Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Education

Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.

FREE online resources and downloadable programs for learners and their teachers.

Today I’m writing about a third online mind-mapping application. The recent proliferation of online mind-mapping applications suggests that there is a widely felt need for it. Today’s example is distinct from the previous two apps I’ve written about, but as is the case with the other two, I believe this one has tremendous positive potential for learners of all ages everywhere. Bubbl.us has less “bells and whistles” than the other two applications I’ve looked at, but it is still a powerful and effective tool, and there is some appeal in its simplicity.

bubbl.us (online resource) This online mind-mapping application bills itself as “brainstorming made simple”. I think that’s a fair description. Bubbl.us is indeed simple, with an intuitive user interface. In essence, bubbl.us, enables you to visually represent brainstormed concepts and then web the connections and relationships between them. The net result is quite similar to the brainstormed webs that teachers create on chalkboards, and that students are sometimes expected to produce on paper. If you click on the thumbnail below to see an enlarged view, I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.

There are some notable differences between bubbl.us mind-maps and paper or chalkboard webs. With bubbl.us it is far easier to make changes. Colour coding is also much easier. Perhaps most significantly, with bubbl.us it is possible to work collaboratively with others who are not physically present and to then share your work widely. Code is provided for embedding your mind-map on web pages. The mind-map you create in bubbl.us can be saved as an image file for use wherever you might find a need that. You can, of course, print hard copies of your bubbl.us mind-maps as well.

There are some things you can’t do with bubbl.us that you can do with other mind-mapping applications. You can’t import images, and there are no icons available to include in your mind-map. Nor is there a free-hand drawing tool. Nevertheless, it is hard to imagine an easier way to brainstorm online, either individually or collaboratively.

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