Thing #14

To be completely, 100% honest, I was not at all thrilled with the concept of flowcharts and mindmaps. As an English major, I am vehemently opposed to anything that looks like Math, and while it may not seem at all like a Math process to any of you, it certainly does to me.

However, for the purpose of this project, I approached thing #14 with an open mind. For the flowchart, I created an account with Gliffy.com, and for the mindmap, I created an account with Bubbl.us. My first impression was that the mindmap would be more appealing to me primarily because on the Bubbl.us site, all I had to do was begin typing and when I hit enter, I was directed to a new section in which I could continue my thought. A mindmap seemed to me like something that would be appropriate for a thought process. I loved the Bubbl.us website because it seemed very user friendly, especially for someone like me who knows nothing about this sort of thing. Already I felt like I could say I would consider using a mindmap before using a flowchart.

Now, moving on the Gliffy site and the flowchart idea, I will say that I had NO idea what I was doing! I saw immediately that there seemed to be a lot more tools and options for creating a flowchart than for creating a mindmap. I played around with the site for about an hour, with little pleasure. I am probably wrong, but I don't feel like I have much use for flowcharts. I can see where it could be advantageous to others, but maybe it just isn't my thing? So far in this project, I have been excited to learn each new thing, and I have found a way in which I could use it in my classroom to enrich activities. I am sad to say that, when it comes to flowcharts, I did not feel quite so exhilarated.