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Cacoo is a concept mapping/mind mapping/brainstorming site. It is free and allows for many methods of concept mapping. Great site to use with your classes and students.

A blog post about Edistorm. It is a free, Post-It Note style brainstorming tool. An alternative to Wallwisher, but probably geared more towards a corporate setting. There is a limited Free account, as well as, an inexpensive Educator account. A neat collaboration and communication tool worth checking out.

The Storybird Ning webpage is a place for teachers to get together and brainstorm ideas and information relative to the implementation Storybird.com with their students. Storybird is a collaborative storywriting website that allow students to read, write, and share their creations. Students can illustrate their stories with images from the site's artwork library.

According to this article, "Design thinking can transform your classroom into a space of creativity, excitement and possibility". Design thinking is an 8-step process where students 1) Define the problem; 2) Research the problem; 3) Analyze the situation; 4) Redefine the problem; 5) Ideate (brainstorm); 6) Prototype (find a solution); 7) Refine; and 8) Repeat. A classroom activity is detailed where students look at the ads that recently won Clios and go through the process as if they were the ads' designers. They are basically putting themselves in the designers shoes. They are trying to recreate what was done and why it was done. A followup activity is to have the students design their own ads for the products using the steps of Design Thinking. I must admit I wanted to do it!

Mindmeister kicks Mind42's butt! A free account entitles you to three beautiful mind maps, complete with text, links, icons and images (Googled from the web).

Wallwisher is great for brainstorming. Get the thoughts out there and then arrange them later. Do this as fast as you can with the kids no boundaries just get the thought out!!!