Thing 14 - Go with the Flow

For this blog post I played around with Gliffy and Bubbl.us in an effort to create a flow chart and a mind map.  The first application that I tried was Gliffy.  This is a flowchart creator.  I created a writing process flow chart using this application.  It was pretty simple to use.  I soon learned how to place shapes, color them, move them around and enter text in them.  I was disappointed that there was no down arrow in the shapes.  (If there is one, I was unable to find it.)  My end result was a pretty basic looking flowchart.  I attempted to save it but it required me to sign-up for a 30 day free trial.  So I did not save it.  I did look into the pricing for Gliffy and found it to be a bit steep for my purposes.  A standard account is $4.95 a month and allows the user to create 200 diagrams with 200 Mb of storage.  The Pro version is $9.95 a month and include unlimited diagrams and storage. 

I then moved on to Bubbl.us to create a mind map.  I liked this tool much better.  I created another chart on the writing process.  I liked how the bubbles could connect together in different ways and that I could move them around.  I did not have to sign-up for a free trial in order to save my creation.  I just had to sign-up for a free account.  Ah, much better.  So I did sign-up and I saved my little mind map. 

As you can see, the bubbles change color to reflect their level on the map.  I like how I was able to link some pre-writing strategies underneath the heading "Pre-writing".  This chart turned out much better than my first one and with no obligation need by me to create.  I love, love, love it.  It would be a great tool to utilize for teaching.