In this week's class we learned about a few programs that help aid in visual learning. One of these programs is called "Inspiration." This software program is dedicated to aiding the visual learner. This company knows that "visual thinking is a learning style where the learner better understands and retains information when ideas, words and concepts are associated with images" (Inspiration.com). If you look below you'll notice a few mind mapping diagrams. The Inspiration program allows teachers to make creative graphic organizers, mind maps and diagrams. These visuals help aid learners in retaining information, words, concepts and ideas associated with the content. In class we were told that most school have the Inspiration Software, but some teachers do not know about it. Not only is this software cheap, but it's easy to create visuals!
Another great visual aid in the teaching field is Wordle, which is a "toy for generating "word clouds"from the text you provide." Wordle is a fun way to allow visual learners to focus on the most important words of a statement, poem, sentence, quote..etc. I have used wordle several times and it is fun to play with. It's free and you can rearrange your words by color, font and layout. When you compose your wordle you have the option of saving it or sending it out onto the net. Students would love engaging in this word generating program. It allows them to creatively engage in vocabulary and comprehension. I have pasted a wordle below so you can see how it all works itself out. There are also other "word cloud" programs and at the website teachersfortomorrow, Garth presents Tagxedo. This allows anyone to transform speeches, slogans, themes and just about anything else into a stunning array of pictures. It is free and easy to use. Teachers and students can use Tagexdo's gallery to store any of their creations. It's another fun way to visually play with words. There a thousands different ways teachers can incorporate visual aids into their teaching. I currently took a workshop on SMART boards, which I might add are awesome! These SMART boards are an interactive tool that allows students to not only visually engage in learning, but to actively engage in learning. Any professionaly using SMART boards can visit this site and upload new lessons, find solutions and tech support. One of the biggest issues I've heard about SMART boards is that teachers do not know where they can find lesson templates. This site is helpful, but what I learned was that in order to understand a SMART board you have to touch, click it and play around with it. It's like any other software program, in that it requires you to explore the tool bar and all the little gadgets that it comes equipped with. Technology is a wonderful tool that will help teachers prepare students for a digital world. Technology will also aid the world of visual consumers.