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Five Google-ly Mapping Tools for Thought Cartography

by Miguel Guhlin July 29, 2021

written by Miguel Guhlin

Sometimes, you may need to create a semantic map or diagram, but don’t don’t really like some of the tools available in Google. But don’t worry; there are some fantastic tools you can take advantage of. What’s more, most of these tools will save diagrams straight to Google Drive. Let’s take a moment to review why working with diagrams is important, aside from their utility.

More Than Utility Tools: The Research

Concept maps, diagrams, mindmaps, and semantic webs: these words evoke complex creations, calling to mind the spider webs. The right tools at hand mimic paper and pencil, tapping into our generative powers. When you grasp a writing tool, you seize the chaotic energy of your mind. You seek to reflect the constellations of thought and map them. There are benefits to this thought cartography.

thought cartography

In the online compendium of research on evidence-based instructional strategies, those benefits are clear because all of these strategies have a thought mapping component which requires students to create a thought map or take notes. Below is an edited description of each of these strategies from the Visible Learning MetaX database.

Phase of Learning: Surface Learning

Vocabulary Programs (d=0.63). This includes programs to build vocabulary, including subject matter vocabulary. It also includes making semantic maps to find connections to other words. This last item, making word connections via concept sorts and the Frayer Model, is most relevant.
Note-Taking (d=0.51). This involves students making notes in a systematic manner. Note-taking increases engagement, generative learning, and greater self-efficacy.

Phase of Learning: Deep Learning

Outlining and Summarizing (d=0.66). Involves identifying the main ideas and rendering them in one’s own words. The core skill is being able to differentiate between main and supporting ideas.
Concept Mapping (d=0.64). The creation of graphic, hierarchical representations of course content. When students arrange new information, connecting it to what they know, they learn best.

These strategies focus on drawing pictures to capture the firefly ephemerae of thought. What’s next?

Pinpoints of Light

The mind, a darkness sparkling with pinpoints of thought, merits exploration. The key concept is students engaging in metacognition. As I create a concept map, an outline, or take notes, I am full of questions that may include:

Should I build my understanding around this main idea?
Is this the main idea? What are the supporting or related concepts?
How do main idea and the supporting ideas connect to what I already know?
How can I best represent or arrange ideas to reflect what I know and what I am learning?

This self-interrogation is ever-present in all the strategies that involve diagramming and concept mapping. It is present in other strategies to integrate with prior knowledge (d=0.93), self-regulation (d=0.53), and others.

You may also find that self-verbalization/self questioning (d=0.59) often involves diagrams:

Talking to oneself about a difficult intellectual tasks, asking questions about what one encounters.

You may find yourself looking for tools that make thought mapping easier. As you try these out, keep in mind these guiding questions.

Guiding Questions for Thought Cartographers

Here are three questions you will want to keep in mind as you dig into these digital tools:

Does the tool make it easy to build hierarchical organizations of diagrams and ideas?
How easy does the tool make it to access and edit or revise content?
Can learners capture self-talk and questions about the intellectual tasks they work on in the tool?

Of course, you may also want to ask yourself, “Does this tool cost money and how might I deploy it in the classroom?”

Digital Thought Cartography Tools

The quick list of tools available to educators and learners include the following:

Google Drawings: This is a core component of Google Workspace. Learners can combine hierarchical maps and outlines in one document. Although it may mean more work, you can do quite a bit within the limits of Drawings. An added benefit? Use it with Google Classroom. Start drawing online at drawings.google.com.
Diagrams.net: Saves to Google Workspace. This is one of my favorite, free tools for creating concept maps, as well as diagrams. Get started with Diagrams.net via app.diagrams.net.
yED Live: This easy-to-use diagramming and mapping tool is available as free, open source. You can run a program on your Windows computer or access it via a web browser. It is incredibly versatile and saves to Google Drive. yEd Live makes it a simple matter to share your creations with others.
Cmap Cloud: This venerable desktop mapping tool has made the jump to the cloud in this version. Like yED Live, it offers simple functionality as a cross-platform and browser-based tool. Unfortunately, it lacks saving to Google Drive and student account creation. Educators may still want to try out this tool for academics. Watch some videos to get started.
Visual Paradigm Online: With no limits on use, this free tool has a lot to offer educators. Like the others on this list, Google Drive integration is built in, as is collaboration. You can make quite a bit before you run into the “Upgrade Required” message for some diagrams. This isn’t dis-similar to some infographic tools, offering a rudimentary creative space.
Creately Diagrams: Similar to Lucidchart, you will need to pay for this diagram tool. It has a lot to offer, of course, at a cost. You can start for free to make fantastic concept maps, hierarchies of ideas, and more. It also features thousands of templates and shapes you can use for inspiration.

Need a bonus tool to explore and have money to burn? Check out Lucidchart Diagrams. Like Diagrams.net, you can create flow charts, mind maps, and more. Unlike other solutions on this list, you will need to pay for it at some point (prices vary).

thought cartography

Created in Cmap Cloud

Common Features

Common to each tool is the ability to export diagrams and concept maps to PDF, PNG, and JPG formats. You will find that creating diagrams is quite easy. Here are a few more features you may want to keep an eye out for:

The ability to insert shapes and images
An ample template library of diagrams, maps, flowcharts
The ability to align or reshape shapes
Easy modification of shapes based on inserted text

As you explore the different tools, keep in mind the guiding questions. How can each of these tools support student learning and metacognitive self-talk?

Infographic

Here’s a quick infographic you can share with others. Have fun. Be sure to let me know if you decide to share online. Add these tags #TCEA @mGuhlin

Get the PDF version for printing

Feature Image Source

Photo by author.

July 29, 2021 2 comments

Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks

Making Animated GIFs with Google Drawings

by Miguel Guhlin September 4, 2018

written by Miguel Guhlin

Looking for easy ways to make animated GIFs with Google Drawings? You’ve come to the right place. In this short blog entry, we’ll walk through the steps of creating an animated GIF using G Suite for Education’s Drawings, the revision history feature, and a free website tool known as Gifmaker.me. There are many ways to make animated GIFs. You can find out about alternative ways in my previous blog entry, Animated GIFs: Education in Motion.

Why Make Animated GIFs?

One of the four strategies of Reciprocal Teaching involves summarizing text. Imagine how much fun and engaging it could be for students as they create animated GIFs of key concepts found in a video or text. Becoming transliterate media creators can only benefit students and modeling a simple strategy can help them make connections between various media modes. It serves to make thinking visible when they share their creations. Let’s explore a simple way to create animated GIFs on a Chromebook. This approach will work on any Windows or Mac device as well.

Animated GIF Tools

You can see a wealth of tools in my previous blog entry. In this blog entry, let’s review the three tools that make animated GIF creation possible.

Google Drawings: This is a drawing tool that is simple to use, yet sophisticated in its range of potential uses.
Revision History: G Suite for Education documents, such as Drawings, Slides, and Docs now support the ability to name different versions of the revision history.
Gifmaker.me: This is a free website (does not require an account) that makes it easy and fast to combine images into an animated GIF.

Steps to Follow: Creating Images

1) Open Google Drawings: In this step, you open Google Drawings and create your first image or “slide” in your animated GIF sequence. Encourage students to map out their images. They can use a paper storyboard or an outline. This will eliminate the need for revisions.

2) Create your first image: In this step, you are going to create your first image. Here’s my first image in my example:

Make any adjustments to this image, which we will consider to be “Slide One” or the first in a sequence of images in our animated GIF. Be sure to export this image. Adjust the filename to be “slide1.png.” This naming scheme helps you keep track of which image is first in your animation sequence.

3) Give that image its own name in revision history:

We’re going to name this image. As you can see from the screenshot below, I have made several slides, naming each along the way.

Once you have created the image as you want it, File–>Export the image as you like. Assign the latest version a name in Revision History. The main benefit of this step is to make it possible for you to jump to your desired image version. You are able to adjust each version to your satisfaction.

4) Save each image version: Be sure to save each version of the image. Do that with the File->Download as… [PNG] command:

6) Repeat steps 2-4. You can repeat these steps as needed. Be sure to save each image and assign it a name in revision history (e.g. Slide 1, Slide 2, Slide 3).

Steps to Follow: Making the Animated GIF

7) Drop images into Gifmaker.me to animate them.

You can make adjustments to the speed of your animated GIF. If you scroll down on the Gifmaker.me website, you will see additional options, as shown below. One of these options lets you get the GIF and save it to your computer (“Download the GIF”).

Wasn’t that easy?

One Final Tip

Google Drawings may export a blurry image. To avoid that, magnify the picture and use a screenshot tool. On Windows 10, I prefer PicPick (Windows 10 app) . Chrome browser users will enjoy Fireshot (Chrome extension) . This will ensure you get the level of image quality you want.

September 4, 2018 0 comments

Google Tips and Tricks

Five Googly Things Teachers Can Do This Summer

by Diana Benner June 11, 2018

written by Diana Benner

Before you get too relaxed for the summer days ahead, I wanted to share a few little googly things you can do to get a jump start on the new school year. Of course, you shouldn’t spend your summer just working. But a little bit of work mixed with a lot of fun will keep you fresh and prepared for the new school year. So, after you’ve taken a few days or weeks to decompress, try some of the following.

1. Reflect using Google Docs

I can’t say enough about the power of reflection. However, you might be thinking that the last thing you want to do is look back on the school year that just ended. But it will definitely help you identify a few areas to grow in.

Make a copy of this Teacher End of School Year Reflection Google Doc. Take a few moments, while lying on the couch or sitting out by the pool and answer the questions. You don’t actually have to look at it again anytime soon. At least you have reflected on the previous school year and know what to tweak next year.

2. Organize Your Google Drive

Summertime is a perfect time to get your Google Drive organized. Sometimes our files get scattered everywhere and we need to organize them to make our drive more manageable. Even if you are a super organized person (like I try to be), you might still want to take a look to see if your Drive needs any tiding up. I know I always find things I need to delete or put into folders. If you need any help, check out these Three Tips to Organize Your Google Drive.

As we all know, Google Drive has so much to offer. After your drive is organized, ask yourself if you are taking advantage of the full potential of Google Drive. For example, did you know that you can create badges right inside of Google Drive? Did you know that Google Drive has a gallery of templates you can use? If you answered “no,” then check out Five Google Drive Tips You Should Try and Be More Productive with Google Drive in 2018.

3. Get Your Planner Ready using Google Drawings

If you are like the amazing Lexi Law (@lexilynnlaw), fifth grade science teacher at Wichita Fall ISD, and spend a pretty penny on a paper lesson planner but never use it, then you’ll definitely want to try this. Lexi created a Digital Teacher Lesson Planner in Google Drawings. The planner is for the 2018-2019 school year and all you have to do is make a copy of her template to get started. There is even an area where you can personalize your planner with photos. If you need extra help, Lexi even created a how-to video. I’m with Lexi on this one . . . why spend money when you can do it digitally with Google?

4. Get Familiar with those Fantastic G Suite Updates

Google does a lot of updating to its products throughout the year. For example, Google recently redesigned Gmail to help you respond to email even quicker. You can now see and click attachments in your inbox before ever opening a thread. You can also hover over messages (you don’t have to click into them) to do things like RSVP to a meeting invite, archive an email thread, or snooze an email.

In addition, updates and improvements were made to Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sites, Google Drive, and more. If you didn’t get a chance to see the new updates, now is the perfect time to read all about them on the G Suite Updates Google Blog. Furthermore, check out the What’s New in G Suite Monthly Newsletter.

5. Read the TCEA Google Blog Posts

You don’t have to be an avid reader for this last thing on the list. All you have to do is read one or two TCEA TechNotes blog posts a week. That way, you can catch up on those blogs you might have missed during the school year. You can find all the blogs related to Google by doing a search for the word Google on the TCEA TechNotes Blog. To make it even easier, we have Our 2017 Google Resource Round Up and Our 2016 Google Resource Round Up, which are a compilation of all blog posts about Google for that year.

These are just five googly things you could do this summer to help you get a start on the new school year. Do one or two or do them all. You’ll be glad you did.

June 11, 2018 0 comments

Good Teaching Google Tips and Tricks

Differentiation with Google Digital Task Cards

by Diana Benner August 29, 2017

written by Diana Benner

All of the latest research points toward the effectiveness of differentiation for learning. But figuring out how to differentiated can sometimes be tricky. If you are trying to differentiate the learning environment in your classroom, why not try task cards? We all know that not every student learns the same way; therefore, we need to design lessons and tasks that are based on our student’s learning styles.

Task Cards

Task cards are just what they sound like. They are cards that have tasks on them for the students to complete. Task cards can be made to target any learning objective you want studied. They can be used for grammar, math practice, word problems, parts of speech, historic events, science principles, and more.

Task cards are a wonderful alternative to worksheets, and the students love them because each card focuses on only one task. Imagine that you are a struggling student being given an entire worksheet to complete. You would probably feel very overwhelmed. However, if the tasks on that worksheet were given to you one at a time, you might feel a sense of accomplishment when one task is completed before moving to the next one.

Digital Task Cards with Google

Digital task cards are basically the same thing as a paper task card except they are, of course digital. Students can access and complete the task cards from any computer or device.

A task card will usually include a title and a number and perhaps instructions, definitions, or examples. A border and clip art can be included to jazz up the task card. Let’s take a look at two sample digital task cards I created in G Suite. You will see how easy it is to differentiate and scaffold instruction with these task cards.

Part of Speech Google Task Cards

This set of task cards was created in Google Slides. Students select the part of speech by highlighting the correct choice option. They can complete any or all of the task cards. Give them some choice.

Differentiation

Along with your task cards, you can include Challenge Cards that might include open-ended questions or require longer responses. The last card in this example is a challenge card that requires the student to actually type out the part of speech that appears in the sentence.

If students need to answer questions verbally, these cards can easily be replicated in Google Docs. That way, students can use the voice typing tool to speak their answer choices.

Get your own copy of the Google Slides Task Cards template here – Google Slide link.

Drawing Conclusions Google Drawing Task Cards

Give your visual learners a few task cards to complete that enable them to draw their answers. Drawing helps students visualize their learning. For some students, a picture really is worth a thousand words. This set of task cards was created in Google Drawings. Students read the scenario, come to a conclusion, and then draw their answer utilizing the drawing tools. There are two different task cards in this example; however, you can create them with fewer or more cards.

Get your own copy of the Google Drawings Task Cards template here – Google Drawings link.

Differentiation

Using Digital Task Cards in the Classroom

There are many different ways you can use digital task cards in the classroom. Below are just a few:

Introduce a new topic by sharing digital task cards with groups of students. Have them work on the task cards as a whole group activity and then have one person in the group “share” the completed task cards with you.
Assess student learning by using digital task cards as exit tickets that you can share with individual students. Again, once completed, the students can then “share” them with you.
Set up one or two technology stations in your classroom as a center where your students could complete the task cards. This could even be an activity for those students who finish work early.

So Many Possibilities

Digital task cards open up so many possibilities for differentiating and scaffolding in your classroom all year long. They provide students with alternative ways of exploring and expressing key ideas and using key skills. With task cards, students can work independently at their own pace. Different students with different needs and abilities can be given different task cards. Task cards give opportunity for choice and provide a challenge that is just beyond what your students can already do. In addition, they enable students to progress toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process.

If you are looking for even more strategies to use in your classroom, join us for the Innovative Learning Strategies Conference on September 13-14. In addition, don’t forget to join us for our monthly Get Your Google On webinars to learn more ways to use Google to differentiate for your students.

Do you or your staff need more training in effectively differentiating for all learners? TCEA can provide onsite, customized workshops for you at a very reasonable price. And each attendee will also receive a complimentary one-year membership in TCEA, allowing him/her to continue the learning the entire year. Contact Dr. Bruce Ellis for more information and a quote for your staff development needs.

August 29, 2017 0 comments

Google Tips and Tricks

Wondrous Ways to Use Google Drawings

by Diana Benner February 17, 2016

written by Diana Benner

During a recent Get Your Google On webinar, I shared some ways Google Drawings can be used in the classroom. I truly believe Google Drawings is a very powerful, but yet very under-utilized tool.

If you are not familiar with Google Drawings, it is free, web-based diagramming software developed by Google. It allows users to collaborate and work together in real-time to create flowcharts, organizational charts, concept maps, and many other types of diagrams. Drawings can be inserted into other Google documents, sheets, or presentations.

Accessing Google Drawings

You can access Google Drawings via your Google Drive. Once you are logged in to your Google Drive, you can create a new drawing as follows:

Click the Create button in the top left corner.
Then click More and Google Drawings from the drop-down menu.
Your blank drawing will now open.

Google Drawings is also available as a Chrome app on the Chrome Web Store.

Ways to Use Drawings in the Classroom with Students

There are endless ways to use Google Drawings in the classroom. Below are just a few:

Graphic Organizers – Have students create graphic organizers or concept maps with Google Drawings. This will help them organize their ideas and make logical sequence of concepts. Make use of connector lines in order to let students show relationships among different concepts. Here are ten great examples ready to use.
Comic Strips – Let students create an autobiographical comic strip talking about themselves and summarizing important events in their lives. They can incorporate speech bubbles in order to experiment with different languages, sentence structure, or vocabulary in a meaningful context.
Posters – Have students create posters for a classroom project or have them create posters that can be used around school. For example, create a poster on being a good digital citizen or how to stay safe online.
Annotate Images – Students can upload their own images and tag important features, make comments, or highlight key concepts.
Timelines – Have students create timelines and add information for the different dates, along with images and text. Timelines can be used to record events from a story or a history lesson in a sequential format. They can help students keep events in chronological order as they write summaries or help them make connections and recognize patterns in a series or process.
Tutorial Graphics – Let students create a Google Drawing that explains how to do something or defines a concept. This is a great way students can show understanding and teach someone else at the same time.
Infographics – Students can create infographics in order to communicate information or ideas. This is a great way to communicate visually with others, as well as assess students’ understanding of a topic.
Word Webs – Have students who might be struggling with vocabulary words create word webs. The word webs can illustrate how key words or concepts are related to one another through graphic representations.

All the above activities can be done as a whole class, in small groups, or individually. However, by using Google Drawings, students can easily collaborate with one another in real time. In addition, drawings can also be published online as images or downloaded in standard formats such as JPEG, SVG, PNG, or PDF.

More Ways You Can Use Google Drawings

Google Drawing is not just for students. There are many ways you can use it, too:

Create badges to award to your students.
Create a custom signature for your email.
Document what you learned at a conference – Check out this Google Drawing created by one of our members about her takeaways from the TCEA 2016 Convention.

Give It a Try

If you have never used Google Drawings before, I challenge you to give it a try. I usually recommend starting with an “All About Me” drawing. Enter text, images, and links that tell about you, where you’re from, where you work, your interests, your hobbies, etc. Once you are done, save it as a JPEG and upload it to this All About Me Padlet.

The next time you need to cover standards where students must explain, diagram, justify, develop, plan, or describe, consider using Google Drawings. If you are already using Google Drawings, we’d love to hear from you. Share in the comments below.

February 17, 2016 0 comments