Mind-Mapping & Web 2.0

What tools are available for instructors to develop instructional materials or for use in instruction? How do you locate one of the plethora of Web 2.0 apps that meet your instructional or course development needs? To address that issue, I populated a mind map for "The Instructor's Digital Toolkit: A Show & Tell Session," a presentation for the Kansas City Professional Development Council Conference at Ottawa University last March 1, 2008. Then I updated the mind map for use at a similar presentation for the Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT) held at JCCC on July 31 and August 1, 2008.
Specifically, the mind map is but a single example of what can be accomplished using a tool like Mindomo. Mind mapping can be used:

• To document classroom brainstorming sessions,
• To develop a timeline,
• To organize tasks,
• To flowchart processes,
• To cluster ideas,
• To present information in a classroom or for a presentation (instead of using a PowerPoint slideshow).

In the example at http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38c41ea842988eb5177861fc90f77e46, Mindomo has been used to categorize and document a host of Web 2.0 applications (plus some desktop apps that might be useful for online and classroom instructors).

When using the mind map, hover your mouse pointer over each note icon to see related text, click the globe icon to jump to the website for the specified application, click the "+" sign to expand and display subtopics or (if visible) click the "-" sign to contract and hide subtopics.

How would you use this web 2.0 tool?

Your Digital Toolkit: Lesser Known Web 2.0 & Desktop Apps

The Summer Institute on Distance Learning and Instructional Technology (SIDLIT, pronounced "sidelight") returns to Johnson County Community College on Thursday and Friday, July 31 and August 1, 2008 with over 380 attendees registered. The conference, in it's 9th year, is sponsored by Colleague to Colleague and includes sessions on topics from ANGEL to blogs and wikis.

One of my sessions (on Friday, August 1st) covers "Your Digital Toolkit: Lesser Known Web 2.0 & Desktop Apps." It's described in this way: "If you've heard about Web 2.0, you've heard about blogs, wikis and social networks. But what web 2.0 tools are available for your digital toolkit beyond the basics? This session begins with a quick survey of Web 2.0, desktop and rich Internet applications (RIAs) that may be useful for personal and instructional purposes (both classroom and online)."

The handout for the session is this blog entry and includes a del.icio.us link to each of the web 2.0 tools and desktop apps that I'll discuss. The list of tagged items is available at http://delicious.com/jbacon/SIDLIT2008?sort=alpha&order=asc.

To be sure everyone understands the language, I'll begin with a brief explanation of the differences between web 1.0 and web 2.0. My definition will focus on the following basic comparison.

Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 represents a shift:

1. From personal bookmarking to shared tagging,
2. From permissions, centralized security and control to radical trust, every person involvement and decentralization,
3. From text & graphics to media rich, participatory, web experiences,
4. From versions and scheduled releases to continuous improvement where products are always in beta,
5. From static web publishing with limited, restricted roles to dynamic, interactive participation where everyone's an author, contributor, editor, reviewer and owner using rich Internet tools (RIAs) available to everyone, anytime, online.

The tools I'll discuss are in the del.icio.us list (link above) but I've linked to a few specific examples of content created using these tools (below).

• Animoto (http://animoto.com/play/CVlzO5DMFxD6SpAmekcU0Q)
• Camtasia Studio (http://www.iriseducation.org/user_filestore/jkent/picasa/Using_Picasa2/Using_Picasa2.html)
• Mindomo (http://www.mindomo.com/view?m=38c41ea842988eb5177861fc90f77e46)
• MyPublisher (http://www.mypublisher.com/bookstore/book_viewer.py?d=tq%3Ey-cppl%60je%3E3273827)
• Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/jbacon)

Finally, to keep up on Web 2.0 news, I subscribe to http://news.cnet.com/webware/ (RSS feed, email, lots of options). Good place to get news on new apps, losers and winners.