Medina, John. “Chapter 3: Sleep.” Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle, Washington: Pear Press, 2014.

Notes on MindMeister:

With the Basic free plan, users get up to three mind maps, allowing for sharing and collaboration. Signing
up only requires users to supply the program with a first and last name, email address, username, and password. Users can create new mindmaps, new folders, or import a mindmap in certain formats (MindMeister, FreeMind, XMind, Mindjet, MindManager, or a plain text file). It is also possible to import text, ideally formatted/coded as a mindmap.

Because I’ve never created a Mindmap, I decided to use a template from the Business category, mostly because it
supplied ample nodes for me to populate without having to experiment with creating my own. The most utilized templates, classified as Top Maps, include: Blank, Brainstorming, Project Plan, To-Do List, Meeting, Organizational Chart, SWOT Analysis, Website Plan, PM Process, Essay Writing, Life Plan, Course Syllabus, Business Plan, Lesson Planning, Weekly Update, R&D Plan.

In the Education category, there are two additional templates: Class Curriculum and Exam Preparation. I can imagine having students use the brainstorming, project plan, and to-do list templates for managing group projects. The essay writing template seems innocent enough, but I don’t find it particularly helpful.

Once I chose my template, I found the program to be user-friendly and navigable. The shortcuts were intuitive and the formatting options weren’t overwhelming, but offered some variety in formatting and supplementing text. My only gripes at the moment concern the inability to format only part of a node’s text, limited icon offerings (though the fact that they looked like emojis would likely appeal to most students), and inability to import or integrate any of my own images into the map. It seems that images are only present to aid in navigating the text of the map, which can be problematic if your map depends on visuals to communicate. The menu options were reminiscent of Word (Copy, Cut, Undo, Delete), and the sharing settings and processes were reminiscent of Google Drive.

I did not feel constrained by this program, likely because my notes for this chapter did not require lengthy blocks of texts (or full sentences, really). I would recommend using this program for both writerly and readerly writing, as it can help to clarify and explicate the component parts of ideas.

This week’s theme: Fun & Excitement!

Amy’s notes on PowToon/PowTunes:

I have to admit, the YouTube video introduction to the program did a great job of recruiting me as a potential user primarily because of its reference to The Simpsons and its short, detailed explanation of the scientific research that informs its design. I’ve never used any animation programs, so Amy’s description of its user-friendly design and familiar command structure helped ease the anxieties I have about experimenting with animation. What is most appealing to me about this program is its potential for letting students (and myself) have FUN. I almost feel more creative and inventive just talking about using animation, and I think that’s important—that students and instructors feel allowed and encouraged to be creative.

Kim’s notes on Google Presentations:

I appreciate that Google Presentations allows for comparatively easier integration of media, as that has deterred me from using PowerPoint in some classes, but I would have assumed that this ease of integration would have also extended to including audio. The collaborative features seem to be a major selling point for Kim and I can see myself introducing this program to students primarily because they are becoming increasingly comfortable with using Google Docs and Gmail; they trust Google and may be more comfortable with it than other programs. However, BECAUSE they’re comfortable with Google and their offerings, I would also subsequently introduce other programs so that students could understand Google’s offerings in a context of others.