Inspiration 9

By Dale Farris, Reviews Coordinator Golden Triangle PC Club February 2010 Inspiration Software, Inc. offers the newest editions to their solid, successful lineup of creative software. For visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations, use Inspiration 9, the ultimate thinking and learning tool. Brainstorm ideas, structure your thoughts and visually communicate concepts to strengthen understanding with the Diagram and Map Views. To take notes, organize information, and structure writing for plans, papers and reports, use the integrated Outline View to focus on main and supporting ideas and to clarify thinking in written form. With Inspiration's Presentation Manager, transform your diagrams, mind maps and outlines into polished presentations that communicate ideas clearly and demonstrate understanding and knowledge. Students build graphic organizers, including concept maps, webs, mind maps and idea maps, in Inspiration to Brainstorm Plan Organize Think Outline Present Just a Couple of Educator Testimonials "Inspiration is a dynamic program that allows students to incorporate new information at any time. With the hyperlinking and graphic capabilities of Inspiration, students can synthesize and present detailed diagrams to 'show what I know,' facilitating student creativity." James Rye, Ph.D., Community Curriculum Coordinator, Health Sciences and Technology Academy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia "Inspiration is the one piece of software my district can’t live without. It has proven to be a valuable tool in fostering students’ critical and creative thinking skills." John Blaser, Technology Integration Specialist, Eastchester Union Free School District, Eastchester, New York The software product line includes the following products: Inspiration 9 - Grades 6 - 12 Powered by the proven strategies of visual learning, Inspiration 9 is the essential tool students grade 6 to adult rely on to plan, research and complete projects successfully. With the integrated Diagram and Outline Views, they create graphic organizers, develop ideas and expand topics into writing. As a result, students gain and retain a better understanding of concepts and demonstrate knowledge, improving their performance across the curriculum. Kidspiration 3 - Grades K - 5 For K-5 learners, Kidspiration develops thinking, literacy and numeracy skills using proven visual learning principles. In reading and writing, Kidspiration strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written expression. With visual math tools, students build reasoning and problem solving skills. Across the curriculum, students express their creativity and thinking with pictures, words and numbers. InspireData 1.5 - Grades 4 - 12 The latest addition to the Inspiration Software family, students in grades 4-12 use InspireData to build critical data literacy skills. They actively explore and analyze data in science, mathematics and social studies using dynamic Venn, bar, stack, pie and axis plots to interpret information and draw conclusions. Inspiration for Handhelds The learning benefits of Inspiration combine with the natural ease of handhelds to give students grade 4 to adult handheld power to develop ideas and organize thinking. With Inspiration for Palm OS and Inspiration for Pocket PC, it's easy to capture ideas and show relationships by sketching symbols and arranging thoughts directly on screen with a stylus. It's an innovative, versatile way to help students achieve clearer thinking, better writing and improved performance across the curriculum. With Inspiration, InspireData, Kidspiration, Inspiration for Palm OS and Inspiration for Pocket PC, educators of all grade levels and curriculum areas have the ability to fully integrate a wide range of visual learning techniques into the classroom and the curriculum. Educator Resources Inspiration Software offers educators tools and resources for integrating visual learning into all areas of the curriculum. The Thinking Classroom Using Inspiration to Meet Curriculum Standards is designed to support teachers as they help students develop their critical thinking strategies. Each of the book's six sections focuses on a fundamental thinking skill and includes an overview of the cognitive strategy and its application in the major curriculum areas: language arts, science and social studies. Developing Data Literacy with InspireData was designed by educators, and offers many content-rich, standards-aligned lessons to help teachers incorporate InspireData into their science, mathematics and social studies curriculum. ach hands-on lesson contains step-by-step instructions that can be easily adapted for students in grades 4-12, working individually or in teams. What's New In Inspiration 9? Achieve more across the curriculum with Inspiration 9 For 21st century students, success depends on strong reading, writing, critical thinking and organizational skills, along with the ability to retain information, understand complex content and communicate knowledge effectively. In every subject and across a wide spectrum of projects, Inspiration® 9 provides an essential framework for thinking -- helping students achieve more as they comprehend, create and communicate knowledge successfully. More visual learning support for reading, writing and thinking in Diagram View Select from more symbol images that support curriculum content Lock symbols while developing templates to ensure they aren't moved or deleted by students Use Linking Phrases to easily explain relationships between ideas while creating concept maps NEW Map View—A new visual view to create and think with mind maps Add new topic and subtopic branches with one click Rearrange and graft ideas to other branches by simply dragging them into place Add a note to any topic to expand upon your ideas Differentiate and emphasize ideas and groups using symbol images, colors and fonts Instantly transform your mind map into an outline to develop your writing More organizing, outlining and writing capabilities added to Outline View Make visual connections in Outline View by showing or hiding symbols and Linking Phrases Take multiple topics and make them one topic using Combine Topics Use Break Apart to divide one long topic with multiple ideas into separate topics Use Word Count to meet word and page count requirements NEW Presentation Manager to develop presentations and present your knowledge Develop slides from content and snapshot graphics automatically generated from your Diagram, Map and Outline Views Add, duplicate, reorder and delete slides and talking points to expand your presentation and communicate your message effectively Use ready-made professional background themes to create visually appealing presentations Change background colors and font styles or add graphic backgrounds to create your own custom theme styles Choose from different slide layouts to best communicate your key points and visual content Communicate visually by adding graphics from your computer and the Internet Create your own snapshots from your diagram or mind map Add impact to your talking points by including videos and sounds that play directly from your presentation Clarify your points of view and support your message by adding hyperlinks and speaker notes Use slide transitions and reveal talking points individually to engage your audience Print your slides in various formats (with or without speaker notes) for handouts including 3x5 and 4x6 cards FREE Inspiration Presenter, available on the Inspiration 9 install CD and downloadable online Play your presentation directly from Inspiration 9 or from any Window® or Macintosh computer Present using a single screen or take advantage of speaker monitor support that shows speaker notes and other presenter information Run your presentation automatically with the Auto-Play option What's New in Kidspiration 3? Created for K-5 learners, Kidspiration 3 uses the proven principles of visual learning to strengthen reading and writing skills, build conceptual understanding in math and develop thinking skills across the curriculum. The newest version of Kidspiration offers exciting new capabilities including 3000+ symbols, keyword symbol search, Word Guide, enhanced auditory support, new visual math tools, and more curriculum materials. These added functionalities work together to give students more opportunities to explore new concepts, discover meaning and express themselves with pictures, text, numbers and spoken words. New capabilities strengthen reading and writing skills Kidspiration builds students' word recognition, vocabulary and comprehension using visual tools that combine pictures, text and spoken words. Expanded symbol library 3,000+ symbols offer visual support for concepts taught in K-5 language arts, social studies and science curriculum, providing students with more opportunities to express themselves visually. Symbol search Students search for symbols by keywords to find just the right picture, image or symbol to express their thoughts and ideas. Kidspiration Word Guide This combination dictionary and thesaurus supports vocabulary and reading comprehension with easy access to nearly 13,000 words. It includes sight vocabulary from the Dolch and Fry's word list and aligns with TESL vocabulary to support ELL and ESL students. Each entry includes definitions, synonyms and antonyms, parts of speech, sample sentences, images and recorded speech to guide pronunciation of words. Enhanced audio support Longer recording time encourages students to express and document their ideas. Teachers have more flexibility when recording instructions and comments. For ESL and ELL learners, teachers can record instructions in native languages to enhance student understanding. New Math View builds conceptual understanding in math Now Kidspiration extends the proven principles of visual learning to mathematics. Combining the hands-on learning power of manipulatives with all the added benefits of computer interactivity, Kidspiration's new Math View and visual math tools help learners build a strong mathematical foundation to understand math concepts. Five visual math tools Kidspiration's visual math tools focus on the core conceptual foundations of counting, place value on computation and geometric thinking. Students build number sense and spatial reasoning and understand the meaning behind the four basic operations while communicating their thinking with words, numbers and math symbols. Kidspiration Color Tiles Students use Kidspiration Color Tiles to count and compare, explore properties of number and operations and develop computation strategies. With Kidspiration Color Tiles, students learn to solve area and perimeter problems and model number patterns and the four basic operations. Kidspiration Pattern Blocks Students use Kidspiration Pattern Blocks to investigate the properties and attributes of shapes through composition and decomposition. They produce patterns and tessellations, explore similarity and congruence, experiment with symmetry and represent fractions. Kidspiration Base Ten Blocks Students use Kidspiration Base Ten Blocks to understand place value and strengthen number sense. With Kidspiration Base Ten Blocks, they count, compare, group, partition and create equivalent representations of whole numbers and decimals. Kidspiration Base Ten Blocks also introduce students to procedures for operations on multi-digit numbers. Kidspiration Fraction Tiles Students use Kidspiration Fraction Tiles to compare and order fractions and to understand equivalent fractions. They find common denominators, translate between improper fractions and mixed numbers and model basic operations with fractions. Kidspiration Fraction Boxes Students use Kidspiration Fraction Boxes to represent fractions visually to build a strong conceptual foundation for future work with fractions. Students compare, order, simplify and find equivalent fractions. They use Kidspiration Fraction Boxes to model basic operations with like and unlike denominators. Kidspiration Fraction Boxes also introduce students to improper fractions, mixed numbers and representing word problems. New features and functions make Kidspiration's math tools easy to use Kidspiration Math SuperGrouper helps students count, sort and show operations visually. Teachers and students label Math SuperGroupers as a conceptual building block for word problems. Math Text Boxes document math operations using words, numbers and structured frames. The Math Text Box supports writing fractions, division problems and vertical math notations. Step Workspace shows progression of work with a sequential work area to document steps while problem-solving. Cross-Out Stamp gives students a visual indicator to use when they mark, take away or remove items. Multiple pages in a document streamline workspace management. New educator-developed resources support curriculum integration Kidspiration now includes more curriculum content, new teacher tools and standards-aligned lesson plans in Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies developed specifically for grades K-5, along with 150+ activity templates. 150+ enhanced quick-start activity templates give teachers classroom-ready resources and provide a launching pad to customize and create lessons for individual learners, small groups and the whole class. Tutorials provide a fast effective way to introduce teachers to visual learning with Kidspiration so they're successful from the start. Teacher Resources Online provides additional lesson plans and activities. Additional support for ELL and ESL students Kidspiration uses proven visual learning strategies to build students' vocabulary and English comprehension with the integrated Picture and Writing Views, the new Word Guide, enhanced audio support and the new symbol search and expanded symbol library. In addition, Kidspiration emphasizes the development and use of independent learning strategies, such as pictorial representation of thoughts and concepts. The new Word Guide includes an extensive sight vocabulary list, which aligns with Fry's Instant Word List, Dolch Word List and TESL vocabulary. Kidspiration keeps up with the latest technology Kidspiration now supports higher resolution monitors with a larger visual workspace. Kidspiration is compatible with Windows Vista. What's New in InspireData 1.5? InspireData 1.5 offers more ways to explore and understand data. This latest version of InspireData has many powerful new features to help students collect and explore data and help educators integrate InspireData and data literacy into the classroom. Easier data collection! e-Survey tool Collect data anytime, anywhere using InspireData's e-Survey tool. Create and publish an online survey to gather data, then instantly download results to jumpstart analysis. 100+ subject-specific databases Get started quickly with more than 100 content-rich databases. Database templates Use database templates with predefined structure to guide data collection. Expanded data formatting options Select and define field formats and valid list content to ensure consistent data collection. More plot options! Bar Charts Students can create a bar chart or a stack plot with one click. Line of best fit and line graphs Display line of best fit and line graphs in axis plots to connect data points or to clarify data relationships and investigate trends. Export plots Export plots as .jpg, .gif or .png files. Expanded teacher and classroom support Standards-based lessons plans and classroom projects These lesson plans include ideas and instructions for achieving key data literacy standards, corresponding database templates to guide student data collection and exemplars for teacher demonstration and student assessment. Learn-to-Use Handouts These teacher tools provide easy-to-follow instructions for quickly learning and using InspireData. Web resources Teachers can easily access additional support materials such as lesson plans and database templates. Teacher database templates for classroom analysis. Customizable templates allow teachers to track student performance over time, identify classroom trends and support data-driven decision making. New! Developing Data Literacy with InspireData Developing Data Literacy with InspireData was designed by educators, and offers 27 content-rich, standards-aligned lessons to help teachers incorporate InspireData into their science, mathematics and social studies curriculum. Each hands-on lesson contains step-by-step instructions that can be easily adapted for students in grades 4-12, working individually or in teams. State Education Standards and Inspiration Software Inspiration Software understands that teachers across the country must in their teaching meet education standards of their respective state education agencies. To help these teachers, Inspiration Software, Inc. has created standards matches to highlight meaningful ways in which Inspiration, InspireData, and Kidspiration support state standards. These state education agency standards matches are available at the Inspiration Software web site, www.inspiration.com. Importance of the Software In this super mind mapping program, integrated diagramming and outlining environments work together to help users comprehend concepts and information. You can use Inspiration to create and modify concept maps, webs, and other graphical organizers using the Diagram view. The integrated Outline view also makes it easy to prioritize and rearrange ideas to create clear, concise essays, reports, and more. Inspiration can be used as an organizational tool to help users organize thoughts, projects and presentations. It uses visuals and text not only to speed the writing process, but also to help folks work on and retain a large quantity of information in a short time frame. Visual learning is one of the best approaches for teaching thinking skills, and visual learning techniques teach students to clarify their thinking and to process, organize and prioritize new information. The use of visual diagrams reveals patterns, interrelationships and interdependencies, while stimulating creativity. All these significant principles are implemented when using Inspiration. Although geared primarily for educators, Inspiration is also a program many businesses can find of great value in their efforts to creatively respond to today's dynamic business environment. This is an interesting program that corresponds to the current interest in business and organizations in finding ways to maximize the creativity and innovation of members of the company.  Inspiration builds on and implements the ideas in the many solid published works of creativity gurus, including Tony Buzan, author of "The BrainSmart Leader," "The Mind Map Book," "Make the Most of Your Mind," and "Use Both Sides of Your Brain," and Rita Carter and Christopher Frith, writers of "Mapping The Mind" and "Mind Mapping." The basic idea is to help users achieve their potential by allowing them to display their ideas and concepts in a graphical pattern that both sides of the brain can quickly grasp. This is based on the work of researchers working in this field, finding out how different parts of the brain are responsible for different thought and other functions of the body. The left side, responsible for logical thought, and the right side, used for visual and creative thought, work together while using this program to increase memory retention and productivity. In the past, trying to implement these findings meant dependence on pen or multi-colored markers and paper, and the ability of folks to draw diagrams and shapes to represent their ideas and concepts. With the advent of such software as Inspiration, now you can draw upon the power of this program to vastly improve this process, and the results are greatly enhanced. Sometimes the most difficult part of completing a project, whether it is a homework assignment or a business presentation, is just getting started. Inspiration 8 takes some of the stress out of staring at a blank sheet of paper, by letting you brainstorm and free associate until you hit that aha! moment. An icon-based Inspiration Starter screen lets you choose where you want to begin. You can choose Diagram or Outline mode, open an existing file, open one of the built-in templates or check out the training files and examples. Diagram mode thoughtfully includes a Main Idea symbol in the middle of the screen, so you don't have to face a totally blank page. You can rename the idea to suit your target, and then start playing with the shape tools and symbols. One of the biggest failings of previous versions of Inspiration was a limited symbol library. Inspiration 8 solves this problem, with a built-in symbol library of more than 1,000 high-resolution black-and-white and color symbols, divided into 15 subject areas. You can also add custom symbols and create custom symbol libraries, as well as download additional symbols from the Inspiration Software web site, which contains more than 1 million illustrations and photographs. Inspiration uses a well-organized interface that is similar to many drawing and painting programs. Adding boxes and other shapes, text or symbols to a diagram is a simple drag-and-drop process. Clicking a symbol in the scrollable symbol library inserts it into the diagram. You can easily click and drag items to rearrange them, or make them larger or smaller, things you can't do when scribbling on a piece of paper. You can create links between items, as well as add hyperlinks to web pages, email addresses or other Inspiration documents. The Note feature lets you add a sticky note to an item, if you want to jot down some thoughts without actually including them in the main diagram. Switching to Outline mode provides a text-based version of your diagram that you can print for reference, or use to reorganize or further develop your ideas. With this strong focus on stimulating and supporting user creativity, you can see how valuable this program is in business, as well as in the classroom. Key Features Inspiration's integrated diagramming and outlining views work together to help students comprehend concepts and information. Diagram-To-Outline With One Click - In the Diagram View, students easily create and use concept maps, webs, and other graphical organizers. With the integrated Outline View, students instantly transform their thoughts into the foundation of written projects. The result is clearer thinking, more creative projects, better organized writing, and improved student performance. In the Diagram view you can: -Capture ideas as quickly as you think with the RapidFire tool -Add as little or as much text as you want — symbols grow automatically to record your thoughts -Illustrate ideas and convey meanings by inserting symbols from the web or other applications, using the Insert Graphic, Drag & Drop, or Copy & Paste functions -Show relationships between ideas with the Link tool -Explain relationships between ideas by directly adding text on the links -Rearrange symbols by dragging without breaking links -Differentiate among ideas with colors, shapes, patterns, shadows, fonts, and styles -Bring writing power with visually integrated notes -Explore multiple main ideas simultaneously Transform a diagram into an outline instantly! With the simple click of your mouse, you can transform an Inspiration diagram into a traditional hierarchical outline. In the powerful Outline View, students can quickly prioritize and rearrange ideas, helping them create clear, concise essays, reports, and more. Use the Outline View to: -Organize topics by dragging — subtopics move automatically -Plan projects and track ideas using the Checklist feature. Simply mark off completed items in either the Diagram or Outline View -Develop topics into a written report using notes text -Export your outline to popular word processing or presentation programs Toolbars make using Inspiration intuitive! - Diagram Toolbar - Outline Toolbar - Formatting Toolbar Major Inspiration functions are at your fingertips with these smart toolbars. No need to memorize keyboard shortcuts or search through menu items to find features. You  just click on the toolbar and keep working! If you do have a question or problem, the fully indexed and searchable help system provides answers to all your Inspiration questions. Simplified template integration Inspiration 7 sparks teacher creativity with inspiring new ways to design and use templates, the fastest way to introduce visual learning and Inspiration to students in all subjects, including language arts, science, and social studies. Template Wizard - New with version 7! Create customized visual learning activities! The Template Wizard gives teachers step-by-step help for designing templates to support any curriculum area. Flexible template access - Use and share templates with ease! Templates can be stored and launched from any location, making them readily available for students and teachers. 50+ templates - Quickly integrate visual learning into your classroom! A wealth of ideas from across the curriculum inspires students and teachers to plan, organize, and create. Symbols at your fingertips - Inspiration contains over 1,300 colorful, high-resolution symbols, including several hundred photographic quality images and animated symbols. Students just scroll through the floating symbol palette to find exactly the right shape to express their thoughts. If you want to customize your work, you can re-color an existing symbol, or import images from other applications and the Internet. Audio supports multiple learning styles - Students can hear work read aloud, or record their own words, adding a new dimension to their projects. A talking interface increases accessibility for all learners. Direct connection to the Internet - You can set up live hyperlinks in Inspiration and tie the immense resources of the Internet into your diagrams and outlines. Just type in a web address and Inspiration automatically creates a hyperlink. You can also create web pages with URL hyperlinks through the HTML Export function, and drag & drop JPG and GIF images into Inspiration diagrams straight from the web! Hyperlink to any file - Gather and present information from multiple sources, including documents created in Inspiration or any other application, by hyper linking to any file. Web site planning made easy - Build the bones of a new web site with the Site Skeleton Export. Each symbol becomes a separate web page, complete with appropriate hyperlinks. Inspiration even creates a site map for you. Typical Uses of Inspiration Capture ideas as quickly as you think with the RapidFire tool Symbols automatically grow as you add text Illustrate ideas and meaning by inserting symbols from other applications Supports Drag-and-Drop, Insert Picture, and Copy-and-Paste Show relationships between ideas with the Link tool Rearrange symbols and they stay connected Differentiate among ideas with colors, shapes, patterns, shadows Fine tune and enhance diagrams with Draw tools Use linked Notes windows for writing about ideas Instantly transform a diagram into an outline Set up live hyperlinks with automatic creation of a URL Basic Operation Inspiration provides the tools to create a picture of ideas or concepts in the form of a diagram. It also provides an integrated outlining environment to help you develop your ideas into organized written documents. The combination of visual and linear thinking deepens understanding of the concept and increases memory retention, develops organizational skills and taps creativity. The program has two main views, the Diagram and the Outline view, and as you work, both keep track of your ideas. You can create many types of visual diagrams, like planning a project, looking at cause and effect, or developing understanding of a complex idea. The basic types of diagrams include a concept map, an idea map, a web (visual map showing how different bits of information relate), and a storyboard. The outline allows you to create a hierarchical structure for a report or a plan, and helps you organize written documents, speeches, or plans. When the program first opens, you are in the default Diagram view, looking at the Main Idea symbol that appears in the center of the screen. This beginning symbol contains the placeholder text that is already selected and ready for you to type your own main idea. This text in the Main Idea symbol will automatically become the name of the Inspiration file, unless you wish to change it. To add ideas, you first select the idea you want to add on another concept, and then select the Create button on the Diagram toolbar and the direction arrow indicating in which direction to add a new symbol, either up or down, left or right, as well as diagonally. Once added, you just enter the text you want in this additional symbol. Pressing Shift+Return ends text entry. Adding further ideas to a symbol is aided by the use of the RapidFire tool that allows you to add ideas to a symbol by just clicking on this tool, and then entering the added idea. This time, you press the Enter key, and Inspiration automatically adds what you typed into another symbol that is also automatically added to the originally selected symbol. Cool! You proceed along with this concept, building your idea diagram, and as the diagram grows, you can easily change the viewing scale with the Zoom Out tool and move the diagram around in the window with the Position tool. A symbol can be easily added by dragging it from the symbol palette and dropping it onto the existing idea diagram. Adding new symbols from the extensive library is as easy as clicking a forward or back arrow on the symbol palette, and the many additional palettes pop up for use.  Built-in Templates To help speed up even further the creation of a diagram, Inspiration comes with many pre-built template diagrams, including templates for use in language arts, science, social studies, and twelve different approaches to developing thinking maps. While these are obviously targeted at educators, nevertheless, in today's business environment of teams working together to improve internal processes, and consequently the quality of their product, many of these designs will also be of great value in any business. The templates are alone worth the price of this program. Comparable Products Inspiration is but one of many such tools now on the market designed around the concept of mind mapping, and allowing collaboration using Java-based clients linked via TCP/IP. Such programs include Smart Technologies, Inc.'s SmartIdeas www.smarttech.com, and MindJet's MindManager www.mindjet.com. Inspiration is a more fully developed approach to this concept, and comes with many more graphic symbols and templates, as well as features, than these comparable products, which may present a slightly more inclined learning curve. However, Inspiration's very intuitive approach to toolbar buttons and menu commands will allow any first-time user to quickly learn how to use this intriguing program. With its early availability on the market, and a corresponding version written for the Macintosh, Inspiration rapidly gained the attention of schools for use in the classroom. Recommendation Inspiration is one of the earlier of these very interesting, creative software programs now on the market, and with its very reasonable price point, most anyone with a computer can afford to invest in this very useful, fun program. I first began using Inspiration in version 4 and have been hooked on the program ever since. Also, businesses and organizations should give this program serious consideration for use by their teams. Future Integration Into Operating Systems The dynamic, symbolic representation of ideas and concepts not only has been incorporated into neat workstation programs like Inspiration, but is also being worked on by other vendors to change the present concept of how a computer user interface operates and appears to the user. Inspired by the fundamental hyperlink design and concept of the World Wide Web, companies such as CoCo Systems (www.coco.co.uk), and Natrificial (www.natrificial.com), are developing products like Inspiration that organize information graphically and in more intuitive ways. In the next decade, look for this mind map concept to be integrated within an operating system. Price $84.00 Inspiration 9 - Download With CD $69.00 Inspiration 9 - Download $44.95 Inspiration 9 - Upgrade - Download With CD $29.95 Inspiration 9 - Upgrade - Download Multiple licensing pricing available $84.00 Kidspiration 3 - Download With CD $69.00 Kidspiration 3 - Download $39.95 Kidspiration 3 - Upgrade - Download Multiple licensing pricing available $94.00 InspireData 1.5 - Download With CD $79.00 InspireData 1.5 - Download Multiple licensing pricing available System Configuration Requirements Inspiration 9 Windows Pentium III 450MHz or higher processor Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP (including Tablet PC), Vista, 7 256MB RAM 250MB available hard disk space Recommended: Internet connection QuickTime Optional: Interactive electronic whiteboard Microphone Macintosh PowerPC G4 700MHz or higher processor OS 10.3 or higher 512MB RAM 250MB available hard disk space Recommended: Internet connection Optional: Interactive electronic whiteboard Microphone Kidspiration 3 Windows Pentium II 266MHz or faster processor Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP (including Tablet PC Edition) or Vista 128MB RAM 800 x 600 (minimum); 1024 x 768 (recommended) display 16-bit color or higher 75MB minimum available hard disk space 250MB hard disk space - full install CD-ROM drive (for installation only) Optional: Windows compatible printer Internet browser Soundcard and speakers Microphone Interactive electronic whiteboard Macintosh Macintosh G3 300MHz or faster processor OS X, version 10.2.8 or newer, Leopard compatible 192MB RAM 800 x 600 (minimum); 1024 x 768 (recommended) display Thousands of colors or higher 75MB minimum available hard disk space 250MB full install CD-ROM drive (for installation only) Optional: Macintosh compatible printer Internet browser Microphone Interactive electronic whiteboard InspireData 1.5 Windows Pentium II 266MHz or faster processor Windows 98 SE, 2000, ME, XP, Vista 128MB RAM 60MB free hard disk space 800 x 600 display with 16-bit color depth or higher Recommended: Internet Connection Optional: Interactive electronic whiteboard Macintosh G3 300MHz or faster processor OS X version 10.2.8 to 10.4.x, Leopard compatible 192MB RAM 90MB free hard disk space 800 x 600 display Recommended: Internet Connection Optional: Interactive electronic whiteboard Note: For downloaded products, the computer on which the downloaded product is installed must be connected to the internet for the product to be activated. Note: These are minimal recommendations, and as with any application, the more RAM and the faster the processor, the more efficient and trouble-free this and any other program will operate. About Inspiration Software, Inc. Inspiration Software, Inc. is recognized as the leader in visual thinking and visual learning. They develop and publish innovative software tools that inspire thinkers and learners of all ages to brainstorm, organize, plan and create. With more than 25 million users worldwide, their award-winning software is revolutionizing visual thinking and learning in education, personal and business use—inspiring students to develop strong thinking and organizational skills and improve their academic performance and tapping the power of visual thinking to help personal and business users enhance productivity and creativity. Inspiration Software, Inc. strives to support improvements in education and business and to make a positive difference in their users' lives by providing software tools that help people of all ages use visual thinking and visual learning to achieve academic, professional and personal goals. Inspiration Software is dedicated to championing the growth and improvement of technology in education. In addition to creating software and support materials that build a solid learning foundation for students of all ages, the company offers professional development scholarships for educators. Company leaders demonstrate their commitment to encouraging the use of technology to improve education by serving on industry boards and committees such as the Software & Information Industry Association's (SIIA) Education Division Board. Their flagship product, Inspiration, has earned many industry awards including four prestigious SIIA Codie Awards, mostly recently in 2007, a 2006 Award of Excellence from "Technology & Learning" magazine, the 2006 Editor's Choice Award from "Children's Technology Review" as well as multiple awards from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), including a 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award for Reading and Language Instruction Software for Grades 6-8. Kidspiration has earned three SIIA Codie Awards (2006, 2005 and 2003) and two AEP 2005 Distinguished Achievement Awards for most innovative educational software and the best educational software for reading. Inspiration for Palm OS earned a 2004 Award of Excellence from "Technology & Learning" magazine. The newest member of the Inspiration Software family, InspireData, has begun to acquire accolades as well. Winner of a 2007 Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Award, the visual way to explore and understand data was also a 2007 Codie Award finalist in the "Best Science Instruction Solution" category. In addition, InspireData earned a 2006 Seal of Approval from the National Parenting Center, as well as a 2006 iParenting Media Award. The company has been recognized for its accomplishments, receiving the 2007 EdNET IMPACT award as well as prior HERO and PIONEER awards for making significant contributions to education technology and the education market. In 2002, the company ranked 310th in our first appearance on the Inc 500, Inc. magazine's list of the 500 fastest-growing U.S. private companies, and in 2003, the company was included in Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 50 (fastest growing technology companies in Oregon) for the fourth consecutive year. In 2005, the company was selected by Oregon Business Magazine as one of the state's "100 Best Companies to Work For" for the third time. Inspiration Software, Inc. prides itself on being a fun, creative and casual place to work. Educators agree that visual learning is one of the best methods for teaching thinking skills. Using visual learning techniques—associating ideas, concepts, data and other information with images and graphics representations—students are better able to focus on meaning, reorganize and group similar ideas, identify misconceptions, analyze information and make use of their visual memory. Contact Mona L. Westhaver President & Co-founder Inspiration Software, Inc. 9400 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, Suite 300 Beaverton, Oregon 97005-3300 503-297-3004 800-877-4292 FAX: 503-297-4676 mwesthaver@inspiration.com www.inspiration.com