Beyond Graphic Organizers

© Kendra Grant 2009 [email protected]

Beyond Graphic Organizers: Why Inspiration is a Quintessential UDL Tool

In this third of five articles I will discuss why we need to go beyond graphic organizers in our use of

Inspiration. I will talk about Universal Design and brain research and how they apply to Inspiration. I

hope to provide you with a variety of examples of how to use Inspiration to support your exploration,

and increased use of, Universal Design principles to plan and organize your classroom and enhance

your teaching using technology. What is Inspiration?

Inspiration is a unique software tool. As the user

develops and designs their ideas visually in the diagram

view (see Diagram 1 and 2), a linear outline is

automatically created (and vice versa). This integrated

format allows the teacher to plan, organize and structure

almost any learning task in both a visual and linear way.

With the inclusion of sound, video, colour and images,

Inspiration supports and enhances the learning process

by providing alternative means to access and process

information and removes the burden of working solely within a text dominant environment.


Diagram and Outline – What’s so Important? Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, suggests that our education

system fails many learners because "We progressively educate kids from the waist up, and then we

focus on their heads and slightly to one side..."1

Traditionally schools focus on, and reward students with strong, left brain abilities. “In most Western

systems of education the arts are on the periphery, the sciences at the centre.”2 Creative activities

while appreciated are not valued in the same way as academic learning. If we want our students to be

successful in this century then we must use tools and strategies that work with and connect to both

sides of the brain. (See Diagram 3) Inspiration, with its integrated diagram and outline view helps

make this connection. Students can choose the mode and media that best supports their learning

style. They can move back and forth between modes, flexibly using Inspiration to complete tasks in

ways that make sense to them.

In my experience, many students who struggle with the left brain nature of school often find more

success with right brain activities. When these learners use Inspiration, they begin with their strengths

(visual/spatial/creative) and move to the linear, logical mode as required. The end result is a more

successful student, who makes connections and retains their learning. Perhaps even more

importantly, you have an engaged student, happy to finally have a tool that thinks the way they do.


Universal Design: Before we explore examples of Inspiration in action, let's look at Universal Design and how it applies

to Inspiration. Architecture/Design

The concept of Universal Design originated in the field of architecture. The website “The Centre for

Universal Design” describes Universal Design as "The design of products and environments to be

usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized

design."3 Three of the design principles from this site apply directly to Inspiration.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Equitable Use - The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities. Inspiration is uniquely suited for all ages and intellectual abilities. Learners can successfully use

Inspiration from Pre-kindergarten (using Kidspiration) into elementary and high school and beyond,

into higher education and business. Concepts, structures and diagrams may be basic or complex

depending on the user. For example: Writing frameworks might be at the pictorial level for beginning

writers… (See Diagram 4)


…or highly detailed for advanced writers. (See Diagram 5)

PRINCIPLE TWO: Flexibility in Use - The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities. Inspiration provides unlimited accommodations. (See Diagram 6) The user easily moves between

outline and diagram. Images replace words, sounds enhance images and videos explain processes.

Inspiration is flexible, meeting the needs of all learners and is easily altered to meet those needs.


PRINCIPLE THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use - Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.

Although I teach a 30 hour course

on using Inspiration to differentiate

instruction, the basics of the

program are simple to acquire for

both the teacher and the student.

(See Diagram 7) As with all

technology, it is the teacher who

leads and supports learning. I

believe it is fundamental that

teachers understand how to use

Inspiration in order for students to truly benefit from its power; however, regardless of the teacher’s

experience with Inspiration, students are able to use the program with a high degree of success due to

its intuitive design and visual interface.

Education - Universal Design for Learning In education, Universal Design boils down to "...identifying and removing barriers from our teaching

methods and curriculum materials." 4

Inspiration helps to effectively remove barriers in ways that supports all learners. It provides students

with multiple means to gather, plan, organize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create and present


information and ideas in ways that are motivating and make sense for them as a learner. Digital

organizers created in Inspiration structure learning so that students actively engage in the "What, Why

and How"5 of learning. (See Diagram 8)

Moving Beyond Graphic Organizers When I think of the word graphic organizer I visualize a design in a paper format. It is two

dimensional, static and text-bound. I use the word "bound" deliberately as the ideas, concepts and

information are literally bound up in the text; inaccessible to many of our students. In most instances,

successful completion of a graphic organizer relies on a student's ability to read and write text.

"Unfortunately, many classrooms continue to be dominated by a single medium—usually printed

(resources). This dominance prevents teachers from reaching all students and instead forces them to

cater to those who find text accessible and create barriers for those who do not.” 6

If you currently use graphic organizers in a paper format, excellent, there are many benefits to using

these with your students. Research shows that graphic organizers help: increase retention, identify

misconceptions, integrate new knowledge, reinforce understanding, tap creativity, clarify thinking and

organize knowledge. (See Diagram 9)

However, if you want to apply the principles of Universal Design you need to begin to use and design


Digital Organizers. Digital Organizers take the best of graphic organizers and recreate (and expand

upon) them in Inspiration. Moving beyond paper bound graphic organizers allows us to differentiate

our instruction and support a variety of learners in our classroom in ways that are both fun and

meaningful.

If you currently use Inspiration you may be like the vast majority of teachers who use it to brainstorm

ideas or create concept maps. This is an excellent first step; however, Inspiration can do much more

than webs and concept maps. In fact, anything in a paper format can be recreated in Inspiration in

ways that greatly enhance the likelihood of success for all students.

Inspiration’s potential to positively impact thinking and learning is limited only by imagination! In the

following examples, I hope to demonstrate the power and possibilities within Inspiration: the possibility

to engage students in their learning and the power to support and enhance thinking through the

creative use of Inspiration. Plus/Minus When we use Inspiration we move away from a paper environment to a digital one. Ideas, information

and learning are accessible at the click of a button. Examine the graphic organizers below. (See

Diagram 10) Choose one and think about your students and how they might use it. Keep your

answers in mind as we explore the many uses of Inspiration. Who in your class would successfully complete this organizer on paper?

Who would not? Why? What types of support (digital or otherwise) would your struggling students require to help them

successfully complete this organizer?


Cycle Diagram If you think about a cycle diagram (on paper) there are many difficulties a student must overcome to

successfully complete it. One difficulty might be keeping ideas and resources organized in order to

answer a question. In

this case the question

being: Can severe

storms and tornadoes

occur on Mars? (See

Diagram 11) Using

Inspiration the learner

easily adds ideas to their

cycle; using symbols and

colour to identify

connections. All

information is visual, meaningfully colour coded with space to expand upon thinking with the addition

of more symbols. In the outline, ideas are in sequence, ready to be expanded upon with the inclusion

of notes that will hold approximately 15 pages of text. (See Diagram 12)


Timeline Often when students complete a task involving a variety of information sources, locating, interpreting

and using that information is difficult to manage. In the timeline the effective use of hyperlinks

(providing instant access to videos, saved documents, example presentations or websites) provides

students with alternate ways of accessing and processing information that best meets their needs.

(See Diagram 13)

Notes In addition, the student can effectively use note pads within their document to organize their

information, expand upon their ideas and finally, present their information by enlarging the font, adding

a picture and enlarging the note pad to presentation size. 7 (See Diagram 14)

Outline Alternately, the student can move to the outline and create a report. This is important as the student

uses the same Inspiration document to complete the entire activity. They don't need to repeat or redo

the information in various forms. One form seamlessly transforms into the next. Students, especially

those who struggle with organization, fine motor and/or attention difficulties are less likely to

disengage when the volume (and repetition) of tasks overwhelms them. (See Diagram 15)


Comparison

In a task such as a comparison many students struggle reading the text and then analyzing it,

especially when they move from one document to the next (from a book to a computer screen or from

a Word document to an Inspiration document). In the Inspiration sample, (See Diagram 16) the


student is provided with a variety of ways to access the required information. One hyperlink opens a

document (.doc or .txt format). The student then reads the text from the screen or uses a program like

WordQ to read it to them. Another hyperlink might open a “scan/read” program such as Kurzweil 3000

or WYNN. Once students are familiar with the text they can then work exclusively in Inspiration by

copying and pasting the text into an open note pad. This allows the student to work within one

document, their Inspiration template, rather than moving back and forth to various screens to complete

the activity. In addition, students might use the Listen feature in Inspiration to read short phrases

(their jot notes) or WordQ to read parts of the text as needed. Learners could also use the Word

Wizard to define words (and expand vocabulary) and colour to designate and group ideas.

Reading Often when we ask students to read and then respond in writing we limit their ability to successfully

show us what they know through our choice of media. In this reading example, (See Diagram 17)

students not only listen to the novel in an MP3 format (attached to the Chapter 1 symbol) but they can

record their thoughts and ideas as well. By using a simple microphone, students record 30 seconds of

information for each symbol. For some students this might be the completion of the task, for others

they could listen to their recordings and then use other technology such as WordQ or SpeakQ to

successfully type their responses into the note pads or outline.


Tree Diagram What is important to remember when differentiating a template is the diagram can look the same for

each student but the outline might contain different information. In the example (See Diagram 18) the

text (from a website or designed by the teacher) can be customized to meet various learning needs.

This might mean that only the link to the website is available. For other students the text, perhaps

edited for simplicity, is added. For other learners the jot notes, or key ideas are highlighted in red. For

still others the jot notes are pasted into subtopics in the outline. The student then works in the

diagram and uses the searchable image library to find pictures to represent the key ideas. Each

student is successful, with various levels of support, using the same template and meeting the same

expectations.

Tool of Choice Throughout this article I demonstrated that Inspiration is much more than a Graphic Organizer.

Beyond webs and maps, Inspiration meets the learning styles and needs of all learners, through the

creation of dynamic and interactive templates. With its integrated diagram and outline view,

Inspiration helps learners access and use both sides of the brain. With the inclusion of digital media

(sound, video, hyperlinks, images, colour and visual structure), Inspiration supports students as they

acquire information, demonstrate what they know and actively engage with their learning. By

customizing the outline (and providing just the right amount of support) learning and lessons are

further differentiated to ensure successful understanding of concepts by all students.


Inspiration truly is a quintessential UDL tool:

It is useful to a variety of learners and supports their learning differences

It is flexible; easily altered to address learning styles and needs

It is intuitive in its use; students (and teachers) quickly learn the basics of the program

In my school, Inspiration

became the tool of choice for

students and teachers as they

developed ideas, organized

information, structured thinking

and presented findings. Often,

technology provides students

with access to information but

not access to learning. (See

Diagram 19) In fact, access to information quickly becomes overwhelming. Students lack the tools

and skills to structure, design and share their understandings, solutions and products. This is

especially true for students who struggle with text and text bound information. Inspiration is a model

UDL tool, that when used effectively and creatively, unbinds information and provides important

access to learning…for all. 1 Quote from a presentation by Ken Robinson during the TED conference -

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html 2 Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative, page 83 3 http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm 4 Chapter 4 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer 5 Chapter 2 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer 6 Chapter 3 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer 7 For another article I wrote on using Inspiration as a presentation tool please go to

http://fno.org/jan08/beyond.html

Documents

Beyond Graphic Organizers