BLM: Quickstart Guide to Inspiration

Inspiration Quick Start

To Begin

  1. Start Inspiration.
  2. Read the Tip of the Day, then close the window.

  3. You will see this screen

Enter Your Main Idea

  1. Click on the Main Idea symbol and type your main idea – My classroom strategies and philosophies.
  2. Press the Shift & Enter (Return) keys (at the same time). This will end the text entry and show the symbol as selected.
  3. Save your work to your folder on the network.

Creating a New Look

Use the “New Look” icon when you want symbols to be different than the default blue oval shape.

  1. Click on the main idea My classroom strategies and philosophies. You will see eight red handles appear. This indicates the symbol is active. The symbol must be active if you want to make changes to it.
  2. Use the format menu to change the font and size of the text.
  3. Use the lower tool bar to change the symbol’s fill, line and font colour.You have now changed the style of that symbol.
  4. Click on the New Look button on the upper tool bar and the style you have created will now be the symbol style for each new symbol you create.

Adding Sub-Topics

There are several ways to add symbols to your concept map. Following are instructions for three methods.

  1. Using RapidFire
  1. Select the main idea ICT in the Classsroom.
  2. Click on the RapidFire button.
  3. A lightning bolt should appear after Classroom.
  4. How would you use Information and Communication Technologies in your classroom? Type email interviews and press Enter (return).
  5. Continue typing different topics that describe how you would use ICT in your classroom (writing process, peer conferencing, note-making, publishing culminating task.etc.) Press Enter (return) after each new topic.
  6. Your topics should appear automatically as new symbols.
  7. Make a typing error? Just click once on the text to activate the text icon and then double click the word. You can change it. (There is also a spell check feature. Can you find the menu that allows you to spell check your writing?)
  8. Rapidfire is a good tool for a brainstorming strategy.
  1. Using the Create buttons
  1. With email interviews selected (the handles, or little boxes, are showing), click on the down arrow on the “Create” button found on the upper toolbar.
  2. A new symbol will appear beneath and linked to the email interviewssymbol.
  3. As soon as you create a new symbol, you can type text in it. Type examples of when you would use email interviews.
  1. Clicking and typing in the whitespace of your concept map
  1. Add an unlinked symbol by clicking and then typing in the white space near one of the symbols you have already created.
  2. The symbol you create will be unlinked but you will learn how to manipulate links in another section of this tutorial.
  3. Delete the unlinked symbol by selecting it (clicking on it) and pressing the backspace or delete key. You can delete any selected symbol(s) in this way. You cannot delete the main idea symbol.

Can you find other ways of creating new symbols?

Moving Symbols

  1. Make sure you have chosen the SelectionTool from the lower toolbar. (Draw toolbar near the bottom of the document window.)
  1. Click on the symbol that is an example of when you would use email interviews, and drag it closer to the email interviews symbol. You can move any symbol by selecting it and dragging it to another spot. The link will stay attached to the symbol.

Moving Links

  1. Click on any link and a small red box (handle) will appear at each end.
  2. Click on the red box at the pointer end, and drag it to another symbol. You will see that the new symbol becomes active and several grey handles will appear when your mouse hovers over it. When the handles appear let go of the mouse button.
  3. Your symbol will now be linked to a different symbol. You can move either end of any link.

You can also write comments on a link. Click on a link and type in the small text box that appears.

Reversing Links

  1. You can reverse the direction of a link between symbols.
  2. Click on the link to select it.
  3. Go to the “Link” menu and drag to “Reverse Link”. The arrow will change to the other end of the link.

Adding Links

  1. Create a new unlinked symbol by clicking on the white space and typing Peer Conferencing.
  2. Select your main idea, ICT in the Classroom, and you will see 4 red diamond shapes appear when the symbol is selected.
  3. Click and drag from one of the diamonds to the unlinked symbol you created. When your pointer hovers over the symbol, eight gray handles will appear and you can let go of the mouse button. A new link will be created
  1. You can also add links by using the link tool.

Can you figure out how the link tool works?

Changing a Symbol

  1. Select the main idea, ICT in the Classroom.
  2. Go to the symbol palette, click on the down arrow, and drag to Work/School. A side menu will appear so that you can select School.
  3. Click on the image of a blackboard.
  4. The main idea symbol will be changed to a blackboard.

You can choose to display the wordseither on the blackboard or underneath it. Select the blackboard symbol, go to the Symbol menu, and drag to Captioned Symbol.

Adding Notes

You can add notes to any symbol. This makes Inspiration a powerful tool for the writing and inquiry process.

  1. Select the peer conferencing symbol. (Click on it.)
  2. You will see four red “handles” (one in each corner) along with the four red diamonds that are used for linking.
  3. Click on the Add Note button on the upper toolbar and a new “Notes” window will appear. (If you prefer, you can also open a “Notes” window by double clicking in the left, top corner, red handle.)
  4. Type somepeer conferencing strategies you could use with ICT in your classroom. You may edit your notes while the notes window is open.

When you use this “Quickstart” document with your students, review note-making strategies with them. (key words, dash for each new item, paraphrasing)

  1. Close the “Notes” window. Notice the small red box in the upper left corner. (This indicates that this symbol has notes attached to it.)
  2. Double click on the red box to reopen your notes.
  3. You can Add a Note to any symbol.
  4. Your notes will be printed when you print your concept map.

Changing to OutlineView

You can move from Diagram view to Outline view whenever you would like to view your concept map in a more linear format. Topics, sub-topics and notes can be added in the Outline view. These will also appear when you revert to the Diagram view.

  1. Click on the Outline buttonon the upper tool bar.
  2. Notice that the toolbar at the top has changed to allow you to revise your outline.
  3. Select the Request permission topic and click on Add Topic. A new topic will be created directly underneath. If you press return, you will add notes to a topic.
  4. Try adding a new main topic called Gathering Information.
  1. Return to your Diagram view by clicking on the Diagram button.

Adding a Hyperlink

There are two ways to add hyperlinks to your concept map. If you are online, you can link directly to any web site.

A. Creating a hyperlink from an URL.

  1. Select the Gathering Information symbol and click on the Create button to add a new symbol.
  2. Type in the URL for the Edulinks.

Tip: If you use your browser and locate the web site first, you can copy and paste the exact URL rather than risk making a typing error!

  1. Press Enter (Return) and the text (URL) that you typed in the symbol will automatically become a link.

B. Creating a hyperlink with text.

  1. Type Edulinks in the new symbol you created (above). Select the word “Edulinks”. (click and drag)
  2. Under the Utility menu, go to Internet to URL hyperlink.
  3. The URL Hyperlink window will appear. Paste (or type) in the URL and click OK.
  1. Now click on the link Edulinks and, if you are online, you will be taken to the Edulinks web site.

Use hyperlinks to make your concept map a great presentation tool. You can also ask students to include all web sites from which they gathered information so that you can check for accuracy and good paraphrasing techniques.

  • Inspiration can be used as a presentation tool. You can use the hyperlinks to link to web sites with more information or pictures.
  • You can also use the Family tool in Inspiration (File menu) to link various concept maps together. Experiment with this tool to see how it works. You can create a child by clicking on the upper right handle (box) of a selected symbol and a new concept map will be created that is linked to the original symbol. Alternatively, you can adopt a concept map that has already been created. This is a powerful tool for students working in groups or using a Jigsaw strategy.

Exporting your Concept Map

You can export your concept map to an html(web) page or a jpeg (image) that can be used in a multimedia presentation. If you have hyperlinks on your concept map, you need to export to an html page in order that the hyperlinks will work. If you would like your Notes to appear on the html page, export your concept map in Outline view.

  1. Exporting from Diagram View
  1. Make sure that all text is showing within each symbol. You will see 3 black dots at the bottom of a symbol if there is any hidden text. Tip: Use at least size 12 text and be aware of the colour combinations you use.
  2. Go to the File menu and drag to Export. Select HTML –Single Web Page.
  3. You will be prompted to give the html page a name. Remember the basic principles of naming web pages:
  • Keep it simple
  • Use lower case letters only
  • Do Not use any spaces
  1. Click on Save and your web page will be created.
  2. Inspiration creates a web page and a jpeg image of your concept map. They will be saved in the same folder. Note: If you decide to locate the image in an images folder, which is typical web site folder organization, you will need to change the html code on the web page. For now, the image will be left in the same folder as the web page!
  3. You should open the web page with an html authoring software (Netscape Composer, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, etc.), to make any changes. For example the background colour will be the default gray and Inspiration adds several blank lines at the end of the page.
  1. Exporting from Outline View
  1. Click on the Outline button in the upper toolbar.
  2. Go to the File menu and drag to Export. You will see several options for exporting from Outline view.Select HTML –Single Web Page.
  3. You will be prompted to give the html page a name. Remember the basic principles of naming web pages:
  • Keep it simple
  • Use lower case letters only
  • Do Not use any spaces
  1. Click on Save and your web page will be created.
  2. You should open the web page with an html authoring software (Netscape Composer, FrontPage, DreamWeaver, etc.), to make any changes. For example the background colour will be the default gray and Inspiration adds several blank lines at the end of the page.
  1. Exporting from Diagram View to JPEG Format
  1. Make sure that all text is showing within each symbol. You will see 3 black dots at the bottom of a symbol if there is any hidden text. Tip: Use at least size 12 text and be aware of the colour combinations you use.
  2. Go to the File menu and drag to Export. Select JPEG.
  3. You will be prompted to give the jpeg image a name. Remember the basic principles of naming images that will be used on the Internet:
  • Keep it simple
  • Use lower case letters only
  • Do Not use any spaces
  1. Click on Save and your image will be created.
  2. You can now use the image on a web page, Word document, Inspiration document, PowerPoint slide, and any other software that uses jpeg images.

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