Inspiration Software With this very innovative and versatile software, you can do a variety of things. Use Inspiration across the curriculum for: –Brainstorming –Webbing –Diagramming –Planning –Critical thinking –Concept mapping –Organizing –Outlining Inspiration's integrated diagramming and outlining environments work together to help students comprehend concepts and information. Educators use Inspiration to customize instruction, achieve standards, assess student progress, and energize learning.

This is an example of how Inspiration can be used to diagram information- in this case I have diagramed my life.

Inspiration Characteristics One of the most important and useful is that it is a non-linear hypermedia and multimedia program. Non-linear means that you can begin your presentation at any place on the diagram and change the order of items that you select during the presentation. This gives you great flexibility in being able to have an interactive discussion with your audience so that you can select aspects of the prepared presentation that relate to or address the issues raised in the discussion.

Non-Linear Aspects cont’d For example, in this presentation about my life, I could choose to begin talking about my life by beginning with my family and choose either my wife, son, or daughter as a starting point and let the audience reaction or question determine which family member I would discuss next. Or, I could begin talking about my career in technology and switch to my interest in sports as I choose or as the audience’s questions or comments direct the conversation.

Hypermedia/Multimedia By using hyperlinks to other media types, you can expand your presentation to include video, audio, pictures, etc at the click of your mouse. You can also link to other applications such as a Power Point presentation, an Excel Spreadsheet, or a Word document. And, you can link to a website for virtual tours, video clips, or the latest news on a happening event. For example, if I click on Hawaii (Go the next slide)

A picture from my vacation in Hawaii appears.

If I click on “Power Point presentation…. (next slide)

I can choose any of a number of slides to explain or use as needed to support my presentation.

Inspiration focuses on the visual but can address all of the senses.

Here is an example of a science diagram.

Here is an example of a planning diagram.

Inspiration is a visual learning program There There are seven approaches to visual learning. Each one will be illustrated.

Inspiration Applications Following the demonstration of some of the capabilities of the software, let’s discuss how you can use the software to develop you own Inspiration Presentation. Once you have access to a computer with Inspiration Software*, you click on the icon and a window with a screen just like you saw in the demonstration will appear. *Trial software can be downloaded and used for a limited period free. Go to

1.This is the main screen that you will see when you open Inspiration. 2.Note the oblong circle in the middle of the screen entitled “Main Idea”. 3.This is the focus of the program and where the diagram of ideas begins.

Begin by clicking on the “Create” icon. A new circle will appear. You can add as many circles as you need to diagram your concept, issue, or information. You can create your diagram by brainstorming as you go or by use of a handwritten diagram from a previous brainstorming or planning session.

To make the presentation more visual, you can substitute clipart for the circles. Clip art is available in all the above categories. To see how to use the clip art substitution, go to the next slide.

1. Click on the down arrow

1.Click on the down arrow. 2.Make a selection, e.g. people.

1.Click on the down arrow. 2.Make a selection, e.g. people. 3.Choose one of the four areas, e.g. People 1.

1.Click on the down arrow. 2.Make a selection, e.g. people. 3.Choose one of the four areas, e.g. People 1. 4.Choose a click art, e.g. girl with pigtails.

1.Click on the down arrow. 2.Make a selection, e.g. people. 3.Choose one of the four areas, e.g. People 1. 4.Choose a click art, e.g. girl with pigtails. 5.You can change the clip art selected by simply clicking on another image.

Before we proceed to build an Inspiration Diagram, we will consider some of the other basic (but not all) functions of the screen. Font size Bold Italics Underline Line Color Create a new link Link the new link Establish Hyperlink Select Clip Art See and move within Clip Selections Increase and decrease the size of the diagram.

Creating an Inspiration Diagram/Presentation 1.Select your main subject clip art. 2.Label it. a.Click on the box below the clip art b.Type in a label of your choice, i.e. “My Life”

Next, begin creating relationships to link to your life. Click on the “Create” button. (go to next slide to see result)

Next, Click on the green oval A writing square will appear in the center. Go to the clip art menu, select and click on a desired clip art and it will be substituted for the green oval. (see next slide)

Next, 1.label the relationship between the main idea, “My Life” and the sub-idea, e.g. “My Wife” 2.Click on the box below the lady icon and write a name, i.e. “My Wife”. 3.Establish a link from “My Life” to “My Wife”- To do this, click on “My Life” and then move your cursor to the “Link” icon and click on it. (Go to the next slide to see the result of the above actions).

The cursor is presently is presently on the “Link” icon. If you move the cursor from the “Link” icon to the “My Wife” clip art, the line will move with the cursor. (See the next slide).

1. Note the line has moved with the Cursor to the “My Wife” Clip art. 2. With the cursor on “My Wife”, click your mouse and the link will become permanent. Notice that the arrow pointed toward “My Wife” indicates the flow of the relationship.

1.Using the same linking technique, I can add more relationships… 2. And more relationships.

One final thing that you need to know- how to hyperlink. 1.Click on “My Life” and then go to the “Hyperlink” icon and click on it. 2.A window will open to allow you to determine the hyperlinked location. 3. Go to the next slide

1.I know that I want to hyperlink to my high school football picture, so I select “File” as the location. 2.Next, I click on “Select File” and find the file. 3.When I click on the file, it’s location is hyperlinked.

If I place the cursor on the Hyperlinked words “My Life”, the address of the hyperlinked file is displayed. If I click on the hyperlinked words, the picture will appear.

More Tutorials The previous tutorial was very basic and was only intended to give you an idea of what is possible and how to do some basic diagramming. For a more in-depth tutorial go to the Inspiration web site at: End of Tutorials- Return to Unit 4