For brainstorming activities, Bubbl.us would be most effective because it is basically point and click, Spicy Nodes takes quite an amount of time to set-up a thorough mindmap. Mindmeister comes with a variety of images that can be integrated into the mindmap and lets you download images from the web or upload images, while Bubbl.us does not have images accessible in this way. Mindmeister only allows you to create three mindmaps in the free version, while SpicyNodes and Bubbl.us have unlimited mindmap creation at this time. Bubbl.us would be simple to use with a whiteboard, while I have used SpicyNodes with a white board with some issues, because of its high level of interactivity. So if a teacher is seeking a basic, user-friendly mindmapping program that does not require registration to create mindmaps, to possibly use with a whiteboard, then Bubbl.us would be the program to use.
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI have been researching mind-mapping software to find one that really works for me. I want a simple format that doesn't feel like work. I will check out Bubbl.com and see if it's... the one. Thank you, for sharing.
Annie Woodle
Heather, nice post.
ReplyDeleteI work on the SpicyNodes project. One key advantage of SpicyNodes is that students can put images and text in the nodes, and the layout rearranges as they move their focus from node to node -- so they don't run out of space if they have a lot of nodes. We are continually improving SpicyNodes, and one exciting feature in the works is that it will also work on the Apple iPad, for the increasing numbers of classes (which is still small) who have it.
We plan for the free memberships to always allow unlimited nodemaps; but in practice, many educators might prefer the "organization" membership since it adds options for keeping track of student's nodemaps.
- Michael