Help being creative with an assignment?

Hello!

WORD for Windows has a special feature under their "Insert" menu... it's called "SmartArt". See if you like any of their templates to create your concept map. You are able to change shapes and colors to each element if you so choose.

BUT... in all honesty... when I had to my concept mapping, I ran out of patience with this and ended up doing it by hand. Perhaps you're more savy when using these tools.

Good luck!

Can you do a progressive overlay? This is a hold-over from the ancient days of overhead transparencies.

If you're using PowerPoint or other 'slide' type software: You start with a picture (screen) with the basics & add more details with each progressive screen. The original images/text can be lightened as you go along, so that the more recent ones are more evident as the original ones appear to recede into the background. Another way to use this technique is to use the 'foreground' color only for the topic you are currently discussing & background (fade) colors for everything else.

Another great technique is to incorporate roll-overs. Images/text only appear when you place your mouse on a specific area. This keeps the screen relatively uncluttered because your details are only visible in the roll-overs. You can create these with many types of software. Unfortunately, PowerPoint doesn't have this feature yet, but you could create the rollovers as separate animations and embed them into your screen... only appear when you click on them.

Keep in mind that you can animate elements on the screen in PowerPoint by using 'transitions' to make elements appear and disappear on your screen. They can be either triggered manually or automatically (by adjusting the timing on the properties). You can also insert hyperlinks that automatically open a second screen where everything is exactly the same except for one new element - the additional information - and hyperlink right back to the first screen afterward. This can create a fake roll-over effect.

Have fun!

If you're a smart APPLE user (see my avatar to the left-- the "bite" is a silhouette of Steve Jobs)), you can do this with ease with Keynote. It's waaaaay easier than PowerPoint and the whole office suite costs a whole $79 including Pages (better than Word) and Numbers (better than Excel).