Virtual Post-It Boards-Stoodle

Just a little over a week ago, two guys in the know both posted about a new virtual post-it board.  Richard Byrne, educator, speaker and blogger at Free Technology for Teachers and Larry Ferlazzo, educator, author and blogger at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... wrote about it at Stoodle-Quickly Create Shared Online Whiteboards and "Stoodle" Could Be The Best "Virtual Corkboard" Site Out There respectively.  With endorsements like these I knew I needed to give the site a try myself.

When you access the home page you are greeted with an introduction in the center with the choice of launching a classroom. The upper right-hand corner allows you to follow the Stoodle people on Twitter and Facebook.  Along the left-hand side are six options.

These six options, starting at the top, give you the choice of opening and closing the tool bar (three lines icon), going to the home page, reading about the site objective, features, and benefits for students and teachers/tutors, educational leaders at certain schools, how Stoodle started and key persons responsible and contact information (address, phone and fax numbers, email, spot on map).  I then moved back to the center clicking on the green Launch a classroom! button.  At the next window you are asked to give your name and whether you will grant Stoodle the use of your microphone.

Once you have entered in a name and clicked OK your corkboard is ready for use.  On the left-hand and right-hand side are a variety of choices.  The top selection on the left opens and closes that tool bar.

Moving from the top down on the left you can:

• share a link on Facebook, Twitter or via email
• add the shape of a square or circle or draw a line
• add an image of any size by clicking and dragging 
• clear the board and 
• mute or unmute the speaking feature.

Every time you click on one of these choices the tool bar disappears.  You will need to select the three lines icon to bring the choices back.

When you use the add-an-image tool, a large lists of choices for obtaining files appears.  They are:

• My computer
• Facebook
• Google Drive
• Dropbox
• Box
• Sky Drive
• Picasa
• Instagram
• Flickr
• Link (URL)
• Github
• Gmail
• Take Picture
• Record Video
• Web Images
• Evernote
• Alfresco
• FTP and 
• WebDAV.

When you select Web Images you can type in a keyword; Stoodle will search Wikipedia, Google Images and Flickr.  Once an image has been placed on the board it can't be resized.  Make sure you have your shape close to the shape of the image or it will appear distorted.

The tool bar on the right gives you the following selections:

• drawing on the board
• inserting text (a prompt appears on the screen identical to the box asking you for your name)
• move elements around
• delete elements
• undo
• redo
• colors for drawn lines/text and
• add pages/move among pages.

If you want your text to be a specific color please click on that color (black, purple, blue, green, red or yellow) prior to adding your words.  By clicking on a color before adding any shapes the outline will be in the color chosen.  Each time you use an item on the tool bar to switch to another, make sure you toggle back to it and click.  

Many members of my PLN on Twitter have been talking about the reading of Snowflake Bentley, a Caldecott Medal winner by Jacqueline Briggs Martin with woodcut illustrations by Mary Azarian.  I have created a Stoodle for books on snow which I have used in the past for units and currently own.

Please follow the link here, Let It Snow.  Let me know in the comments below if you would like to add other elements.  I would like to see how the collaboration works. When you follow the link you will be asked to enter in a name, then the collaboration or viewing can begin.

The best part of Stoodle is there is no registration.  This allows students under the age of thirteen to use this website.  Every time you access the site to launch a classroom, a new URL is assigned to your board.  As a word to the wise, make sure you keep track of your created board URL links.  The ease of use is also a major plus.  I concur with Richard Byrne and Larry Ferlazzo; Stoodle should be placed in your virtual toolbox.

Un-Boggle Your Mind With Coggle

Several months ago Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers featured a mind-mapping tool, Coggle in a post on his blog.  Coggle is a free web 2.0 application released in January of this year.  There is no registration.  You sign up using a Google account.

Features noted on the home page include:

• real-time collaboration
• unlimited amount of images using a simple drag and drop method
• go into history mode to re-do previously made edits
• when collaborating you can see who did what  and
• for visual thinkers branch colors can be changed easily.

If you have a Google account select the big green button and you are good to go.  At the next screen click the green CREATE button.

In the upper-right hand corner of your work space are four icons representing from left to right, collaborators, download, view history and chat.  In the center of the screen, to begin choose the gray New Coggle space by mousing over it.  An arrow (+ sign) on either side will appear.  The arrows allow for the addition of branches in your mind map.  Click and type in the title of your Coggle. 

As you work helpful hints appear on the screen; keys to use to delete, undo, redo, etc.  The entire working area screen can be moved by dragging so you can focus on a particular section.  You can zoom in and out by using control + and control -.  You can also select the question mark icon in the lower left-hand corner for more assistance.

A branch can be dragged to a desired position.  A single click on a branch causes a color wheel to appear allowing for a change in shades.  For each branch that is added a plus sign appears allowing for "a child to be added to the parent" branch.  When you choose a branch name again, you are allowed to edit your text.

At any point you can choose the share (collaborators) icon to provide a link via Facebook or Twitter.   This allows anyone to see the work on your Coggle.  (Here is the link for my Coggle, Book A Day Challenge Summer 2013)  You can also add in readers and writers with their email addresses.

By choosing the download icon you can save your Coggle in PDF or PNG format.  Any hyperlinks added to your Coggle will be functioning in the PDF format.  Adding hyperlinks is easy.  In the text box type the name of the link surrounded in brackets followed by the URL surrounded in parenthesis.

When you select the view history icon a list of times appear.  Click on any to create a copy of your Coggle.  This allows you edit your work from that particular point.






To exit your Coggle simply close the browser link.  Your work in continuous saved.  If you are logged in Google as soon as you go to the Coggle home page your account information (list of your Coggles) will appear.

For more help Coggle has a blog (linked here).  The blog further explains specific features of the application.  There are many how-to narratives offering more sophistication to the look of your Coggle.  

When you desire to quickly collaborate, brainstorm, or make a list, this application is exactly what you need.  I can't begin to stress enough the ease of use.  I recommend putting Coggle in your virtual toolbox.  You, your students and your colleagues are going to really enjoy using this mind-mapping web 2.0 application.

Here is the image of my Coggle.

Here is the embedded PDF file.  I was able to embed the PDF file by uploading it into Scribd.  In Scribd when you click on Preview one of the available options is HTML code.

Book a Day Challenge Summer 2013 by Xenasmom

Virtual Post-It Boards-Mural.ly

In the summer of 2012 a new application premiere,  Mural.ly.  It was announced by Larry Ferlazzo initially in June at Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... and received a position on his The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education in 2012.  More recently Kelly Tenkely posted about its potential uses in the classroom on her blog iLearn Technology.



Mural.ly states in their Terms of Use Agreement they area robust platform for visual collaboration and problem solving.  Murals ("Murals") are web pages that are like scrolling/zoomable whiteboards.

The site will have three options for accounts: free, premium and business.  It is not designed for children under the age of thirteen but in the Terms of Use Agreement they do say:

Accordingly, in order to use the Services, you must notify parents/guardians of the information to be collected from children under the age of 13 and obtain consent from the parent/guardian prior to collecting and sharing such information.

On the home page Mural.ly provides access to several sample Murals, collaboration ideas, testimonials from users and their blog for updates about the service.  To begin click on the bright pink Sign-up for free button.  You are asked to give your email address, a username and password.  You can use either your Facebook, Twitter or Google account to sign-up also.

Upon signing-up a new window appears, your Home page.  Across the top a bar designates possible actions, specifically in the right-hand corner. The first icon offers links to an FAQ, a list of keyboard shortcuts and anything someone new would need to know about the service.  Moving to the left, any notifications will be posted there.  The final icon is where your settings can be established and you logout.

When you select the plus sign in the center of the page a new window is superimposed on top of the work space.  You give your Mural a title, a place to be stored on the site and determine whether it will be private (indoor Mural) or public (outdoor Mural).  If it is private only those with granted permission can access the Mural.






Upon choosing Create Mural another window asks if you want to add people via email invitation to participate in the making of your Mural.  For the purpose of this post I skipped it.  A short one minute plus video comes on the screen next advising you how to DRAG AND DROP CONTENT SUPER FAST. 

When you close the video your work space appears.  In the upper left-hand corner a series of icons, left to right, take you home, allow you to export the Mural by sharing or embedding, invite people, change the Mural members or settings, and actions such as duplicate, move to... and archive.  The last icon on the left signifies that email notifications is on. 

Along the left-hand side of the work space is your tool bar.  From top to bottom you can add:

• web content using a URL
• images either by searching in Google images or uploading from your computer
• documents from Google Drive
• text in the form of titles, text boxes or sticky notes
• shapes (9)
• stickers, solid or full color, you can search by keyword for a specific item
• spaces (9), templates for layout and
• background (9).

In the lower right-hand corner and along the right side left to right, bottom to top you can:

• comment
• see the online users
• view the Mural activity (all your current actions, comments and mentions)
• chat
• see your position on the Mural with the red rectangle
• toggle to full screen mode
• zoom in and out
• move the screen left, right, top and bottom

When you select add web content the work space changes color giving you additional instructions.  After you add the URL, the item will appear below giving you a preview of how it will appear on the Mural.  Options appear around and inside the item when it is dragged to the Mural.   

You can change the title and the description of the web content.  The thumbnail can be changed or deleted.  You can add your own image if you like.  The entire box can be dragged to a new position, rotated, resized or you can:

• add a comment
• duplicate it
• open the preview
• lock it
• bring it to the front
• send it to the back 
• edit it or
• delete it.

At any time during your work on the Mural you can double-click on any spot to add text instantly. You can also frame specific areas of your Mural (click on the 1, 2, 3 circles on the bottom of the tool bar on the left) to direct viewers from one area to the next.  If you lock an item on your Mural right mouse click to unlock it as well as adding a comment,  open preview, bring to the front, and send to the back.

Upon completion of the Mural, go to the top and click on the Export button.  You can get a URL link or an HTML embed code.  Your entire Mural has a link and each individual item has its own link.

Mural.ly is an amazing new web 2.0 application with endless possibilities.  The results are sharp and clean but it is very easy to use.  I would highly recommend placing this in your virtual toolbox.

Here is a link to my Mural.ly about events during the month of April.  To activate any of the links simply double click.

List It, Map It

When reading the AASL, American Association of School Librarians, Standards for the 21st-Century Learner, the first standard states:

Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

This standard addresses the idea of the process being as vital as the product.  The variety of Information Literacy Models and Inquiry Learning Models or Virtual Information Inquiry: Models is numerous to say the least.  Most of these do require, initially, a written plan, a series of goals to be met, prior to beginning.

If simplicity, ease of use, is a key requirement for a web 2.0 application to be selected, then this latest service posted by Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers should be part of your virtual toolbox.  Designed to convert an outline to a more visual display, Text 2 Mindmap, launched in 2008, is free to use without registration.  As soon as the home page is accessed users can begin.


On the left side of the screen is a text box with an outline already completed.  This is an example only; the mind map representation is shown on the right.  Before beginning highlight that text and strike the backspace key to erase it.  Outdent and indent icons are in the upper left-hand corner of the text box.

Prior to typing in your words you may click on the triangle of dots in the lower right-hand corner to re-size the box.  When you click on options you can alter the positions by locking and unlocking the boxes, select font color and size, choose the box colors and determine the color, width and type of line.  Colors of the boxes can be by level or branch; options for each can be picked to allow for a final decision later.

The created mind map can be moved around on the screen by clicking and dragging prior to saving (locking) as can each of the individual boxes.  What you see on the screen is what will be saved, so make sure all of your items are completely visible.  Note that font size and number of words will be a determining factor.

When your mind map is completed you have two options for exporting it:  downloading it as a PDF (A4size, high resolution, 300dpi) or downloading it in PNG format (MAC and PC).  It can be shared via Facebook or Twitter as view only. You can also save by giving it a title and entering in your email address.  If you should happen to lose your downloads, then Text 2 Mindmap can send them to you via email.

Here is an image of my mind map titled Caldecott Medal.


This is an ideal application to use with students who do not have individual email addresses. Not having to register is a huge plus with younger students. Text 2 MindMap is one of those applications where you can type, click, drag (arrange) and go, making it the perfect service for elementary and lower middle school students.  Not only would it be a good tool for beginning inquiry but also for writing, brainstorming, or searching for keywords and information within text.

Virtual Post-It Boards-Clipboard

The variety of virtual post-it-boards for personal or professional use is continually expanding.  Ease of use, special features, provisions for collaboration and options for sharing determine which will serve each individual's needs.  On June 1, 2012 Richard Byrne posted on his blog, Free Technology for Teachers, of a new application called Clipboard.  A year ago a team met with an idea stated on their blog:

This vision is deceptively simple but deep in its implications. We believe that you need to easily save parts of the web in order to accomplish meaningful goals. As you save ever more parts of the web, your personal collection of clippings starts to form a more accurate reflection of where you've been, who you are, and where you're going.

Keeping this vision in mind Clipboard went public on May 31, 2012.  This free service is available to users 13 years of age or older providing they have read and accept the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. (It would appear based upon a statement in the Privacy Policy that users under 13 are allowed with parental/guardian consent but I would always check first.)  Begin by clicking on the green Sign Up button. 

Users can register with their Facebook account or with an email address.  You enter in your real name, provide a profile picture and a little bit of biographical information (all of these are optional) followed by the required email, username, and password.  Step 2 asks if you wish to follow any previously created clipboards (shown with #hash tags) or connect to friends on Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo or LinkedIn.

To complete the signing up process add the bookmarklet, Clipper, to your browser Favorites Bar.  For some reason I was unable to drag it to the bar in IE (easily dragged it to the bar in Google Chrome) but did add it to my Favorites menu. You will also receive an email to confirm your address. 

At the home page users can see tags they have used as well as the sites clipped on the left.  An initial board has been created by Clipboard with five introductory helpful clips about the application.  Across the top along with the home page (all clips public or private attached to your account), are the shared (what you have shared or what has been shared with you) and public (public clips by other users including subscribed feeds) pages.

Going toward the right a box provides for searching clips by title, content, hash tags and mentions.  Clips can be seen individually in their entirety, as a text only list or tiled together as a whole.  By clicking on the people icon suggestions are made of people to follow.  Adding Clipper and other styles of the Clipper button are shown when clicking on the tools icon.

PLEASE NOTE:  When initially using Clipper the third-party cookies option must be enabled.  Clipboard gives complete instructions for completing this within a variety of browsers.  You must be logged in for the Clipper bookmarklet to function.

When you have found a website to clip click on the Clipper icon in your Favorites.  An overlay will appear with a series of four icons on the right. The first allows you to mouse over a portion of the page to clip it or bookmark the entire page.  Also, using this icon with the embedded font, by highlighting a section of text, it will clip it.  The next icon, a wrench, modifies your clipping preferences.  You can open your Clipboard home page in a new window or with the final icon hide the Clipper.

With the area selected a click will cause another screen to appear asking if you wish to add tags, mentions or an annotation.  You can publish it publicly to Clipboard, on Facebook or Twitter.  I added annotations to all my clips and clicked save.

When mousing over clips on a board, it asks if you want to visit the site, like the clip or offers to publish it.  When selecting individual clips on a board, across the top are those same three icons plus the ability to flag a broken clip or freeze it, or share it via Facebook, Twitter, email, a URL link or an HTML embed code.

It is interesting to note when adding #hash tags Clipboard will only accept those already a part of the application.   My hash tags of virtual post-it-boards and mind-mapping created two boards, one for virtual and mind.

Clips are automatically private.  Each clip must be marked to be seen publicly.  A permalink is provided for an entire board but not an embed code. The link to my board for all those virtual post-it-boards reviewed on this blog (with the exception of Stixy which would not clip no matter which browser I used) is here.  I did add a YouTube video about Stixy.

Clipboard is an application with ease of navigation, great features, and visual appeal.  I'm adding it to my list as recommended for use.

Virtual Post-It-Boards-Slatebox

At times it seems as though there are too many choices when it comes to online services but each one has their unique, individual options in order to serve a particular user's unique, individual needs.  Slatebox is a web 2.0 application for mind-mapping. 

Individuals can sign up to use Slatebox for free.  Registration requires a username, email address and password. Upon completion users are immediately taken to the Slatebox Canvas.  Beneath the canvas is a link to a YouTube video that simply explains the steps to begin using this application.

In the center of the canvas is the first node.  This node, as well as the screen, can be dragged.  In the corner is a bird's eye view of the canvas.  On the left side is a tool for zooming in and out.  When you mouse over the node four icons appear, settings, detached node, attached node and resize, going clockwise around the node.

The settings icon allows the user to change the shape of the node and its color.  An additional five icons within that option allow for connecting to a node, deletion, editing of text, embedding an image or adding a URL link.  Each time the detached or attached node icon is clicked the additional node will mirror the changes made in the shape and color of the original (parent) node.
(Note:   If you go back and change the parent node's shape and/or color the newer ones will not change.)

Across the top of the Slatebox Canvas are buttons representing the creation of a new canvas, opening a previous canvas, getting the HTML embed code for the current canvas, exporting the image to your computer, choosing to have the Slatebox creation to be searchable on site or allowing/not allowing collaboration on Twitter. 

This free, web 2.0 application is so easy to use it should be placed in your toolbox; it has been added to mine.  I found the adding of images to be outstanding as was the adding of links.

This is the canvas of a very simple Slatebox that I designed; exported to my computer as a .PNG file.  I did have trouble embedding the canvas HTML so it would appear correctly, I could not get the nodes to appear; only text and connectors are visible.  It might work better in one browser better than another.  I have IE 9.  Four of the nodes also have links to websites which can be viewed when moused over if embedded in a website or blog.

Bubbles That Work For You

Under Content Collaboration, Standards for the 21st -Century Learner, 1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within a learning community, 3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners and 3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge and understanding in ways that others can view, use and assess, the American Association of School Librarians selected bubbl.us in their 2009 Top 25 Web sites for Teaching and Learning. 

bubbl.us is a free application designed to enhance mind-mapping and brainstorming.  I was unable to find any age restrictions in the Terms of Service or Privacy Policy but the standard is to have students without parental permission to be 13 years of age or older.  A user can begin without registering but when a sheet is completed and you wish to save, registration is required.

To register only a username and password is necessary.  Your first and last name as well as an email address are optional.  In that respect personal information is not necessary to use this service.  To begin click the Start Brainstorming button located in the center of the home page.

Click on the Start Here button in the center of the next screen.  At that time two small squares appear on the right and bottom of the bubble.  When you click on the right square another bubble is generated.  When you click on the bottom square a "child" bubble is created for that bubble.  Click on the Start Here text to add your own text.

When you mouse over a bubble a series of icons appear above it.  These icons allow you to (from left to right):  change the color of the bubble background or change the color of the text within the bubble, the second icon, by repeated clicking, will enlarge the text and the size of the bubble, the third icon by clicking and dragging will draw a line to another bubble and the final icon deletes the bubble.

A cool feature is that bubbles can be clicked and dragged on the screen for placement and the screen itself can be clicked and dragged for viewing and working purposes.  Bubbles can be collapsed (hidden). 

Once a sheet is started across the top of the page are icons which offer the options of undo, copy, paste, print, export (JPG or PNG or HTML outline using colors and/or keeping URLs), or save.

To save a sheet log in with your username and password.  A series of choices appear in a box to the right of the working area.  You can name your sheet and make folders to store similar sheets.  When you select the down arrow/Sharing button your sheets can be shared with other bubbl.us account holders; permission can be given to edit, read only or no access.  If you choose the down arrow to the right of the word Sharing you can share a read-only link to the sheet or an HTML embed code is given. 

An extensive Help section explains very well other features of this simple to navigate, but very useful application.  One feature that is easy to accomplish is the labeling of lines connecting bubbles.  Just click on the lines and add your text.

Here is an example of a sheet with a variety of bubbles that I was able to generate very quickly.  I can see using this application almost any time a class wishes to discuss a variety of topics.  We are reading The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate as a class read with our fourth graders.  I will be using and expanding this sheet.