ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY BLOG | INVENTIONS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

It is exciting to watch as software publishers are rolling out software that take advantage of each of the respective platforms and in the process creating some powerful workflows. Such is the case for Inspiration 9.1 on the desktop and Inspiration Maps on the iPad. If you have Inspiration 9 installed on your computer and are using Inspiration Maps on your iPad, I would strongly suggest updating your desktop application to version 9.1. I recently did a presentation to administrators on how they can use Evernote to organize their workflow in the cloud and used an Inspiration Map to visually demonstrate the uses. I was able to quickly accomplish this task by opening Inspiration 9.1 on my laptop and creating the map. Since I used web based graphics in my map it was a lot easier to create the map using my computer. When I was done using Inspiration on my laptop, I simply went to the File Menu and selected Export to iPad Inspiration Maps... This automatically saved it to my DropBox account and when I went to my iPad and opened Inspiration Maps, I could open the map. It was really that simple. This solution really leveraged the strengths of both platforms and when I was ready to present to the administrators, all I needed to do was open the it from my iPad. It was really that easy!

If you follow my blog then you know that just how important using mind mapping and graphic organizers is to me. I can remember seeing a demo of Inspiration 2.0 for the first time at an educational technology conference some time ago, and when I watched the view change from graphic organizer to outline view with a click of the mouse if was a real epiphany. From time on I was a changed man, and have been using Inspiration ever since, in the work that I do with students with learning disabilities. It is always really exciting for me to work with teachers and watch them as I demonstrate how to use Inspiration in the classroom. As soon as I teach them the basics you could see the lights go on as they are thinking of all the ways they could use it in the classroom. As schools begin to transition to a "post PC" world it was great that late last spring that Inspiration announced the release of Inspiration Maps for the iPad. Inspiration Maps brings the best of what Inspiration has to offer to the iPad with an extremely easy to use interface. Using Inspiration Maps day in and day out with students, I am always amazed how quickly they catch on and can jump right into the program. The folks at Inspiration did a wonderful job of translating their excellent program to the iPad without sacrificing what the program does best.

When you first open Inspiration Maps you are greeted with a Starter screen that lets you pick a graphic organizer from an assortment of templates that gets you into the process very quickly. Users of Inspiration will find many of their favorite templates still available on the iPad that are ideal of Social Studies, English, and Science. Many of the students that I work with find the touch interface to be easy to navigate and within minutes feel very comfortable using the program. Once students are introduced to RapidFire, it is incredible to see how quickly they can use Inspiration Maps as a brainstorming tool or for a pre-writing. Adding sentences to the Note card is a great way for students to get their ideas down. Showing students how to flip to the Outline View is always so much fun, and to watch the expressions on their faces is priceless. Having the the ability to have students move, organize and sequence their ideas in the Outline view is incredibly powerful as they write.

Of all the features the one that students really enjoy taking advantage of is bring in pictures from the camera and Camera Roll. Unlike Inspiration for the computer, Inspiration Maps does not ship with a library of pictures so in order to make your maps more visual, you can bring in pictures from your iPad to personalize your work. One tip that I learned awhile ago is that it is easy to copy pictures from Google Images into your Camera Roll, by simply holding your finger down on an image until the dialog pops up to that says Save Photo. Once you do that you will find the picture in the Camera Roll that can then be used with Inspiration Maps. If you know it advance that your students will be working a particular project and will need some specific pictures you can load them ahead of time using Google images so that your students can then simply select them from the camera Roll.

Sharing your Inspiration Maps is really easy and the program gives you lots of ways to do this. You can open up the maps in other programs when you are done which is a good option when you want to continue the writing process. I often have students send their Inspiration Maps outline to Pages which works really well. Inspiration Maps supports emailing your maps as an Inspiration Maps document or a PDF and from the Outline view it supports emailing the outline as text. Inspiration has done an excellent job of integrating Dropbox into the app which makes it easy to integrate it with your workflow if you are using Inspiration on a Mac or PC. By upgrading your desktop version of Inspiration to version 9.1, the latest build you can access your Inspiration Maps from your Dropbox account and continue working on it. Likewise, you can Export your Inspiration maps from your Mac or PC and open them with Inspiration Maps on your iPad.

Overall, you will find Inspiration Maps a joy to use and one that will benefit your students as they write, brainstorm, or think through academic content. The interface is very intuitive and the developers really devised the program and took into account the fact that the students would be interacting through touch. To this end Inspiration has accomplished a lot in providing educators with a robust and wonderful program to use in the classroom. So for me the tradition continues, as more and more of the students that I work with move to the iPad, is great to be able to recommend a program that I have relied upon for my entire career and that is Inspiration. Inspiration has a Lite version that you can trial for free which is well worth it-but once you begin to use it and see the value, you will want to upgrade to the full version which gives you great templates and better exporting features.

Tip: If you have Speak Selection turned on in Accessibility, your students can select any text in Inspiration Maps and have the iPad read it to them using the built-in  text to speech.

Hi I'm Max a 38 yearold nurse working in a pediatric intensive care unit on a highly specialized teaching hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. Besides my work I am doing a Masters degree in Critical Care Nursing.

I was introduced to mind mapping while working in the e-learning industry in the United Kingdom some years ago. I have been using MindManager on and off ever since. But using mind maps has really become extremely useful to me now that I am focusing on highly complex issues in nursing. In my nursing practice, being able to mind map helps me to see the big picture and how events are connected. The dysfunction of one organ often affects other organs and starts a cascade of complications and things to consider. And this is the reason why mind maps and MindManager have become so useful for me. It can be difficult getting a quick overview of a particular situation or disease if you stick to text documents. With MindManager I can easily create a mind map and I can quickly go back and review it when needed. Also, it is very easy to alter the mind map as new treatments are introduced. Computer-based mind mapping has proved to be a huge benefit as my library is growing. It is relatively easy to relate two or more subjects (maps or topics) or even combine them. (I have never really been much of a pen & paper mind-mapper).

On a more practical level, I generally export my mind maps as PDF files and upload them to Dropbox so I can visit them while at work (where we don't have any sort of mind mapping software installed). I have also installed Mindjet for iPhone on my iPod which I carry in my pocket at all times while at work.

As a nurse working in a fairly complex an intense environment, I have found that mind mapping has introduced a way to ensure a quicker way to get an overview of a subject or situation. This is for the benefit of the patient but also for me as I feel a lot more confident because I can be fairly sure that I won't forget something important, 4 AM in the morning.

I would also like to see some of the principles behind mind mapping used in medical documentation. It can sometimes be a bit of a daunting experience trying to find the right information in the medical notes as the files just add up. I think it would prove to be a huge advantage knowing exactly what branch to look into (for example a branch covering cardiac issues or a branch covering surgical interventions).

I feel that both my knowledge of advanced nursing as well as using MindManager have really accelerated my learning and retention of information.

Thanks Max for sharing how you use MindManager in the work you do in helping your patients and let us know how you make out with yourfree license for MindManager 9 which I know you will thoroughly enjoy! Thank you Mindjet for sending me licenses for this give away!