Blog Entry # 5: Digital Graphic Organizers

        I have used quite a few different graphic organizers with my students, but they have all been paper/pencil.  They have included cause and effect charts, timelines, Venn diagrams, etc.  I think well-chosen graphic organizers can be very helpful for students.  I say “well-chosen” because sometimes my own children have come home with a graphic organizer that did not really “fit” the text.  In this event, the graphic organizer actually became a detriment to learning and a frustration for my child (the student).  One way to see if the graphic organizer we are using will “fit” our text is to try and complete it ourselves.  This will help ensure it is appropriate and/or will help us be prepared for areas students may struggle with.  

        I used Google Draw, bubble.us, and Mindomo to complete my digital graphic organizers.  I thought Google Draw was the easiest format to use.  Google Draw allows a teacher to create a pre-formatted graphic organizer to share with students, while, also, providing an opportunity for older students to generate their own.  Bubble.us and Mindomo were great because they allowed me to use templates for my graphic organizers.  Mindomo was really neat because it had content specific templates that you can use.  The one that I used for a character analysis actually had pre-created questions for me to answer in each bubble! 

        There are definitely some major differences between digital and paper and pencil format.  The first major difference is cost.  Google Draw is free – but it did not have some of the interesting templates that the other apps like bubble.us and Mindomo had.  While the other apps had “free” offers – many of the cool features required a subscription.  Mindomo seemed fairly reasonable ($4.50/month for a teacher and 75 students).  You would just have to make sure that you are going to commit to using the app.  Another difference I saw was the opportunity to collaborate digitally.  I thought this might be a great 21^st century skill for our students to learn how to use.  

        I am really excited to use digital graphic organizers in my own classroom.  I really liked the features on some of the apps that allowed me to process the information I was organizing.  In all honesty…I am usually a paper/pencil person, but I really enjoyed using the bubble.us and Mindomo apps to express the way I was thinking about material.  I thought digital graphic organizers would be great for timelines, cause and effect charts, and synthesizing information students are learning.  Digital graphic organizers could also provide more choice for students in the classroom.  I could offer options for students to create digital or paper/pencil graphic organizers for assignments.  

        I do have some concerns about the apps themselves.  Some of the apps had a steep learning curve.  For example, on Mindomo – if you hit backspace – the entire bubble would disappear!  I do think students would become frustrated by this.  Before I would ever use this app, I feel that I would need to learn the major functions first.  Only then could I actually help students troubleshoot.  I do have concerns about younger students creating/using digital graphic organizers.  One option for younger students would be to actually create the digital graphic organizer as a class together.  The teacher could perform the typing/formatting while the students decided where the information should go on the graphic organizer.  This could be done in small groups or as an entire class.  It might be a neat collaborative learning experience for students.  It would allow students to verbalize their own thinking in a group setting.