Stormboard--Brain Rules Chapter 2

Stormboard was much more fun than I thought it would be. This program was not as rigid as Mindomo but not as freestyle as Popplet. Stormboard immediately brings to mind brainstorming. Depending on the template chosen, it has the brainstorm, freewrite, stream of consciousness feel to it. I enjoyed the variety of templates. Many of them seemed geared to K-12 and business environments. I chose the education template Seed Discussion. It was fun and useful. When I began, I had my notes in front of me. However, as I read each of the section headings, I put my notes away and answered with the first thing that came to my mind. I was surprised but some of the things I wrote when I read through at the end. I made connections in Stormboard that I did not make in my written notes. I can see the progression from the first section to the fourth section. I began with questions about why BR. I ended with making connections from BR to NL to the course and to my other class.

Stormboard allowed me to engage with the text in a new way. I typed my responses for each section without thinking about making connections or having a flow of ideas. I appreciated not having to make links, subtopics, or show relationships. I was freewriting from my memory of what I had read and what I put in my notes. I think Stormboard hindered me on in the sense that there seem to be borders or specific sections on most of the templates. I have grown accustomed to writing in open spaces (plain white paper, Google Docs, Microsoft Word). There are borders in most writing locations, but this felt constrained. Unlike Popplet, I do not have the option to zoom way out and continue expanding. If I were to use this in a course, I would definitely have my students use this for a group brainstorming activity. 5 people are allowed to work at a time. If nothing else, when they all enter and start typing, it will be entertaining to see everyone's posts going up all over the place. I think this could serve as a good tool for teaching students about rubrics. I can see the Stormboard space as an area where students could post their thoughts about what aspects of an assignment should be graded how and their reasoning. I often allow students to create the course rubric. This would provide a more "interactive" way to do that. On the other hand, Stormboard does not provide anything much different from what could be done on Google Drive, Mindmeister, Mindomo, and Popplet. The latter 3 are all variations of mind mapping and brainstorming. The major difference would be aesthetics and ease of use. I think Popplet is the most aesthetically pleasing and the easiest to use. Stormboard, once you get used to it, is easy to use and can be pleasing to look at with a little tweaking of colors and the repositioning of the different toolbars on the screen. All in all, I enjoyed using Stormboard. I would use it again. I would recommend it to my students for brainstorming, outlining, or note taking.

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