Thing # 14

I chose to explore Gliffy (flow chart) and Bubble us (mind map) to explore for this "Thing". Both tools are awesome, but Bubble Us was more entertaining.

Gliffy has great templates that you can use to modify your task specifically. It has everything from website/ software designs, Venn Diagrams, Floor Plans, Flow Charts, Org Charts, Business Process, to Network Diagrams, etc. It allows to create your own document from a designed template or start with a blank document and you can choose your shapes and lines from the template options. Figuring out where all the lines are and the different types was a little frustrating, but once I located where everything was on the interface the program was easier to navigate. If we were allowed to use templates to create our Classroom Drawings, this site would have been AWESOME!...maybe next time kiddos:(

Bubble Us was awesome! I used it to help me brainstorm some ideas for my scavenger hunt and webquest and it was supper easy to you use. You create your account and just click on the page to bring up your first bubble and from then on you click enter to create a child bubble or tab to create a sibling bubble. All the other controls are self explanatory and if you can't figure it out;  if you put your pointer over the control a detailed description is at the bottom of the page...so don't freak out Ashley...you are OK! Oh, one more thing, when you get rid of a bubble there is an explosion, which I thought was really neat and made me laugh because I wasn't expecting it.

Overall, both tools will be extremely useful to my career as an educator and personal life. I can see myself using Bubble Us to create original, cool worksheets for my class to do their brainstorming on, or if it is age appropriate letting them set up their own accounts, especially for Bubble Us, they could use it for a variety of classes now and in their future education. Gliffy's Floor Plans can help me design my dream/retirement home when I am ready to build...I can be my own architect! Cool!