Exploratree is free web resource that provides a library of thinking guides, similar to mind maps. There are lots of ready made layouts available or you can create you own. The resource is useful for not just teachers and students but for anyone who wants to organise their thoughts or are doing some research. I think the possibilities are endless.
"Thinking guides support the thinking or working through of an issue, topic or question and help to shape, define and focus an idea and also support the plaaning required to investigate it further" from 'About Exploratree'.
As well as adding and formatting text regular, bold or italic, you can add images to you guide and change colours and shapes. Share your guide with others via email and they will be able to work on the guide adding collaboration and group work to its possible use. It can also be printed in any size from A4 to A0. They can be used as part of a presentation to illustrate thought processes and so on. Another option is to create your own from the blank template and upload it to share on the Exploratree website.
Looking for web resources that are useful to staff and learners is a part of my job and one that spills into my free time. Exploratree is a resource that I found to be immediately useful. I am currently using it to organise my thoughts on elearning.
Exploratree is currently in beta so Futurelab will welcome any suggestions and comments you have to make the next version better. The one down side I will mention is the introductory video did not work so I had to work out how to use it without any help. However it is quite simple to use if all you wish to do is edit a ready made guide.
