Brought to you by…
Read via Email (Feedblitz)
-
Online Collaborative Drawing / Brainstorming Tools
13 CommentsGood morning all!
If you read a few blogs, particularly Larry Ferlazzo’s excellent Websites of the Day and Paul Hamilton’s wonderful Free Resources from the Net for (Special) Education, you have probably heard about the tools I am about to discuss. If so, you can skip this. If not, read on!
There seems to have been an explosion recently in the area of FREE, online collaborative drawing / brainstorming applications. Maybe I’m late to the party but it’s like these sites seem to be coming out of the woodwork all at once. Three I’d like to profile here are: Twiddla, Thinkature and Dabbleboard (if I’ve missed any, leave me a comment!)
Twiddla – http://www.twiddla.com
Twiddla was, I think, the first of these tools I heard about, so it might be the oldest. The collaborative drawing area includes standard tools for freehand drawing, shapes, text and images you can upload from your computer. Audio conferencing (VOIP) is built in. You can also create a library of images and documents unique to your space, and, math teachers take note, there is even a section with mathematical formulas. Can you say web-based math tutoring or classroom review sessions? You can save snapshots as you work and the site supports HTML widgets, though I am at a bit of a loss as to why you’d want to use them. :)
Thinkature – http://www.thinkature.com
Thinkature is a more slimmed-down, all-business collaborative drawing tool that has some extra features like integrated voice chat. I like the simplified user interface and support for predefined drawing shapes and use of color. I had some problems using Thinkature however, perhaps it was the time of day (early AM) I was trying the site, but, I was presented with a never-ending ‘loading’ animation. I’ll try it later today.
Dabbleboard – http://www.dabbleboard.com
I like Dabbleboard the best of all three of these (except it does not have voice chat). In my view it has the best overall collection of tools and a very intuitive (and spartan) user interface (I love how it ‘cleans up’ basic shapes and makes them neater!). It supports multiple pages, allows you to display a grid, and has an expanding canvas. If you can live without voice chat (can you say Skype?), I think Dabbleboard is the one most people will like to use. Twiddla is stiff competition though!
Classroom Applications – I really love the mathematical formulas capability in Twiddla (and I don’t even teach math!), and the included VOIP capability, which could make it a very potent tool for individual and group tutoring/math review sessions! Any of these apps could be used for teams of students to demonstrate understanding of math, physics, geometry, grid & coordinate systems, graphing, you name it. You could design rooms with these tools (though Gliffy might be a better tool for that). Heck you could probably even use it as an online storyboard system to develop and produce collaborative movies! The only limit is your imagination. Test out these tools for yourself today!
Hope this helps,
-kj-
Published on September 9, 2008 · Filed under: Just Too Cool!, Visual Thinking;
13 Responses to “Online Collaborative Drawing / Brainstorming Tools”
-
So glad you’re back at work! Nice post.
-
Thanks Dean! It’s good to be back! :) -kj-
-
Thanks for the mention of Gliffy! We appreciate being included – Many school teams are using Gliffy Multiuser accounts this year: http://www.gliffy.com/prodcomparison.shtml
Each user has their own login and individual account section, but there is a section for group diagrams — great for classrooms or teams. Any ideas for us? We’d love ‘em,
Best, debik at gliffy dot com -
Gail Desler said on May 2nd, 2009 at 9:58 am
Hi Kevin,
Almost a year later, you might be wondering why I’m just now commenting on your post. I arrived through Janine Lim’s recent post. ..and now see a whole new level of possibilities for interactive videoconferencing + interactive whiteboards.
Thanks again for making visible what digital composing and writing looks like (or could look like) with primary and elementary students.
-
Hi Gail! Funny how this Internet thing links us all together, isn’t it? Happy to be of service! :) -kj-
-
Gail Desler said on May 2nd, 2009 at 3:31 pm
Yep, just one more example of the amazing PLNs shaping up all over the Internet. It’s hard to explain to newbies the profound impact 24/7 access to ideas, resources, and discussions can have on our teaching practices.
-
Boy, ain’t that the truth…we have all tasted the PLN Kool Aid, but, getting others too…it’s just not so easy, is it?
-
Great post Kevin! I’ll be doing an upcoming screencast episode on student-created graphic organizers and will reference this post! Cheers, @DannyMaas
-
Wow! Talk about a blast from the past. It’s great you found this old post useful. Please shoot me a link to the screencast when you are done! Thanks! -kj-
-
http://creately.com is another excellent online diagramming and design app. Thanks for sharing the ones above.
-
Bob Smith said on January 18th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Actually, I think http://www.groupboard.com is the oldest – they have been around since 1998 (almost 10 years before twiddla!) and they seem to be the most reliable.
-
George Somaru said on February 20th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Thanks for this post. I find it useful even though it went up some time ago.
I need to explain a website form (for mass-collaboration) to my developer across country. Which tool would be the best and/or have new ones entered the picture?
Are there videos demonstrating each of these tools?
-
Bob, thanks for sharing about GroupBoard!
George, if you are explaining an EXISTING form (on the web already) to someone, I recommend: http://showmewhatswrong.com/. Otherwise, one of these tools should suffice for diagramming and explaining something NOT online!
Thanks for commenting!
-kj-
Recent Comments