I planned on getting this out at an earlier time, but as the title says: I've been feeling a bit under the weather. That said, I've taken a quick look over the two pieces of "critical thinking" software suggested by Prof. Heather.
Rationale
What I Liked/Didn't:
This seems to be a serious piece of software for serious people who are interested in serious critical thinking skills and improvement. There seem to be a large number of options for each style of "mind-mapping" available. At this point in time I haven't had a chance to use the demo (the trial is only PC compatible), but it looks very involved. Will update when I take a look at it further. I can't say that I'm too happy about the limited compatibility, especially since Macintosh is making its way into the classroom more readily.
Is it Useful in Promoting Critical Thinking?
If you are serious about mapping out your thought process, and can be dedicated to a piece of software like this, definitely. However, I have never been able to sit down and do this. Many of my friends have tried to introduce me to "mind-mapping" software, and for me, it is just too much time thinking about the process. I usually just like to jump right into my tasks and let things sort themselves out as I go along, but I assume that tis way of doing things might not be the best for a teaching career. Rationale could certainly be useful for lesson planning and classroom activity flow charting, maybe even realtime idea mapping in-class.
What Challenges are there if I were to Use Rationale in the Classroom?
Teaching patience is a large challenge with software like this. As I stated, I am not someone who would be found using this kind of software for too many things, and thus, I might have some issues trying to teach others to patiently diagram a thought process. Usually, for me, the "process" of thought is hashed out in the doing of the thing, so I might be inclined to encourage aggressiveness in terms of the assignment rather than patience and "critical" thought.
The "$64,000 Question": Does the Potential for Learning Enhancement justify the Resources?
As stated, my experience with the software is limited due to its compatibility issues; that said, the price for a single "education" license (not sure what that means), $69, is fairly reasonable. If one were to simply use it for classroom planning/realtime idea-mapping, I could see it being very useful and important to learning environments. The price for other licenses is unknown, but I definitely think the potential outweighs the price.
Inspiration
While this assignment only required us to look at one piece of software, I felt the need to explore Inspiration as well. I'll lay out a few brief points about my thoughts on this software:
-First, the software was cross-platform compatible, and I was able to download a trial for my Mac. This was most pleasing, as the cross-platform capability would allow me to move between my home desktop PC and my portable Mac laptop, they even have a version for Palm OS, which means even more on-the-go "mind-mapping" in case you have an idea and you aren't able to access your computer.
-The interface is a bit less "serious" than Rationale, which could influence users either way. I think the built-in icons allow for a more "fun" experience, but I still have yet to explore Rationale to see if they have a comparable feature.
-One-click map-to-outline button makes producing outlines from your idea-maps extremely simple.
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Both pieces of software offer potential for learning enhancements. Both pieces of software are $69 for a single license, which is reasonable. With a bit of research one might be able to find a freeware program that does things comparable to these programs, but these professionally developed tools come with support staffs and the opportunity for multiple licenses for full classroom use. I'm very interested in the possibilities for this type of software in my upcoming teaching career!
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I've been sick... It sucks! That's what I'll say on that... Hope you enjoyed tonight's entry :)
Charles Louis Hanks
Very interesting reflection on the assignment! I chose task 1B, so it was interesting to read your thoughts on the software explored in the task you looked at. I'm with you on the "dive right in and try it out" thing, but yeah, like you said it is be a whole different situation when you consider teaching a students at all varying levels of tech-savvyness to use this kind of thing.
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