Supports+-+Visual

= = = OAISD's AT Resources - Visual Supports = Page, Brian. eye02.jpg. 1974. Pics4Learning. 20 Dec 2010 

**__Supporting Visual Thinking__**

 * Humans process visuals much faster than text.
 * Beginning any lesson with an image helps you provide your students with a non-linguistic representation, and builds multiple means of representation into your lessons.
 * This gives students a frame of reference
 * Helps them to see the big picture
 * Use of visuals can trigger recall of prior experiences and background knowledge
 * Using illustrated materials improves retention and recall, and increases generalization of knowledge
 * Providing students with video clips and other visual supports can help those who may have missed prior learning experiences to build background knowledge.
 * [|The Object of Their Attention] - Examining objects closely is an excellent way to motivate and sharpen student thinking. Educational Leadership February, 2008

**Who does it help?** Think of one or more of your students who would benefit if: These adjustments can be easily done with electronic text and will help you differentiate instruction for a wide range of students. ([])
 * the text was larger or easier to see?
 * they could hear text read aloud?
 * they could highlight or cut and paste the important points, or mark words that were unclear?
 * there was a summary of the article that could be read before reading the whole piece?

Students who benefit from:
 * Use text graphically to sort, find, share, and dissect information.** **Who does it help?**
 * seeing relationships between information;
 * having maps and charts to help clarify information and focus on essential information;
 * using an graphic representation to get their ideas down and organized before generating narrative or expository writing;
 * communicating through non linear strategic thinking to build meaning from pictures or models instead of words;
 * combining images (from image libraries) with text to increase comprehension or demonstrate understanding;
 * using “real images” or video to integrate current and past knowledge;
 * having information reduced so they can focus and remember information;
 * having a visual representation of relationships between concepts.([])

__Teacher Tools for Enhancing Visual Supports__
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 * **EasyView for YouTube** - Simplified, no advertising, large and easy to use buttons to view YouTube videos. Simply copy and paste YouTube URL at this site.
 * **ScreenMarker** - Highlight what's important ScreenMarker™ is a little piece of software that lets you make annotations on your computer screen. Use ScreenMarker™ to facilitate your online presentations and demos. Highlight important things and beef up your presentations
 * **ViewPure** - Videos without clutter - A tool that allows you to extract video files (from sources such as YouTube) so that you can view them without surrounding ads or clutter. ViewPure is a solution for accessing videos that may be blocked at school.

**__Mapping Tools and Visual Organizers __**
Additional links to **mindmapping tools**.
 * ====**Bubbl.us** - free web application for brainstorming online ====
 * **C-Map Tools** - The Concept MapTools download empowers users to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. Mac or PC
 * **FreeMind** - free mind-mapping download written in Java
 * **Webspiration** - Online visual thinking tool to map out ideas, organize with outlines and collaborate online with teams or colleagues.

__Word Clouds__
What's a word cloud? An attractive arrangement of randomly positioned words, where the most important words are bigger than the others. What are they for? First, they are a fun way to see the most important information. They are fantastic at summarizing large documents (reports, speeches, questionnaires, etc) in a one page visual layout, and can be printed for later review and reference.
 * ====**ABCya! Word Clouds** ABC ya! offers a word cloud generator that is intended for elementary school learners, and it has a very clean user interface.====
 * ====**WordItOut** Word It Out is another word cloud generator that offers multiple options for customization.====
 * ====**TagCrowd** Make your own tag cloud from any text. Tag Crowd does not show more than 150 words, and you can set it to show even less. You can also set it so that a word has to appear a minimum number of times in a document to even show up in the word cloud.====
 * ====**Tagxedo - Tag Cloud with Styles** Word clouds arranged in specified shapes.====
 * ====**WordSift - Visualize Text** Word Sift is intended as a resource for ELL students, to enable them to “visualize text”.====
 * ====**Tagul - Tag Clouds** Tagul clouds are designed to be used on blogs, web pages or any kind of sites as a replacement of ordinary tag clouds. Each tag in Tagul cloud is linked with an URL and is “clickable” that enables visitors to use it for navigation.====
 * ====**Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds** Wordle is a tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.====

__**Search Engines with Visual Displays**__

 * **Boolify Project: An Educational Boolean Search Tool** - Boolify makes it easier for students to understand their web search by illustrating the logic of their search, and by showing them how each change to their search instantly changes their results.
 * **Google Squared** - Google Squared presents search results in table form, organized horizontally by attributes. You can designate which attributes you want displayed.
 * **Google Wonder Wheel - A Wonder Tool!** - Search results are presented in a visual map and related terms will be live links. This site explains Wonder Wheel.
 * **SortFix - Improve your Search** - SortFix is a young and innovative search technology company, devoted to enrich your search experience. This is an intuitive graphical interface that isn’t only cool and fun to use but also boosts your search skills and abilities. Watch the demo.
 * **Spezify** - Spezify is a search tool presenting results from a large number of websites in different visual ways. We take web search further, away from endless lists of blue text links and towards a more intuitive experience. Use the toolbar to view text, video, music, and more either individually or in any combination.

__**Online Bulletin Boards, Poster Boards, and Notebooks**__

 * ==== **Springnote** Your online notebook based on wiki, a great tool for group projects. ====
 * ====**Wallwisher** - Online notice-board maker. Make announcements and keep notes. Link graphics and media. ====
 * ====**Stixy** - An online bulletin board. Create as many Stixyboards as you like, one for each project. Use Stixy to easily organize and share. ====
 * ====**CoSketch** - A multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images. ====
 * ====**Dabbleboard** - Online whiteboard for drawing & team collaboration. ====

__**Images and Graphic Resources**__

 * ====**Visual Support Resources Stack on Delicious**====
 * ====**LIFE Photo Archives** - Google and LIFE team up to bring historic LIFE photos, available free, online and ready for classroom use.====
 * **Pics4Learning** **-** Copyright-friendly images for educational use. Photos are submitted by photographers who have given permission for school use of their work. Well organized and categorized.
 * **Microsoft Clip Art and Media** Microsoft Clip Art and Media Search by topic and media type: clip art, photos, animations or sounds.
 * **Flickr** Store, search, and share photographs for classroom use without signing up.
 * **Woophy Flickr** Woophy Flickr WOrld Of PHotographY is a visual, logical and associative collection of images that represent the world's beauty and uniqueness from different cultural perspectives. Search begins with a world map. Registration for a free account is required.
 * **Morgue Files** - Free high resolution digital photography for public use.
 * **Commons Project** - images section of Wikipedia
 * **Google Images** - Search for images by category and then by sub-topic. Watch **this video** to learn how.

__**Video Supports**__

 * ===Video Resources Stack on Delicious===
 * **NBC Learn** - Science of NFL Football, Science of Winter Olympics, Civil Rights, and American History video series, run three to five minutes each and are supplemented with lesson plans. They are available for use in middle and high schools free of charge.
 * **WatchKnow** - millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth, all usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.
 * ** YouTube for Schools ** Learn more about special settings to access YouTube for Schools
 * A collection of Video resources to support **Science**.
 * A collection of Video resources to support **Social Studies.**