iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

mind mapping

Create Mind Maps and Flow Charts With Lucidchart for iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-09-12 at 11.17.15 PM Lucidchart is a mind mapping tool that I’ve used off and on for a few years. Now you can get the same features on your iPad. Recently, Lucidchart launched a free iPad app. The app is easy to use to create flowcharts, mindmaps, and graphic organizers. Lucidchart offers a simple drag and drop interface for creating flow charts, organizational charts, mind maps, and other types of diagrams. To create with Lucidchart just select elements from the menus and drag them to the canvas. You can re-size any element and type text within elements on your chart. Arrows and connecting lines can be re-sized, repositioned, and labeled to bring clarity to your diagrams. Learn more in the video below.

Lucidchart on your iPad includes the same collaboration features that are available in a web browser. The collaboration aspect is excellent for students to use to plan group projects and or create study guides together.

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BigMind – An Intuitive Mind Mapping iPad App

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bigmind I’m a big fan of mind mapping as a method for organizing thoughts, connecting concepts, and visualizing the big picture of concept. In fact, I think the mind mapping process is so valuable that I created an entire workshop about it. One of the mind mapping iPad apps that I often recommend is Popplet. Recently, I tried BigMind and I think that it could challenge Popplet in popularity.

BigMind allows to create mind maps by using one of their eight templates or by creating a mind map from scratch. Whether you work from a template or start with a blank canvas, the features of BigMind are the same. To add a bubble to your mind map just tap the screen. Each bubble can include text and pictures. Double tap on a bubble to open the menu for inserting pictures. While you have that menu open you can also change the colors and borders of a bubble in your mind map. Adding related (child and sibling) bubbles is just a matter of tapping the up, down, or side arrows next to each of the bubbles in your mind map.

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All of your BigMind mind maps can be password protected. BigMind mind maps can be saved to Google Drive, Box, or Dropbox. BigMind mind maps can also be saved as images on your iPad.

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BigMind is currently listed at $4.99.

Popplet – Easy Mind Mapping On Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2013-06-30 at 1.28.36 PM Popplet is an iPad app that I often demonstrate in my workshop on mind mapping, timelines, and collaborative brainstorming. Popplet makes it easy to quickly create a mind map to connect your ideas about a topic. To start a mind map with Popplet you just have to tap the “make new Popplet” button. You will be given a blank page on which you can tap anywhere to add a thought box. Each thought box can contain text, a drawing or sketch, and a picture. Altering the size of a thought box is only a matter of pinching the edges of the box together or spreading them apart. To connect thought boxes just tap the small circle that is next to each box.

Popplet is available in a lite version to try before buying the full version. The full version gives you unlimited projects and space. The full version also allows you to work online to share your mind maps.

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A couple of other mind mapping apps to try on your iPad are Idea Sketch and Inkflow.

Idea Sketch – A Nice Mind Mapping App

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Screen Shot 2013-03-22 at 9.12.06 AM Idea Sketch is a simple app for creating mind maps on your iPad. One of the features of Idea Sketch that stands out is the option to flip back and forth between a web format and an outline format. This makes the app a good choice for students who occasionally prefer to a linear outline instead of a web layout.

Creating a mind map on Idea Sketch is a simple process. To get started tap the “Ideas” button then tap the “+” button. All mind maps start on a blank screen that you fill up by tapping anywhere to add a text bubble. You can change the colors and sizes of each bubble. To add a new connected bubble just tap, hold, and drag a bubble into place. To switch to a linear outline format tap the “list” icon in the upper, right corner of the screen. Tap that icon again to switch back to the web format. Completed mind maps can be exported as images or shared via email.

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Idea Sketch is available for free. An in-app purchase give you extra features like extra colors, icons, and additional export options.

Inkflow – A Great iPad App for Visual Thinkers

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Screen Shot 2013-01-15 at 3.13.19 PM Inkflow is the perfect app for people like me who like to sketch out their ideas before sharing them in presentations, in writing, or in video productions. Inkflow is also great for people who like to take notes in a free-hand format in which they can easily include little sketches and diagrams along with their written words.

Inkflow is an iPad app that can be used to sketch mind maps, draw pictures, write free hand, and just about anything else you might do with a pencil and paper. All of the pages that you sketch on and write on can be organized into little books that include page-turning effects.

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There is a free version and a paid version of Inkflow. The free version allows you to use black ink only and your books are limited to twenty pages. But you can have as many books as you want in the free version. The paid version gives you more drawing tools and colors as well as more pages per book. The paid version is now available for volume pricing.

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