As a student, I was prone to mental blanks in an exam as anxiety and pressure would have the effect of emptying the contents of my head down the proverbial toilet. I can remember as my pen was poised to write pearls of wisdom, the brain suffered ignition problems similar to an old clapped out car on a cold winter morning. Thoughts of asking for a jump start from my peer were quickly shot down by a knowing glance from my teacher who was mentally writing a comment on my next report.... "Grant must revise his work more thoroughly".
The problem back then was that the time I spent studying really didn't help me to process information in a way that I could easily retrieve facts in an exam or a vital trivia competition much later in life. What I like about Bubbl.us is that students can get a visual layout of how existing and new knowledge are connected. This will surely help them to construct substantive and logical answers in exams. It also makes their studying more efficient and effective and this reinforces positive attitudes to exam preparation and studying.
Bubbl.us works the same way as Inspiration, except it is free. Inspiration does also allow mindmaps to be converted into notes at the click of a button, which, strangely, students seem to find comforting. Bubbl.us has advantages over Inspiration in that student work can be shared and it therefore makes the whole mind mapping interactive, thereby increasing the learning potential. I see this as a valuable tool for all students, but particularly senior students who really need to structure their revision on a detailed syllabus.
Glogster appears to be the most engaging tool I've seen so far. The creative opportunities for students often equates to fun and could have a significant impact on attitudes to learning in the classroom and at home. I think it is best suited for primary and junior secondary classes because of the time constraints, but I wouldn't rule it out for senior students.
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