Revision: simple clear mind-mapping with Coggle.it

Mind Maps can be a fantastic tool to revise a topic.

Coggle.it provides a simple platform for creating Mind Maps that can be shared (as below), made collaborative, or exported for printing.

Images can be included by simply dragging and dropping onto the canvas. Linking lines can be coloured a wide variety of colours and nodes can be easily moved to achieve a clear layout. Hyperlinks can be included too (try CTRL-clicking the word "Photosynthesis" in the above example). Full, easy to follow, instructions can be displayed as a side-bar.

Dominoes, triominoes, world loops and more: Formulator Tarsia

A very quick post to let you know about some fantastic free software for Windows computers.

Formulator Tarsia, available free of charge from http://www.mmlsoft.com/index.php/products/tarsia, provides an interface to quickly and easily create a variety of card sort and jigsaw activities and puzzle games. Just type in terms and definitions, or questions and answers and the program will create your puzzle which can be exported to pdf for printing.

Formulator Tarsia allows for easy formatting of mathematical formula or insertion of images.

Revision: Quizlet- flashcards and more

A quick post on one of my favourite eLearning tools for revision: Quizlet.com.

Quizlet is, in essence, a flash card based revision tool; of which there are many. However, what I really like about Quizlet is how you can use your 'deck' in so many different ways to revise. You can also embed the applet into webpages, like below:

Try using the drop-down menu at the bottom right of the embed to switch to the 'Test' and 'Scatter' Study Modes.

As you can see, when embedded Quizlet decks can be used without the need for a login, but with a free account students can search and add other decks to their library, create their own card sets or even set up a Class to share decks and compete with each other to top the leaderboard in the 'Scatter' or 'Space Race' study modes.

There are many sets of terms and defintions already on QUizlet but creating your own is very easy too. Images can also be included if needed.

Embedding the Quizlet applet into a page on Moodle is very simple:

• Open the 'deck' on the Quizlet website
• Click on 'More...' in the tools section of the menu bar and select 'Embed'
• Select and copy the text in the box next to your preferred Study Mode
• Go to your Moodle course and click the 'Add and Activity or Resource' link
• Scroll down to and click 'Web Page'
• Click the small 'HTML' button on the window that opens and paste the copied text here
• Type a title and short description in the relevant areas then save your web page

If necessary I can create a short video showing the whole process - just email me to ask