on ‘ launch webinspiration’

Click on ‘Diagram ‘on the starter screen to open a new document

Use the symbol palette there to :

drag and drop
create a series of ideas that are connected
add new linked symbols
organize and show the connections between ideas

Watch this short video to learn more

Application of Webinspiration in education

Webinspiration is a very important tool in education . teachers and students can use it to create diagrams and cooperate online with each other . The following are some of the ideas Webinpiration creators suggested for educators :

Download a Webspiration Classroom Overview pdf

– Webspiration Classroom service is now available for grade 5 to adult students and teachers.

Learn more in this video

That’s it about Webinspiration : The instant way to create diagrams

Here are some other diagram creation tools you might like :

Here are all the educative web2.0 tools i have covered so far in this blog .I have organized them into different categories , select the category you want and explore the tools :

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Diagram.ly easy diagrams’ creation tool in education

Diagram.ly is a free product of Jgraph , a company devoted to developing graph visualization software and web services. Diagram.ly is a very handy and useful tool for creating diagrams using clip arts and pre drawn shapes .

Some features of Diagram.ly

There are many features that make out of Diagram.ly a very good tool to be used in the classroom with our students .

It is completely free
it is simple to use
it has a user- friendly interface
It does not need any registration
Diagrams can be saved to your local computer in your choice of four formats (xml, png, jpg, or svg).

How can i get started using Diagram.ly in education?

I have collected some screen shots from Diagram.ly main page and i will walk you through a step by step tutorial on how to use the different functionalities of this web2.0 tool
First Log on to Diagram.ly main page and follow these 5 steps :
Step1

Step2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Applications of Diagram.ly in education

Diagram.ly is one of the important tools that educators should be using with their students . Introduce it to them and cue them with clear instructions on how to use its different features then can use it to :