Week 10: Tech Tools for Critical Thinking

There are so many interesting tools on the Internet now that its getting hard to keep up. We learned about concept mapping in class this week and a bunch of sites that let you create your own for free. I think concept maps are pretty useful and are good visuals for projects and presentations. I created my own concept map that related some tools on the web to my field, journalism. You can see my map a few posts down on my blog. I used Gliffy to create my concept map, but there are other sites out there as well.

Concept maps are great for planning and personal use also. In journalism they can be used for multiple purposes. I think they are a great way to lay out and organize a newspaper. I was the editor-in-chief of my high school's newspaper and I know that the planning and assigning stage is the most critical part of putting together a paper. People are all over the place trying to find stories and working on leads, that it can become difficult to keep track of who is doing what. With a concept map, especially one created on a site like Gliffy, you can keep track of all the assignments and allow anyone to update the map from anywhere.

This is what the Gliffy interface looks like. You can create and edit your concept map using a variety of shapes and tools. Anyone can sign up for free and try it.