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I like the idea that children could use this to devise activities which, rather than testing or extending their skills by doing the activity itself, does so by requiring them to design the activity themselves

For example, when creating a quiz they may have to think about issues like the path taken by the user, how to frame the question, show the scoring will work, and what sounds (if any) to use for the feedback.

News & Views A Preview of 2DIY By Terry Freedman Created on Wed, 14 Jan 2009, 09:33 Email this article  Printer friendly page Email the author Listen to this article if ("">"") { document.write (""); document.write (""); document.write (""); } I've just received a link to download the latest program from 2Simple. Called 2DIY (for non-Brits, DIY = do-it-yourself, a shorthand term for home making things like bookshelves for the home), it enables users to create their own games and exercises.I've had a quick exploration, and it is looking very good. Read on for a quick thumbnail sketch, and why I think you should look into it.Back in the 1990s I used to love looking at shareware games developed for the educational sector. Some of the games were quite fun, but the problem for me was either that the game wasn't really educational at all, or that it didn't quite do what I'd have liked. Unfortunately, I never had the time to develop my games programming skills in order to rectify the situation.I think 2DIY would have been a step in the right direction.I think the best way of describing the program -- bearing in mind I've had it installed for less than an hour -- is that it's the programming equivalent of a painting or desktop publishing program. What you have  is a suite of specialised  tools, and you can use them to build yourt own games and activities.You can see from the screenshot that the range is quite extensive. The manual is easy to use, and there are videos and examples available.It has the ability to let you import pictures or select from a range of ones provided. Indeed, there is quite a lot of control over what your completed game or activity will look like.What's more interesting to me, however, is what boxes it ticks if you put it into the hands of youngsters -- and I use the term "youngsters" rather than "children" for reasons which will become apparent

Mind Meister's basic account is free and has all of the features that a teacher or student would ever need. With the free account users can collaborate with others, share via email or embedding, and download or export files. One of the features I really like is the ability to add active links to websites. The linking feature is a good one for students trying to organize their thoughts for a research paper. The intuitive piece of Mind Meister is in the creation aspects. To add a new topic or "idea box" users simply click the green "add" button. To remove an item click the "delete" button. Organizing the items with Mind Meister is a simple matter of dragging them to the position you want them in. Changing the size and type of text is as easy as changing the size and type of text in a word document.

Applications for EducationMind Meister could be used by students to record and organize their ideas and resources for research papers. The ability to add active links to websites helps students keep track of their resources and how those resources will be used in their paper. Mind Meister is a collaborative tool so it's very useful for students who are working on a group project or presentation. The embedding codes provided by Mind Meister make it possible for users to include their mind maps as a part of a wiki, blog, or website