Popplet a content creation and teaching tool.

When I was reviewing the list of possible content creation and teaching tools for testing, the heading of Mindmapping jumped out at me. I thought of my grade 4- 8 students who use assistive technology, Chromebooks, on a regular bases to support their learning. They would benefit from a online tool to do their preplanning, prewriting, organizing ideas, brainstorming etc. To decide which tool I would explore, I went to each of the suggested websites to see which app would catch my attention. Murial.co grabbed my attention first. It looked like it could do what I had in mind for my students however, it was a bit too much and over complicated for our needs. Next, Notability also looked very neat however, I don’t feel it would meet my students needs as it looks like it might be better for older students. Padlet was next up. I am sure it is also great but it didn’t grab my attention. The last Mindmapping tool on the list was Popplet. The home page was exactly what I was looking for. Popplet is the tool I dove into.

Screen shot from http://popplet.com

The home page is simple and clear. This was the first thing to grab my attention. As I scrolled down the homepage I came to Popplet for Education. These four points are exactly what I was after.

  1. Easy to use and easy to learn
  2. K-12 relevant
  3. Any language- since I teach in French, this is always something I look for.
  4. Distance Learning Ready.
Screen shot from http://popplet.com

As I continued to play and create, I found other uses for my students. Popplet can also be used on an iPad. This would be great for my younger students in K-3 who work with iPads as their classroom technology. The Popplet website has suggestions and ideas on how you can use this tool with a variety of subject matter. They have a detailed example on how to use for a Word Family lesson for grade 1 students. You could do so much with this in a group setting and the teacher could create the Popplet as part of a lesson. Once the students become comfortable, they could create their own Word Family Popplet.

My Review:

I created a Popplet to try out all the tools. Below is what the screen looks like as you are working, very simple. I added a YouTube video a “How to” introduction to Popplet. I added a picture from Vecteezy and text in English and in French. You can also use a drawing tool which is not very neat when using a laptop. Those are the four options you have when you add a box. The boxes are easy to add and easy to attach to one another, once you figure out how to do that. With the share button you can share with another student who also has a Popplet account and they can add to each others work. The name of the student shows up above the box they create. I did not try out the share feature.

Strengths:

  1. It is a simple Mindmapping/ brainstorming tool.
  2. There are only a few steps so students would catch on quickly.
  3. A Popplet can be shared between students and teacher.
  4. There are premade examples to look at to inspire creating your own.
  5. There is a free option.
Here is a screen shot of the four options you have when adding a new idea/ box to your web.

Weaknesses:

  1. It is simple therefore, it has minimal things it can do.
  2. It was difficult to add pictures from the internet as they had to be a particular size. This may be difficult of younger students to navigate.
  3. I had trouble with the zoom feature and would often have to start over because I couldn’t bring my Popplet back down to size.
  4. Upon reading reviews from educator who have used the tool, I learned it can be glitchy and can need to be shut down often.
  5. Limited possibilities with the free version. Would you school/ division pay for you to use this tool?

Overall, I would give the Free app a try with my students in K- grade 8. I feel that the simplicity would be great to keep students on task as the app only does one thing. It would meet the needs of my assistive technology students to help them get their ideas down in pictures or simple words. I also really like the ability it has to be shared with others to be able to work together.

What is your experience using Popplet? What suggestions to do you have? Any other strengths or weaknesses you could offer?

Happy Brainstorming!

5 thoughts on “Popplet a content creation and teaching tool.

  1. I’ve never used Popplet, your post made it seem very manageable, so I’m going to test it out! I’d love to try this with EAL students for vocabulary/concepts. Do you think it would be appropriate for those students?

  2. Thank you! After reading your review, I believe this would be a tool I would explore with my ELA students. We do a lot of writing in my ELA. Many of students are not strong writers and need to simple examples of mind-mapping to assist their processes. This tool is new to me, so I appreciate your explanation of the pros and cons.

  3. Laurie,

    Great review! I am finding with a lot of sites, the tools can be somewhat glitchy. Leah mentions this in her review of Gizmo as well! However, depending on the mind mapping activity you are doing with your students, it looks like it could work. I think it is important to keep in mind that instruction and clearly outlining expectations for the use of a new tool is crucial when using it with students. By the looks of it, students would need a lot of training on how to use the tool successfully and independently.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

  4. Great review. I totally agree – mind mapping jumped out to me as well. I liked the simplicity of popplet, and so easily could it be used in the k – 8 setting. It made me think of kidspiration, a tool I loved to use with in my primary years. I was super pumped, because I also thought what great tool. I was disappointed that it wasn’t completely free.

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