Getting Started with Inspiration Software

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Getting Started with Inspiration Software
May 17, 2007 710 E. Pearson 1200 P.M. - 200
P.M. Instructor Christina Bello
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Getting Started with Inspiration Software
Inspiration Workshop PowerPoint
Presentation http//www.luc.edu/its/training_reso
urces.shtml
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Agenda

• Uses of graphic organizers
• Inspiration overview
• Using a template hands-on activity
• 10 minute break
• Creating a diagram hands-on activity
• Inspiration resources
• Review

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Objectives

• After completing this workshop you will be able
  to
• Identify uses of Graphic Organizers
• and Inspiration software.
• Add your own content to templates using
• Inspiration software.
• Create your own graphic organizer using
• Inspiration software.

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What is a graphic?

• A graphic represents something in the form of
  pictures or images.
• Graphics are visual presentations of information
  in the form of diagrams and or illustrations, as
  opposed to words and numbers.

Examples
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What are Graphic Organizers?
Graphic organizers are visual representations of
knowledge, concepts, or ideas.
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K-12 Example KWL Charts

• A KWL chart is a graphical organizer that helps
  in learning. The letters KWL are an acronym for
  What you know, What you want to know, and
  What youve learned. A KWL chart is typically
  divided into three columns titled Know, Want, and
  Learned.

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Inspiration Uses

• Students can brainstorm ideas and make
  connections between concepts.
• Create visual maps to help organize concepts,
  plans, and ideas.
• Plan and organize projects using a diagram or
  outline.
• Export Inspiration diagrams and outlines to
  continue working on projects in word processing
  documents, PowerPoint slides, and graphics files.

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Inspiration
Allows you to
Create a picture of your ideas and concepts
In 2 views
Diagram view
Outline view
Helps you
Helps you
Work through your ideas
Organize your ideas hierarchically
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Diagram View

• You can use Diagram View to create a diagram or a
  map that shows the relationship between ideas or
  concepts.

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Diagram Views
Idea Map
Web
Concept Map
Storyboard

• You can create many types of diagrams. The kind
  of diagram you create in Inspiration depends on
  the idea you want to develop.

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Outline View

• You can use the Outline View to create an outline
  of your ideas or to organize and create a report.
• Remember, you can switch between Diagram and
  Outline View at any time.

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Basic things to know before using Inspiration

• Templates are starting points for creating your
  own document.
• Inspiration comes with over 50 templates for you
  to choose from to help you create your own
  document.

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Basic things to know before using Inspiration

• When you create diagrams using Inspiration you
  use Symbols to represent your ideas.
• You can choose from more than 1,100 symbols from
  the Symbol Palette.

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Basic things to know before using Inspiration

• As you select your symbols, you will use Links,
  which are lines that will connect the symbols to
  show the flow and the relationship between ideas
  and concepts.

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Basic things to know before using Inspiration

• The RapidFire tool is used when you want to add a
  series of ideas that are connected to a symbol.
• The advantage of using the RapidFire tool is that
  you can concentrate on adding the ideas rather
  than creating symbols one at a time.

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Activity 1
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• Activity 1 Using a Template
• Learning Objectives
• In this activity, you will learn to
• Open and select a template
• Manage Notes
• Switch between Diagram and Outline view
• Add and Delete Notes
• Use the RapidFire tool for brainstorming
• Export finished Diagram to Microsoft Word

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Let's begin by opening a Template in
Inspiration. We will practice entering in some
information in a Fiction Writing template. The
goal of this exercise is to demonstrate how
Inspiration can be a useful tool in the writing
process.

• Open Inspiration
• 2. Select Template in the Inspiration Starter
  Window

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• Select Fiction Writing.ist from the Language Arts
  
• pull down menu

4. Then click Open
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Notice the Notes box next to the Characters
symbol. Creating Notes in your diagram is useful
when you need to convey information that you
would rather not include as a symbol in your
diagram.
Lets further examine the function of Notes.

• Click on the X button in the top left
• hand corner of the Notes window,
• the Notes will disappear.
• Click on the (Show/Hide Note) button
• next to the symbol and the note will
• reappear.

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• Outline View and Notes
• Click on the Outline button in the Main Toolbar
  to
• see the diagram in outline view.

• You can add Notes in Outline view by typing
  underneath
• the subject header. This is VERY useful
  because if
• you start creating new symbols for every
  idea the
• diagram will be too cluttered. It is a
  good idea to keep
• the diagram concise then add many of the
  details to
• Notes.

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• Two ways to add Notes
• Type in the same field as a Topic or Subtopic in
  Outline
• View
• Go ahead and try typing in Subtopic B. Secondary
• Type, List only 2 Secondary Characters.

• Switch back to Diagram View, click on
• the Show/Hide Note button next
• to the Secondary symbol to see your
• notes.

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Two ways to add Notes (contd)

• You can also add notes to a Symbol by clicking on
  the
• Symbol then click on the Note button in the
  main toolbar.

a. Go ahead and select a symbol then click note

You will see a Notes box appear next to
your symbol. b. To delete the whole Notes
box, highlight by clicking on outside edge
of the box then hit the Delete key on your
keyboard. Go ahead and delete the Notes
box you just created.
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Brainstorming as part of the Pre-writing process
It is helpful to have a method of
brainstorming while filling in the diagram. The
RapidFire tool aids with the brainstorming
process. With the RapidFire tool, you can
brainstorm directly in the template without
adding to the diagram. Then you can delete the
symbols when they are done. Lets try a
brainstorming activity to come up with the
characters in a story.
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• Using the RapidFire tool for brainstorming
• Click on a blank area of the diagram. Note that
  you will
• want to click away from the diagram as to
  not overlap your
• brainstorming and your diagram.

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• Type the in a character name Hulga, and a new
  Symbol will be formed.

3. With Hulga selected, from the View menu,
click Focus in
Now you will see your symbol Hulga in its own
separate window.
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4. Click the RapidFire tool and Select Without
Links

• 5. You will notice that a Red Lightening bolt
  symbol
• appears as the cursor every time the bolt
  cursor
• appears that mean when you hit enter a new
  symbol
• will be formed.
• Try adding the following character names, hit
  enter each
• after each name.
• Joy, Mother, Gossipy neighbor, Bible
  salesman

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This is what the result of your brainstorming
should look like
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Select Focus Out in the view Menu to return to
your diagram.
If you are prompted with this box, click Let
Overlap.
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Once you return to your diagram, just drag and
move your brainstorming symbols away from the
diagram if they are overlapping. Keep in mind
that you will most likely delete your
brainstorming ideas once youve applied them to
the diagram.
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Exporting Finished Diagram to Microsoft Word
Since the purpose of this Fiction Writing
Template is to assist with the writing process,
transferring all of this data to a
word processing program is key.
Lets export our diagram to Microsoft Word 1.
From the file menu, select Export
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• Make sure all boxes (except indentation) are
  checked and
• in the Word Processor tab and click Save.

Note Export vs. Transfer button Transfer is
for Word Processing files only. Explore the
other export options within the Export window.

• The template should be automatically named
• Fiction Writing. Select the Desktop as
  the location
• then click Save.

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• Open the Word document on your desktop and view
  the
• outline.
• This concludes the Fiction Writing Template
  activity.
• You may close the Fiction Writing Inspiration
  project
• and Fiction Writing Word Document.

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10 minute break
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Activity 2
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• Lesson 2 Creating a Diagram
• Learning Objectives
• In this lesson, you will learn to
• Create a customized Diagram
• Create Symbols and link them together as Topics
  and
• Subtopics
• Use the Symbol Library
• Add a hyperlink by dragging and dropping the
  URL icon
• Use point and type feature to record thoughts
• Link to another Inspiration file
• Add a video clip by dragging and dropping the
  .mov file
• into your diagram
• Change the font size, text color and symbol
  color within
• a symbol

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Lets begin this lesson by opening Inspiration
and selecting Diagram in the Inspiration Starter
window.
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• Imagine we are students doing a report on
  Ancient Greece.
• The assignment requires us to include
  information about
• Government and Economy.
• Go ahead and type in Ancient Greece as the Main
  Idea.
• 2. There are many different ways to add new
  symbols in
• Diagram View.
• Let's build off our main idea by clicking
  the Create button
• in the Main Toolbar. With the Ancient
  Greece symbol still
• selected, on the Main toolbar, click the
  upper right point
• on the Create tool. Type Economy into the
  new symbol.

Click
Type
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• Using the Create tool, go ahead and add the
  following
• subtopics to the Ancient Greece main idea.
  Click on
• Economy to add Farming as a subtopic.

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4. Click on the arrange button in the Main toolbar
a. Next click on More. Take note of the
ways you can customize your Diagram.
We will continue to work using the Tree
type of Arrangement.
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• Using the Symbol Library
• Using pictures or graphics as symbols is a
  powerful way to
• visually represent ideas. Inspiration includes a
  collection of
• over 1,000 symbols in its Symbol Libraries.
• Click on Libraries in the Symbol Palette to
• show the list. Click the arrow next to
  Basic.
• Drag cursor down the list to highlight
• the variety of symbols.
• Type in money in the Enter search words box
• Click Enter.

3. Select a money symbol, then we can
simply insert it in our graphic organizer.
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• Select the Economy symbol. Now click on the image
  
• you chose and it will change the Economy
  symbol.

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• Drag-and-drop
• We can also use drag-and-drop capabilities to
  easily add
• more information to our graphic organizer.
• For this example, we'll create a reference
  to a
• web page about the Ancient Olympics by
• dragging-and-dropping its hyperlink right
  into our diagram.
• 1. Open a web browser and type in the following
  URL
• http//www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/

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1. Click on the icon to the left of the URL in
the address bar and drag it into your diagram
window, creating a new symbol. Position it below
and to the right of "Geography."
2. Click on the Hyperlink button in the Main
Toolbar change the Hyperlink text to The
Ancient Olympics. Then click OK.
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• 3. We can also drag and drop in other types of
  files,
• such as Word and Excel files and PDFs, and
  Inspiration 8
• will create a hyperlink to them.
• We can also link to other Inspiration 8
  files by
• dragging and dropping them into our
  Inspiration Diagram.
• a. Go to the File Menu and Select New. Click
  on Diagram.
• Then select Save As from the File Menu. Name
  the
• new Diagram New Inspiration File and save it to
  the
• Desktop.

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b. Now simply drag and drop New Inspiration File
from the Desktop into the Ancient Greece
diagram. A link to will be created to your new
document. Go ahead and click on it and New
Inspiration File will open. c. Go ahead and
close New Inspiration File. You may also delete
the file from your diagram by clicking on the
symbol then hitting the delete key.
Note If you are linking to other files, these
files must reside on the same computer as the
Inspiration Diagram. If you send someone your
diagram you must send them the linked files as
well (if you want the links to work).
Click the symbol then hit the delete key
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Adding Multimedia Video Sound You can also
easily add multimedia, such as QuickTime movies
and .mp3 files, to your diagrams. Let's replace
our Time Period symbol with a video clip about
living in ancient Greece we can drag-and-drop
this file into our diagram. 1. Maximize the
Ancient Greece Movie folder that includes the
video "Living_in_Ancient_Greece.mov." Drag and
drop "Living_in_Ancient_Greece.mov" into the
Time Period symbol, so that the video clip itself
becomes the new symbol. Minimize or close
folder if necessary.
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Click on the camera icon within the Symbol to
play.
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Point and type  Point and type is an easy way to
record thoughts that don't yet fit into our
current focus. Just point anywhere on the
diagram, click the mouse button, and start
typing. A new symbol is automatically created.
1. Let's think ahead in our report plan and
add a Contributions symbol. Click anywhere in
the diagram and type Contributions a new symbol
will be automatically created. 
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Lets link the symbol we just created to our
diagram. 2. When you are ready to connect the
symbol, click on the Ancient Greece symbol.
Then click the Link button in the Main Toolbar.

Connect the arrow by clicking on Contributions
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3. You can also delete a symbol and its link by
selecting it then hitting the delete button.
Lets go ahead and delete the
Contributions symbol and the Link.
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• Formatting Toolbar
• You can change the font, text size, and color in
  Diagram
• or Outline view by highlighting the text you
  would like to
• change then using the Formatting toolbar at the
  bottom of
• the Inspiration window.
• Lets change the font size, text color and symbol
  color
• of our Ancient Greece symbol.
• Go ahead and change the font size to 18,the
• symbol color to Red, and the text color to
  Green.

Font Size
Symbol Color
Text Color
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This is how your diagram should look after
changing the font size, symbol color, and text
color.
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This concludes the Creating a Diagram activity.
You may close your Ancient Greece diagram.
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Inspiration Resources

• Examples included with Inspiration software
• Web Site Design and Site Skeleton Demo
• User Manual included with Inspiration software
• Free trial (Mac or PC) and additional resources
  available
• on the Inspiration website
• http//www.inspiration.com/
• The Ancient Greece materials were adapted from
  the
• Workshop Scripts on the Inspiration Website
  
• http//www.inspiration.com/prodev/index.cfm?fuse
  actioninsp8guides

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Inspiration Review

• Two views in Inspiration
• Diagram and Outline
• Brainstorming device
• Rapidfire tool
• Two ways to start a project in Inspiration
• Select a Template or New Diagram
• Two ways to add a new symbol to a diagram
• Use the Create button in the Main toolbar or
  select a symbol from the Symbol Palette.

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Inspiration Review

• Create a hyperlink to a URL within a Diagram
• Drag and drop the URL icon into the diagram
• Other types of files that can be linked to within
  a diagram
• Word, Excel, PDF, Inspiration, and Movie files
• Two ways to export to a Word document
• Export menu option or Transfer button
• Change font, text size, and color
• Use the Formatting toolbar at the bottom of the
  Inspiration window.

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This concludes the Inspiration Workshop.
Please feel free to stay after and ask any
questions you may have about Inspiration software
or this lesson. You may also email
training_at_luc.edu with additional questions or to
set up a time in our Digital Media Room (Granada
Center, Room 292) to use Inspiration
Software.Thank you for participating!