Tag Archives: popplet tutorials

Popplet ESL Activities: Vocabulary Building (2)

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Popplet is a mind-mapping app, which offers a limitless canvas that lets users capture ideas then organize and connect them in a multitude of ways. It’s no surprise that vocabulary building and Popplet are such a good fit. A language might consist of millions of words – a daunting prospect for the language learner. Fortunately, getting to know each and every word is not how vocabulary building works. The key to understanding a lexicon is to navigate its vastness through its connections. Popplet is the perfect tool for this.

In our previous article, we introduced some ways to teach language learners vocabulary by employing Popplet’s user-friendly features. We hope we gave some indication of Popplet’s potential as an adaptable, effective application for the ESL classroom. Next, we are going to examine more vocabulary building strategies by focussing on:

Let’s begin with the words that every English language student loves to hate: phrasal verbs!

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Popplet Formatting Techniques: 2. Getting Organized With Popple Stacks

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Popplet is efficient, fun and simple to use. So simple, and so much fun that before you know it, even the best intentioned of popplet boards can quickly become cluttered and a little unmanageable. And as the fun of adding more and more information takes hold, popples might just start to get  a touch unruly. Not to worry! Most of the time order can be quickly restored to a popplet board by employing simple formatting techniques such as:

  • Creating additional popplets, and using Popplet Linker to connect them.
  • Adding textual information to Popplet Comments, clearing space on the main board.
  • Making Popple Stacks using the formatting tools located in the organize menu to cleverly create the temporary space big enough to hold all of your ideas

Popple Stacks Main

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Popplet Formatting Techniques: 1. Selecting Popples & Multiple Actions

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Popplet is the perfect tool for visualizing ideas, processes and information and its intuitive and friendly interface means that impressive and valuable work product can often be instantly created. There are also times when a Popplet’s visual impact and effectiveness can be improved by applying formatting techniques:

  • For increased clarification and simplification of ideas
  • Presentations
  • When there are a large number of popples on a single board
  • Collaborating on a popplet
  • Just because you want your popplet to look better

Popplet comes equipped with a set of formatting tools that are more than a match for all formatting needs, and with them, even the most unruly popples can be brought into line. They can be accessed through organize located in the cog menu:

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Tutorial: Who Can See My Popplet?

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Who can see my Popplet? – a frequently asked question, especially by educators and parents. The answer is that it’s entirely up to you. If a popplet makes you so proud that you want to share it with a wider audience, then you can. On the other hand, if you would like a little privacy, or even total privacy, you can have that too. 

Popplet features a range privacy levels that let you manage who can see your popplets, and how. Safe and simple, like all things Popplet. The different levels are outlined below:

  1. “for your eyes only”, make this popplet private, a popplet’s default privacy setting
  2. “need to know”, make this popplet public, but don’t show in public popplets
  3. “me, you…everybody”, make this popplet public, and show in public popplets


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Two Minute Tutorial: Collaborating with Popplet Comments

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Popplet Comments lets you add extra information in text form to individual popples, storing this information discretely behind the main popplet board and adding a whole new dimension to your collaborative work.

Like all things Popplet, this feature is simple and powerful. It is also remarkably versatile and can be advantageously employed in many different situations. Discover how to make your Popplets better and more accessible to others by simply adding comments. Take a look at some of the things Popplet users are doing:

  • Hold onto thoughts or ideas that you aren’t quite ready to let go of – could be a whole other Popplet!
  • Prevent Popplets from becoming cluttered by storing stuff as comments.
  • Take notes: in class, during meetings, anywhere…connect notes to visuals.
  • Create creative text, while using photos or images as visual cues for inspiration.
  • Add research notes to your Popplet work, which can then be shared.
  • Show your working, shed some more light on your process.
  • Work  together,collaborate on projects/homework.
  • Real time communication in group/classroom work.

How to Add Comments

To activate comments all you have to do is select a popple to highlight it, then click on the black comment bubble that sits just above the top right hand corner:

Screen_Shot_2015-05-31_at_12_39_54

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Popplet Video: Fabulous New and Improved Features

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One of Popplet’s most popular features is that video from Youtube and Vimeo can be directly and instantly added to any Popplet you are working on. Recently, we’ve made some improvements to this feature. We have added more search options and provided a new friendlier, cleaner interface. If you have been adding videos to your Popplet work recently, the process  is now so simple and so seamless, that you could be forgiven for not noticing these improvements at all! 

Just imagine the perfect video for your popplet, and a few moments later, there it is,  a part of your work forever. Of course, if you change your mind, you can change the video! With Vimeo and Youtube, you will always have a broad and rich selection available to bring life to your popplets. So how’s it done?

There are now three ways to add videos. Take a look at this Planet Popplet:

Screen Shot 2015-07-17 at 11.43.50

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Two Minute Tutorial: Formatting Popplets in a Grid Layout

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So, you’ve had a few ideas and your screen is starting to look a little bit cluttered. Like your thoughts, it’s time to get your popples in order. Maybe you are seeking fresh perspective, just cleaning house or perhaps you feel that your creation is approaching completion: whatever the reason, Popplet’s Organize Menu contains the tools to bring unruly popples into line.

Popplet’s Organize Menu is found by clicking on the cog menu, then organize as shown below. A list containing all the organizing tools appears:

Menu-Tutorial1(s)

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Using The Embed Code In Your Blog And Webpages

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Popplet has an embed code function that allows you to paste your popplet directly into your webpages. Embedding popplets into your blog posts and web pages is a great way to share ideas.

Many internet readers scan webpages for the content they need. Having a popplet on a webpage can be a good way to help direct your readers to the information you have to share.

You can reinforce your message and show the net of connections between the ideas you are trying to get across, or summarize the text of your blog in a Popplet, to facilitate the reader’s comprehension.

Here’s some examples of how you can use an embed code to share a popplet and reinforce the key message goals of your content:

  • Use a popplet to describe your skillset and use connector links to share portfolio images of your work for an About Me webpage on your professional blog
  • For an article on a historical event, create a timeline using Popplet and include that in your writeup
  • Show how people are connected to each other in a television show or movie (or to show their career filmography) when writing a review
  • Use Popplet to share maps, points of interest and itineraries in a travel blog article.

(We’ll be using some of these examples over the next few months, but if you have already used the embed code in your blog in a creative way, please share it with us so we can profile your work here!)

Using the embed code also helps you appeal to a wider range of readers with different learning styles and ways of absorbing information. Popplet helps you present information to appeal to both visual and auditory learning styles (for example, by combining text, images and videos). You can use the embed code in online articles and webpages to provide cognitive maps that visualize the flow of information you are discussing. This can help your readers connect the information you are giving them with what they already know. This helps create a deeper learning experience in which people can convert your information into knowledge they can use.

Your blog posts and webpages can appeal to more readers when you use Popplet as a visual thinking tool to represent your content. It is also a great way to break up the text on your page, making readers linger for longer. There is also an aspect of gamification to how they may relate to your webpage when you use the embed code to share your popplet: Readers are motivated to scan your text and look for clues in your popplet that helps them understand your message and link to key points of information you provide through the text on your blog or webpage.

How the embed code works

    1. You can select the embed function from the share button on your popplet board. Click the symbol:

      2. using the embed code starts with clicking on the share button

    2. To embed a popplet, your popplet board must be made public. You will be prompted to do so if it is not already:

      3. to use the embed code, your popplet must be public

    3. Doubleclick on the code in the box “embed it” and select copy (Ctrl+V).

      4. how to use the embed code cut and paste function

    4. Now go to your blog or webpage. Make sure you are in HTML format. Cut and paste the code into the webpage
    5. You can also use a <p align=”center”> before the embed code and </p> afterwards to make sure your popplet is centered between your margins. (We will be exploring more ways to customize your embedded popplet in a future blog post on advanced embed code techniques – subscribe to our blog to make sure you don’t miss out!)
    6. Save your webpage and preview your work. Voila! You have used the embed code to add a great looking popplet to your blog!

    Now, when you update your popplet, it will be automatically updated in your blog page as well.

    Why doesn’t my embed code work?

    Some of the simpler Content Management Systems that allow you to upload blog content do not allow you to embed code on the page. Up until recently, this including Google Sites like Blogger. This was very frustrating for many users who wanted to embed their popplets into their blog. In the last few weeks, we have started to see some embedded popplets working in blogger pages and on Google sites.

    Alternatives to using the embed code

    If your blog site doesn’t allow you to embed code into the pages, you can save the Popplet as a jpeg image and insert it into your blog as a picture. This means people can still see the content, but they cannot navigate around and zoom in and out of your popplet work, as you can do with the embed code approach.

    Please contact us at support@popplet.com if you are having difficulties using the embed codes with your website or blog.

    Have you used the embed code to share your popplet in a blog or website? Share the address in our comments or tweet us! We’ll profile examples of your work with our readers in future blog posts.