I don’t know about y’all (yes, I’m from Texas), but just sitting at my desk passively watching a video on how to do something just doesn’t help me process or retain new information. I need to be able to pause, try a skill, and then continue with the tutorial. I need to add my own thoughts, connections, and ways to implement an idea in the same place where the video is stored. My search for a tool that would meet these needs soon turned into a lightbulb moment. Students need this same opportunity when participating in a flipped classroom environment. Active, as opposed to passive, video viewing will allow students the opportunity to organize their thoughts in a visual way, thus allowing teachers the ability to guide thinking during the learning process. I’m absolutely positive that this is not a new idea, and many of you out there are probably utilizing tools with these specific features.
The one tool I am most impressed with is BrainPop’s Make-a-Map Concept Mapping Tool. Here is a brief description from their website:
BrainPOP’s new Make-a-Map™ is an open ended tool can be used to take notes, organize ideas, create stories, study and much more. Unlike other concept mapping tools, the Make-a-Map allows students to embed video moments from BrainPOP animations in each individual node! Clicking the play button in each node allows students to replay clips!
This is a fabulous tool, however, it’s not free and you can only use it with BrainPop’s video content. I would love to be able to use this same interface with content from YouTube or Vimeo. So, I need your help. I’ve started a Listly list and added the few that I think would work for this particular task. Please feel free to add anything to the list below, as well as comments in the description box.
LOVE that you LOVE the new Make-a-Map tool on BrainPOP. It is FREE to use on all of our FREE movies.
And, I have a “hunch” that we will be adding additional functionality in our V2 and V3 versions that will completely keep you hooked on us as THE Concept Mapping tool of choice.
Send me an email and I’d love to get you in on our future Beta Testing.
Thanks again,
Laura
Hey. Thanks for the post. I have been experimenting along similar lines. A simple option for creating a mind map of sorts is for students to create a padlet in which to organise their ideas. They can link to notes documents, blog posts, videos, etc. It doesn’t allow much linking between nodes. I am now experimenting with realtimeboard.com – it has many more functions, and looks promising for more complex organisation of ideas.
Thanks! I added this tool to the list. Looking forward to checking it out.