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Digital Post-It-Note Board to Outliner
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Posted by Glen Coulthard
May 6, 2015 at 03:17 PM
Looking for a “better” solution for the following scenario:
I have a meeting with 5 other professors, laying out a new course progression on digital marketing. We have identified 40+ weekly topics (e.g., SEO, Affiliate Marketing, Google Analytics, etc.) that need to be placed and ordered into 3-5 bins (courses). We are meeting in a boardroom with whiteboards and laptop-to-projector connections (but no smartboard). The old-school method would be to draw “bin” lanes on the whiteboard and then use Post-It Notes to move course topics around, but there must be a better way. Ultimately, I would like to be able to do the following in a visual Windows-based solution:
1. Create bins (lanes) for courses
2. Create and drag topics to bins
3. Reorder, sort, and auto-arrange bins and topics
4. Format bins and topics, including color-coding
4. Add bin and topic notes and attachments (e.g., course description and lecture ideas)
5. Save and export the results to a DOCX/ODT document, including notes
I am familiar with and use MindManger, VUE, CMap tools, MyInfo, myBase, ConnectedText, and other tools, but the one that comes nearest is the discontinued MindSystems Amode. Are there any other solutions that I may be missing that you can recommend? This seems to be a common scenario in brainstorming and planning meetings.
All the best,
Glen
Posted by Dr Andus
May 6, 2015 at 03:56 PM
Additional tools could be (though not all tick all your boxes):
- Gingko
- Google Keep
- MindMup
Posted by Franz Grieser
May 6, 2015 at 04:07 PM
We use Scapple for that. But you need a really big screen for your 5 columns. :-)
Export options are RTF and OPML (and PDF and TXT).
Posted by Glen Coulthard
May 7, 2015 at 03:37 PM
Hmmm…, I own Scrapple as well and find it great for simple mapping, but it isn’t quite there for this application (imho). I also use Google Keep on my tablet, but haven’t thought much about it on the desktop. Thanks for the suggestions, Glen
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 7, 2015 at 07:56 PM
Glen,
First of all, I agree that the scenario you suggest is very common in collective intellectual activities, which is why I find it remarkable that there is no equivalent software solution as yet.
Another application you might want to look at is Microsoft Lab’s Stickysorter; it does _not_ have some of the features you suggest, but I’ve found that people get used to it very quickly. You should stilll be able to find it here https://www.educatornetwork.com/Resources/Tools/Details/37436d37-76d1-4478-b3c9-8b578aa78544
If not, I should have it somewhere myself.
Alternatively, you might want to check out the corkboard views of Scrivener and other writer-oriented software, e.g. yWriter. Interestingly, I first thought of SuperNoteCards, but when I checked their site, I found out that it is no longer installable software, but rather an online service.
alx
P.S. If your course will be available online, I’d be interested to take it ;-) I have an MBA focused on marketing, and am always looking for further education on this ever evolving area.