Inspiration 8.0 and Webspiration: The Concept-Mapping Tools of Today Bushra Faisal April 11, 2008

What is Inspiration 8.0? Inspiration is a software that educators and students have been using in classrooms to organize their ideas, create idea diagrams and outlines. It is used mainly for idea generation, concept- mapping etc.

Application of Inspiration 8.0 in the classroom This software is useful for students (Grade 6- Adults) for the following reasons: Brain-storming (Individual or a Group) Organization of Idea generation Outlines are convertible to Word documents The versatility and the ability to rearrange and reorganize ideas helps in the development of writing plans

The Use of Inspiration in Class Assignments Inspiration can be used in the following assignments: Planning for Writing Projects Planning for Research Idea generation for problem-solving Organized group activity

Use of Inspiration in Content Areas Language Arts: Writing, creating story-lines, and sequencing etc. Social Studies: Jotting down chronological time- lines for historical events, organizing factors, reasons for a particular topic, cause and effect relationships etc. Science: It can be used for showing the understanding of interrelationships of different components and comprehensively displays addition of new knowledge to old knowledge.

Use of Inspiration in Content Areas (contd.) Maths: Helps to breakdown problem-solving and other mathematical procedures in comprehensive steps.

The Inspiration Family There are different versions of Inspiration available: InspireData: Allows easy manipulation in graphical representations. Encourages critical thinking, data analysis and literacy skills. Kidspiration: This is software has been designed for grades K-5. It focusses on reading, writing, mathematical, and logical concepts.

Resources for using Inspiration: Inspiration download Inspiration lesson plans Quick tour of Inspiration

A user-friendly software Basic computer skills is sufficient to use Inspiration. Inspiration documents are created by simply clicking on buttons, typing and cursor movement. Versions such as kidspiration, InspireData and now Webspiration are all available for more modified usage.Webspiration

This is an on-line version of Inspiration which is easy to use. No software installation is required All functions of inspiration are available in Webspiration

Collaboration and Webspiration The idea-maps can be shared with others by giving permissions for collaboration. addresses of viewers and collaborators are added. Concept-maps are published and the URL can be posted on a blog, Web site, wiki etc. Sharing of ideas is no longer restricted to meetings, commuting, now collaboration can be done via Webspiration at any time or place.

Collaborative tools Invite users: Send invitations through , Publication: Documents can be published on URLs. Two user roles available: the owner and the collaborator.

Collaborative tools The owner can edit, delete, rename and duplicate and add tags to a document. The owner can also restore the document to a previous version and restore a deleted document. The collaborator and owner can control user- roles. The collaborator can add tags, edit, duplicate and restore a document to a previous version.

Document Manager The Document Manager in Webspiration allows to file the documents in an organized manner. This avoids confusion and loss of any material. This allows the user to share multiple documents. It also lets the user duplicate or delete any number of documents.

Chat with Group Members! Chatting facility is given for collaborating with group members. This allows instantaneous sharing to take place with the simultaneous development of documents.

References  Inspiration Software Inc. The Leader in Visual Thinking and Learning. Retrieved February 17, 2009 from  myWebspiraton. Retrieved February 17 from