Group items tagged

This blog offers "prepared Brainstorming" as a way to avoid the common abuses of brainstorming: . . . "brainstorming is clearly an oft-used and abused strategy in both classes and staff meetings at school. While we have developed this strategy somewhat with techniques like Think-Pair-Share, we can still fall back on the traditional model when strapped for time, with far from stellar outcomes. "While this infographic focuses on brainstorming, I think its message resonates across all forms of group work that occurs in schools, involving both students and teachers. I think it deserves reflection." The infographic offers the tips to good brainstorming in class and preparation beforehand.

"Whether it is to solve a problem, plan a project, or develop new story ideas there are plenty of occasions in the course of a school year for students to brainstorm together. I still believe that nothing beats getting together in a room to swap ideas in person, but that's not always practical or possible. For those times when in-person brainstorming sessions are not possible, the following five tools offer a good way to host brainstorming sessions online." t/h R. Byrne

"Brainstormer is a great tool for group brainstorming. Teachers and students contribute ideas to a shared board, build on each other's thoughts, and vote for their favorite ideas. Plus, it's completely free and no accounts are required. " T/h Nick LaFave

Brainstorming or creativity by committee may hinder rather than help productive thought and encourage "social loafing," conformity to group-think, and fear of criticism, among other hindrances to divergent, creative thinking.

Very detailed description of how to create little presentations or posters using Flickr photos, videos, et al. Use Popplet for student projects, brainstorming, creative designs. Also allows you to add captions/text and draw on images you use.

another list, but some are new to me, so if you have time, go explore. Some are whiteboards, like Dabbleboard, or brainstorming tools and mind-mapping tools (Thinkature), project management, Stixy for post-its, an online meeting "playground," called Twiddla, and some old favs, like Wetpaint, G-Docs, and Skype. a jumble, but of interest because most have an online collaboration element. Very brief descriptions of each, but little on pedagogy.

A demonstration of how you might use this app for iPads to brainstorm ideas with an audio recorder running. ScreenChomp can write over whatever is on the screen, e.g., a pdf file or website. Or just draw from scratch. Good tool.

Use this tool to outline/brainstorm an informational essay (a 3-part academic essay). Great for practicing the formal essay and adaptable to almost all levels.

Describes LinoIt and how to use it--a nice brainstorming and student collaboration tool, but it's great to see examples and how it can be used with students. Free.

SpiderScribe lets you use files, links, pictures, calendar, maps, etc., to brainstorm ideas or create a project. and it's free. Might be a nice way to organize a WebQuest.

This blog entry shows how to use the Google Drawing program to create a mind-map, brainstorm, and embed the map elsewhere, e.g., a blog or wiki, for instant updating. Includes a video tutorial as well.

This is a good article because it gives you the details of each engine and the good and the bad in a systematic way. Be sure to ignore the ads at the top and go to the content. Mind-mapping is a great way to visually brainstorm and encourage connections, whether for a written project, a presentation, or a video storyboard.

"The handy infographic below takes a look at the BELS process - Brain Essential Learning Steps. In other words, how does the brain process information in the learning process? The graphic breaks it down in terms of how to teach the material, making this a super useful reminder for teachers planning their lessons. Keep reading to learn more." The 4 Steps: Introducing material, collaborative brainstorming, students develop a learning plan, and then "take action," through writing, music, visuals, etc., and share.

"We offer a collection of pre-formatted graphic organizers that you can integrate into activities and lesson plans or use by themselves. We offer three different formats for your convenience:" in html, pdf, Ms Word. Nice downloadables to brainstorm various types of writing activities.

Shows brainstorming, text talk time, and writing --an overview, shown with with ELLs in middle school. Each aspect of the student interactions demonstrates a Common Core theme or principle. Nice titling in the video makes clear what the concepts are. A good demonstration of excellence in teaching.

For Android devices -- mindboards can be saved to your Google Drive account and then opened on other devices. Might be good for students to brainstorm group projects or tasks.

"Freelancers, small business owners, college students and family members have found that the Internet has made it easier to work from home, collaborate on group projects, and share important files and links. This list of web tools is ideal for anyone working on a group project, whether you're looking for task management support, scheduling and calendar organization, or just a place to collect all your materials and brainstorms." These tools may be of more use to teachers than students, and you will need to try them out individually, although there are short snips of information about each one.

No downloads, no user limits; only initiator needs to sign in. Can be used for online training/tutoring or brainstorming for student projects.

This seems like an interesting way to present (and solve?) problems with your students. I could imagine it being used to solved behavior problems, but I'm not sure how practical this would be in real life. How it works 1. You enter a problem. 2. You enter ideas that could solve the problem. 3. Some ideas lead to new (hopefully smaller) problems. 4. When a problem is solved, the tree gets green. A problem is considered solved, when you found an idea that does not lead to a new problem. The URL is the key * The URL is cryptic (no two URLS are alike). Nobody can access your Solvr without its URL. * However, you can skype, mail, twitter or even blog the URL to give others access. Everybody who knows the URL can do everything.

An online notice board, mind-mapper, brainstormer, etc. You can add images, music, video, Webpages, etc., collaboratively.