CD-ROM Review
Title: Inspiration® Education Edition
from Inspiration Software
Writing an organized paper or creating a persuasive presentation can be difficult for even the most intelligent of individuals. The reason is not lack of creativity, nor is it lack of verbal skills. These individuals frequently have difficulty organizing their thoughts. They know what they want to say, but cannot present it in a clear and logical manner. The result of their efforts can be a jumble of thoughts and words. Despite the brilliance of their ideas, if their audience can't follow them, they are worthless.
Description
This program is designed to help students develop their ideas and organize
their thinking by allowing them to create pictures of their ideas or concepts in
the form of diagrams. Users are encouraged to play with ideas, to arrange them
and group them, and to find and correct any gaps that may exist. Many types of
visual diagrams can be created with the program, including concept maps, idea
maps, webs and storyboards. Multiple toolbars allow students to point, click,
type, and edit, creating pleasing looking diagrams with ease.
Inspiration also provides an outlining section to help students develop
their ideas into organized written documents. In this section, or 'view', users
input and edit as with word processing programs. Because the program is fully
integrated, users can switch between 'views', converting diagrams to outlines,
and outlines to diagrams.
Installation/Ease of Use
The program includes four floppy disks, allowing quick and painless
installation. The serial number required to complete set-up is listed on Disk 1.
An intimidating looking user's manual is included with the program. In addition
to detailed explanations of the program's many capabilities, the manual provides
a brief tutorial that is an absolute must before attempting to use the
program. I am not the type of person to read the manual first and so I,
grudgingly, found out the hard way. Requiring approximately 30
minutes of undivided attention, the tutorial runs through the basics of the
program in an easily understood manner, focusing on simple techniques that make
the program instantly accessible for the beginning user.
Educational Value
Inspiration is both a tool, aiding students in the development and
organization of their thinking, and a teaching aid, demonstrating the value of
webs, outlines and diagrams in preparing clear and concise written
presentations. Its word-processing capabilities allow the user to play with
concepts and ideas, re-prioritizing, re-conceptualizing, and rewording until the
end result is optimal. I found that the program worked well as an instructional
supplement. Another teacher I asked to check out the program remarked,
"(students) enjoy using the program because they can rework their efforts,
much as they edit their word-processing documents."
Target Audience
The program is designed for students ages 9 and up. This program includes
very little that can be termed "fun". The appeal of the program
resides in the fact that it can facilitate a task that is often considered
onerous. It helps the student wade through those initial moments (too often
becoming hours) of total lack of idea organization. Rather than sit before a
blank page or screen wondering 'where to begin' the student can immediately
churn out ideas, inserting and deleting as the process progresses.
Inspiration's many tools are both complete and easy to use. Students who
have used this program were impressed with the symbol palette, which contains
multiple libraries of fun and useful idea symbols that could be added to their
diagrams.
Conclusion
This program is recommended for older students and teachers who need help
organizing their thoughts, whether for oral reports or written compositions.
Students who are already competent in this area will appreciate the program's
editing capabilities and professional looking results.
System Requirements
Macintosh or Power Macintosh; Mac Plus or higher |
486 processor or higher; (386/16MHz or higher for Windows 3.1) |
System 6.0.4 or higher |
Windows 3.1*, 95, 98 or NT 4.0 |
2 MB available RAM |
8 MB RAM (4 MB Windows 3.1) |
Apple compatible graphics card |
VGA, SuperVGA, or other Windows compatible graphics card |
Hard disk drive |
Hard disk drive |
CD-ROM drive |
CD-ROM drive |
Minimum 2MB available RAM |
VGA, SuperVGA, or other Windows 3.1, 95, 98 or NT 4.0 compatible graphics card and monitor |
Macintosh compatible printer optional (B/W or color) |
Optional: Windows compatible printer (B/W or color) |