Inspiration Launches Webspiration Pro

It was really exciting to learn about the launch of Webspiration Pro from Inspiration, which is geared for business professionals and college students. Launched as software as a service all you need is a browser an a account to get started to access this feature rich tool for visual thinking. Webspiration Pro is sold as a subscription and if you act now you can get some really great deals on the pricing. Webspiration is ideal for brainstorming and collaborating with colleagues when working on shared projects. Using Webspiration it is easy to invite, comment,  chat with collaborators as you are working on your ideas. You will find Webspiration to be easy and intuitive to use with the right mix of features. I have always enjoyed using Inspiration on the desktop and now with the release of Webspiration it affords the capability to share my ideas and collaborate across time zones. When I'm ready, I can publish my maps to my blog or web site with the provided URL and embed code. So if you have the chance take the time to look at the release of Webspiration Pro. There is a free 30 day Trial - so get started and let me know what you think? And by the way, Inspiration is working on an iPad App for Webspiration which should be pretty cool! More to come.

NJECC Presentation: Reading & Writing Supports

This Tuesday, March 16th I will be presenting at the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative Annual Conference which is held at Montclair State University on the topic of: What's New in the Area of Reading & Writing Supports. My session is from 2:30-3:20 pm and if you are planning on attending it would be great to see you. A lot has happened this year in the field of assistive technology and in the field of technology in general which has resulted in some new and updated technologies that I'm sure you will want to find out about.

I have been busy this year publishing some new materials which can be used to support assistive technology in the schools. I recently released a new video called: Assistive Technology: Powerful Solutions for Success which is a wonderful tool for teacher in-service programs. Likewise, in this age of information overload I created a four page laminated reference guide called: Assistive Technology: What Every Educator Needs to Know, which is chock full of resources and information about the use of assistive technology in the classroom. I will have both resources available at my workshop for you to take a look at. The session will be fast paced as we delve into some of the new tools and trends to support students in the area of reading and writing in the classroom. I hope to see you there- but just in case you can't make it here is my presentation deck that I will be using.



PS: You can now purchase my video and laminated reference guides right from my blog by clicking on the individual pages on the right side of the navigation panel.

Today's Webspiration Training

Today I was called into a Middle School to do some training with teachers on Inspiration to help support a student with writing and reading comprehension difficulties. Last year I had done a comprehensive assistive technology evaluation and had made the recommendation to the Child Study Team that the student would benefit greatly from using Inspiration on a computer as a pre-writing strategy and to help him to better understand and retain information. When I went into the school today I decided to take a little different tact and worked with the teachers on getting them comfortable with Webspiration. Since all of the teachers did not have Inspiration installed on thier laptops I figured why not try Webspiration a tool that they could use not only with this student but with the entire class. There are lots of advantages to using Webspiration if you are teacher, most notably, you can access your graphic organizers from any computer connected to the internet and you can jointly share your webs and templates with others.

During this short session we were able to create a graphic organizer on the "scientific method" as well as add graphics from the library. We also had a chance to add notes and to look at some of the templates that come with Webspiration. The "aha" moment didn't come until I showed them how they could share their files with others. Within minutes teachers were collaborating with one another and could see just how easy it was for them to share their graphic organizers with the identified student who would need this to support his learning. It was a rell eye opener for them to also learn that the student could then access these files and open them with Inspiraiton 8 which he has installed on his laptop computer.

I had a chance to work directly with the student and showed him how to access these shared files that some of his teachers had shared with him in Webspiration. He quickly grasped how to use Webspiration and was taught how to download the files he needed so that he could use some of the other supports that were only found in Inspiration 8, Text to Speech, and the Word Guide. Using the Listen Tool the student was able to click on any symbol on the screen to hear the text being read. Likewise I also showed him how to turn on the Talking Interface which would then allow him to have the computer read the definitions in the Word Guide.

Having the ability of the teachers and the student to have access to Webspiration really was very empowering. I will be going back to the district in a couple of weeks to do a follow training to see how everything is going. In the interim please take a look at Webspiration and see how you can begin to use it with the students that you work with.

Webspiration Updated!

I have been a big fan of Webspiration and it is always exciting for me to hear about the latest changes and updates to the application. Here is a recent email that I received about some new features which I'm sure you will want to try out.

The newest Webspiration updates include the ability to easily create personal templates, to distribute copies of documents to other Webspiration users and to set up collaboration groups.

Personal Templates

Now you can create your own personal templates. This is especially useful for documents you use on a regular basis, such as weekly project notes or monthly reports. Learn more.







Distribute copies of your documents to other users

The Distribute copies option allows you to provide other users with their own copy of an existing document. This is especially useful if you have created a document as a starter for a group, but you want each individual in that group to be responsible for completing the work. Learn more.

Collaboration Groups

Creating Collaboration Groups makes inviting users with whom you regularly collaborate fast and easy. Once a group is set up, you can invite all of its members at once to view or collaborate on a document. Learn more.














Check out the newly redesigned myWebspiration.com website!

In addition to updating our look, we have added several tools to help you use Webspiration to think visually and get organized:

• Visit our new Examples Gallery to find and share Webspiration examples with your peers
• Browse our Tips & Tricks section to find ideas that will help you focus your projects and jumpstart your work
• Or, find answers to your questions in our newly redesigned Help Center.

We are always looking for your feedback. Please send us an email with suggestions of what you'd like to see.

Thank you for your continued support and use of Webspiration,
The Webspiration Team

Webspiration has been Updated!

Just wanted to let you know that I received an email today from Inspiration, Inc., that a host of new features have been added to Webspiration. I wanted you to be the first on the block to hear about this. Some of the new updates to Webspiration include:

• Insert your own graphics to your Webspiration diagrams or outlines
• A new Starter screen which gives you easier access to your documents
• New button on the Starter screen to access templates and Examples
• Improved Chat features

Visit http://www.mywebspiration.com/blog/updates-launched to learn more. One of the most asked for features the ability to add you own graphics to your mind map has been added. I for one have sked for this feature for awhile now and am glad to know that it was included in this update. I have tied this feature this morning and am glad to tell you it worked great. I found it very intuitive and easy to use. You will see in my mind map that each of my symbols now has a customized picture. This is a huge feature and one that I know that you will enjoy. Another key feature of Webspiration is the ability to embed or publish your mind maps to the web. To view the mind map that I created with Webspiration click here. Webspiration makes it very easy to share your mind maps over the web and the new Chat features will make it even easier to communicate while collaborating. I would be interested in how you are using Webspiration in the work that you do? So please feel free to comment! To sign up for a free Webspration account click on the link.

Webspiration Updated

One of the first visual mapping tools that I worked with many years ago was Inspiration and the first time I encountered it, it was a real epiphany for me. I could not believe how you could go from the diagram view to the outline view with a simple click of the mouse. But more importantly Inspiration always allowed me the capability to brainstorm and get my ideas down in a way that was more consistent with my learning style and I have been using visual mapping tools ever since. To this day, Inspiration remains one of my favorite tools for brainstorming and concept mapping and now with the introduction of Webspiration it has expanded the utility of the tool for me.

Just this morning I learned that Webspiration will now allow you to publish your visual maps to a public area on the web with a click of the mouse and give you the embedded code to place your maps on your blog. When you log onto your account you will now be taken to the Document Manager which enables you to quickly view your documents. Here is a screen shot to the left of how to publish your visual maps.





Here is the embeded visual map from my Webspiration account:

just click on the map to zoom in and move around.

New Features in Webspiration

Here are some updates to Webspiration which I have previously written about. Webspiration is really maturing and is a wonderful online tool for visual thinkers. As a long time Inspiration user I am really excited by this version which is accessible to me anytime I am connected to the web. If you haven't taken the time-please do so you, will be very pleased with the features and the collaboration tools that are built-in to this application.

Learning Library

Inside the Launch Center we've built a learning library with helpful articles to strengthen your visual thinking skills. College users will find some great tips on how to write papers with the least pain possible, or how to use Webspiration to study more effectively. Business users can learn the essentials of brainstorming, read some quick tips for creating diagrams, or learn how outlining can streamline your business writing.

Help Center

Our new expanded Help Center is designed to get your questions answered quickly and provide access to the information you need to use Webspiration's functions to their fullest.

The new Frequently Asked Questions section answers the most common questions we get from users, and is a great place to start if you need some help. Also in the Help Center is the Getting Started Guide, which gives you a comprehensive overview of Webspiration.

And, of course, the Help Center provides you access to our friendly Webspiration Technical Support team, in case you need help with anything that wasn't covered in the FAQ's or Getting Started Guide.

Sample Gallery

Seeing how other people are using Webspiration can sometimes trigger some great ideas of your own. The new sample gallery has samples of many different uses for visual thinking, whether it's mapping out processes, organizing papers, or laying out web sites.

Webspiration to Go Beta This Week

It is with a great deal of excitement that I announce that Inspiration will be releasing in a public beta Webspiration, their online visual thinking tool. (Webspiration will be available to the public this Wednesday for a free sign-up). I have had the privilege to work with Webspiration for the the last couple of months and have to say it was a truly wonderful experience. Inspiration, Inc has been able to take that same experience you have had when using the software on your desktop and translate it to that same experience within the browser. You will feel right at home once you log into Webspiration and all the familiar icons still adorn the web application. The major difference between the desktop application and Webspiration is that you are now able to invite others via an email to collaborate with you on your visual web. This is a very unique feature and one that will go a long way in the classroom, as you build collaborative activities. You will be glad to learn that you can upload your existing Inspiration graphic organizers to the web as well as download the ones you create from within Webspiration. Overall, Webspiration gives you all the power of the desktop version with the added benefits of collaboration, and being able to access your visual maps from any computer connected to the web. Give it a try and let me know what you think.