Beyond Graphic Organizers:

Why Inspiration is a Quintessential UDL Tool

In this third of five articles I will discuss why we need to go beyond graphic organizers in our use of
Inspiration. I will talk about Universal Design and brain research and how they apply to Inspiration. I
hope to provide you with a variety of examples of how to use Inspiration to support your exploration,
and increased use of, Universal Design principles to plan and organize your classroom and enhance
your teaching using technology.
What is Inspiration?

Inspiration is a unique software tool. As the user

develops and designs their ideas visually in the diagram
view (see Diagram 1 and 2), a linear outline is
automatically created (and vice versa). This integrated
format allows the teacher to plan, organize and structure
almost any learning task in both a visual and linear way.
With the inclusion of sound, video, colour and images,
Inspiration supports and enhances the learning process
by providing alternative means to access and process
information and removes the burden of working solely within a text dominant environment.

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Diagram and Outline – What’s so Important?
Ken Robinson, author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, suggests that our education
system fails many learners because "We progressively educate kids from the waist up, and then we
focus on their heads and slightly to one side..."1
Traditionally schools focus on, and reward students with strong, left brain abilities. “In most Western
systems of education the arts are on the periphery, the sciences at the centre.”2 Creative activities
while appreciated are not valued in the same way as academic learning. If we want our students to be
successful in this century then we must use tools and strategies that work with and connect to both

sides of the brain. (See Diagram 3) Inspiration, with its integrated diagram and outline view helps
make this connection. Students can choose the mode and media that best supports their learning
style. They can move back and forth between modes, flexibly using Inspiration to complete tasks in
ways that make sense to them.
In my experience, many students who struggle with the left brain nature of school often find more
success with right brain activities. When these learners use Inspiration, they begin with their strengths
(visual/spatial/creative) and move to the linear, logical mode as required. The end result is a more
successful student, who makes connections and retains their learning. Perhaps even more
importantly, you have an engaged student, happy to finally have a tool that thinks the way they do.

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Universal Design:
Before we explore examples of Inspiration in action, let's look at Universal Design and how it applies
to Inspiration.
Architecture/Design
The concept of Universal Design originated in the field of architecture. The website “The Centre for
Universal Design” describes Universal Design as "The design of products and environments to be
usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized
design."3 Three of the design principles from this site apply directly to Inspiration.

PRINCIPLE ONE: Equitable Use - The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse
abilities.
Inspiration is uniquely suited for all ages and intellectual abilities. Learners can successfully use
Inspiration from Pre-kindergarten (using Kidspiration) into elementary and high school and beyond,
into higher education and business. Concepts, structures and diagrams may be basic or complex
depending on the user. For example: Writing frameworks might be at the pictorial level for beginning
writers… (See Diagram 4)

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

…or highly detailed for advanced writers. (See Diagram 5)

PRINCIPLE TWO: Flexibility in Use - The design accommodates a wide range of individual
preferences and abilities.
Inspiration provides unlimited accommodations. (See Diagram 6) The user easily moves between
outline and diagram. Images replace words, sounds enhance images and videos explain processes.
Inspiration is flexible, meeting the needs of all learners and is easily altered to meet those needs.

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

PRINCIPLE THREE: Simple and Intuitive Use - Use of the design is easy to understand,
regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
Although I teach a 30 hour course
on using Inspiration to differentiate
instruction, the basics of the
program are simple to acquire for
both the teacher and the student.
(See Diagram 7) As with all
technology, it is the teacher who
leads and supports learning. I
believe it is fundamental that
teachers understand how to use
Inspiration in order for students to truly benefit from its power; however, regardless of the teacher’s
experience with Inspiration, students are able to use the program with a high degree of success due to
its intuitive design and visual interface.

Education - Universal Design for Learning

In education, Universal Design boils down to "...identifying and removing barriers from our teaching
methods and curriculum materials." 4

Inspiration helps to effectively remove barriers in ways that supports all learners. It provides students
with multiple means to gather, plan, organize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create and present
© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com
information and ideas in ways that are motivating and make sense for them as a learner. Digital
organizers created in Inspiration structure learning so that students actively engage in the "What, Why
and How"5 of learning. (See Diagram 8)

Moving Beyond Graphic Organizers

When I think of the word graphic organizer I visualize a design in a paper format. It is two
dimensional, static and text-bound. I use the word "bound" deliberately as the ideas, concepts and
information are literally bound up in the text; inaccessible to many of our students. In most instances,
successful completion of a graphic organizer relies on a student's ability to read and write text.

"Unfortunately, many classrooms continue to be dominated by a single medium—usually printed

(resources). This dominance prevents teachers from reaching all students and instead forces them to
cater to those who find text accessible and create barriers for those who do not.” 6

If you currently use graphic organizers in a paper format, excellent, there are many benefits to using
these with your students. Research shows that graphic organizers help: increase retention, identify
misconceptions, integrate new knowledge, reinforce understanding, tap creativity, clarify thinking and
organize knowledge. (See Diagram 9)

However, if you want to apply the principles of Universal Design you need to begin to use and design
© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com
Digital Organizers. Digital Organizers take the best of graphic organizers and recreate (and expand
upon) them in Inspiration. Moving beyond paper bound graphic organizers allows us to differentiate
our instruction and support a variety of learners in our classroom in ways that are both fun and
meaningful.
If you currently use Inspiration you may be like the vast majority of teachers who use it to brainstorm
ideas or create concept maps. This is an excellent first step; however, Inspiration can do much more
than webs and concept maps. In fact, anything in a paper format can be recreated in Inspiration in
ways that greatly enhance the likelihood of success for all students.
Inspiration’s potential to positively impact thinking and learning is limited only by imagination! In the
following examples, I hope to demonstrate the power and possibilities within Inspiration: the possibility
to engage students in their learning and the power to support and enhance thinking through the
creative use of Inspiration.
Plus/Minus
When we use Inspiration we move away from a paper environment to a digital one. Ideas, information
and learning are accessible at the click of a button. Examine the graphic organizers below. (See
Diagram 10) Choose one and think about your students and how they might use it. Keep your
answers in mind as we explore the many uses of Inspiration.
 Who in your class would successfully complete this organizer on paper?
 Who would not?
 Why?
 What types of support (digital or otherwise) would your struggling students require to help them
successfully complete this organizer?

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Cycle Diagram
If you think about a cycle diagram (on paper) there are many difficulties a student must overcome to
successfully complete it. One difficulty might be keeping ideas and resources organized in order to
answer a question. In
this case the question
being: Can severe
storms and tornadoes
occur on Mars? (See
Diagram 11) Using
Inspiration the learner
easily adds ideas to their
cycle; using symbols and
colour to identify
connections. All
information is visual, meaningfully colour coded with space to expand upon thinking with the addition
of more symbols. In the outline, ideas are in sequence, ready to be expanded upon with the inclusion
of notes that will hold approximately 15 pages of text. (See Diagram 12)

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Timeline
Often when students complete a task involving a variety of information sources, locating, interpreting
and using that information is difficult to manage. In the timeline the effective use of hyperlinks
(providing instant access to videos, saved documents, example presentations or websites) provides
students with alternate ways of accessing and processing information that best meets their needs.
(See Diagram 13)

Notes
In addition, the student can effectively use note pads within their document to organize their
information, expand upon their ideas and finally, present their information by enlarging the font, adding
a picture and enlarging the note pad to presentation size. 7 (See Diagram 14)

Outline
Alternately, the student can move to the outline and create a report. This is important as the student
uses the same Inspiration document to complete the entire activity. They don't need to repeat or redo
the information in various forms. One form seamlessly transforms into the next. Students, especially
those who struggle with organization, fine motor and/or attention difficulties are less likely to
disengage when the volume (and repetition) of tasks overwhelms them. (See Diagram 15)

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Comparison
In a task such as a comparison many students struggle reading the text and then analyzing it,
especially when they move from one document to the next (from a book to a computer screen or from
a Word document to an Inspiration document). In the Inspiration sample, (See Diagram 16) the

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

student is provided with a variety of ways to access the required information. One hyperlink opens a
document (.doc or .txt format). The student then reads the text from the screen or uses a program like
WordQ to read it to them. Another hyperlink might open a “scan/read” program such as Kurzweil 3000
or WYNN. Once students are familiar with the text they can then work exclusively in Inspiration by
copying and pasting the text into an open note pad. This allows the student to work within one
document, their Inspiration template, rather than moving back and forth to various screens to complete
the activity. In addition, students might use the Listen feature in Inspiration to read short phrases
(their jot notes) or WordQ to read parts of the text as needed. Learners could also use the Word
Wizard to define words (and expand vocabulary) and colour to designate and group ideas.

Reading
Often when we ask students to read and then respond in writing we limit their ability to successfully
show us what they know through our choice of media. In this reading example, (See Diagram 17)
students not only listen to the novel in an MP3 format (attached to the Chapter 1 symbol) but they can
record their thoughts and ideas as well. By using a simple microphone, students record 30 seconds of
information for each symbol. For some students this might be the completion of the task, for others
they could listen to their recordings and then use other technology such as WordQ or SpeakQ to
successfully type their responses into the note pads or outline.

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Tree Diagram
What is important to remember when differentiating a template is the diagram can look the same for
each student but the outline might contain different information. In the example (See Diagram 18) the
text (from a website or designed by the teacher) can be customized to meet various learning needs.

This might mean that only the link to the website is available. For other students the text, perhaps
edited for simplicity, is added. For other learners the jot notes, or key ideas are highlighted in red. For
still others the jot notes are pasted into subtopics in the outline. The student then works in the
diagram and uses the searchable image library to find pictures to represent the key ideas. Each
student is successful, with various levels of support, using the same template and meeting the same
expectations.
Tool of Choice
Throughout this article I demonstrated that Inspiration is much more than a Graphic Organizer.
Beyond webs and maps, Inspiration meets the learning styles and needs of all learners, through the
creation of dynamic and interactive templates. With its integrated diagram and outline view,
Inspiration helps learners access and use both sides of the brain. With the inclusion of digital media
(sound, video, hyperlinks, images, colour and visual structure), Inspiration supports students as they
acquire information, demonstrate what they know and actively engage with their learning. By
customizing the outline (and providing just the right amount of support) learning and lessons are
further differentiated to ensure successful understanding of concepts by all students.

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com

Inspiration truly is a quintessential UDL tool:
 It is useful to a variety of learners and supports their learning differences
 It is flexible; easily altered to address learning styles and needs
 It is intuitive in its use; students (and teachers) quickly learn the basics of the program

In my school, Inspiration
became the tool of choice for
students and teachers as they
developed ideas, organized
information, structured thinking
and presented findings. Often,
technology provides students
with access to information but
not access to learning. (See
Diagram 19) In fact, access to information quickly becomes overwhelming. Students lack the tools
and skills to structure, design and share their understandings, solutions and products. This is
especially true for students who struggle with text and text bound information. Inspiration is a model
UDL tool, that when used effectively and creatively, unbinds information and provides important
access to learning…for all.

1
Quote from a presentation by Ken Robinson during the TED conference -

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
2
Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds: Learning To Be Creative, page 83
3
http://www.design.ncsu.edu/cud/about_ud/udprinciplestext.htm
4
Chapter 4 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer
5
Chapter 2 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer
6
Chapter 3 - Teaching Every Student in the Digital Age by David H. Rose and Anne Meyer
7
For another article I wrote on using Inspiration as a presentation tool please go to

http://fno.org/jan08/beyond.html

© Kendra Grant 2009 kendragrant@rogers.com