Dr. Toy Recommends Inspiration 9 and Kidspiration 3 as Great Tools for Learning on Summer Vacation
Childhood Specialist Names Visual Learning Tools as Best Vacation Products for Second Consecutive Year
PORTLAND, Ore. – June 8, 2011
Dr. Toy, a noted child development authority, named Inspiration® 9 and Kidspiration® 3 to her list of “Best Vacation Children’s Products” for the second consecutive year. Created for learners ages 10 and up, Inspiration 9 is the ultimate thinking and learning tool to comprehend, create, communicate and achieve more. Kidspiration 3 is the visual way for young learners ages 4 to 9 to explore and understand words, numbers and concepts.
Steveanne Auerbach, Ph.D., (a.k.a. Dr. Toy) has been a childhood specialist for more than 40 years, and her website, Dr. Toy’s Guide, was the first to evaluate toys and children’s products. The Best Children’s Vacation Products list recognizes innovative products that will help children play and learn at home and while on vacation. They are evaluated for safety, age-appropriateness, design, durability, lasting play value, cultural and ethnic diversity, good transition from home to school, educational value, learning skills, creativity, improvement in the understanding of the community and the world, value for the price and, naturally, fun.
"Our list of best vacation products provides parents with a valuable, free resource for finding fun, engaging products that will keep their children learning over the summer," said Dr. Toy. "Among the best in the educational software world, Inspiration and Kidspiration are great tools for stimulating children's creativity and building their writing and critical-thinking skills this summer, both at home or while traveling."
By representing ideas visually with Inspiration 9, learners can express their creativity, develop new ideas, plan and organize projects and develop clearly written stories and papers. They can also add multimedia impact and personalize their projects by including videos, sound and photos to their projects, and perhaps create a great "what I did on my summer vacation" presentation for back-to-school or explore a topic of personal interest, such as music or creative writing.
This summer, young learners can use Kidspiration supports to strengthen reading and writing skills, build conceptual understanding in math and develop thinking skills across the curriculum. Visually combining pictures, text and spoken words engage children in learning as they build word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written expression. With the visual math tools in Kidspiration, children grow math skills and understand key math concepts. Ready-made activities available in Kidspiration help students explore and develop their thinking skills.
"It is a great honor to have Dr. Toy name Inspiration and Kidspiration to her list of best vacation products for the second year in a row," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "When kids spend time in the summer using our visual software tools for personal projects and creative play, their thinking skills stay actively engaged, and they are ready to hit the ground running when school starts in the fall."
Inspiration Software Announces New Webspiration Classroom Allied Sales Partner
Educators Can Turn to Strategic Transitions in Canada, Learning Services and Software Express in the U.S. for Sales and Support of New Online Writing, Visual Thinking and Collaboration Tool
PORTLAND, Ore. – June 1, 2011
As schools and districts rapidly discover how Webspiration Classroom™ improves writing and thinking skills, Inspiration® Software, Inc., today announced Strategic Transitions Inc. as the exclusive Canadian Allied Sales Partner for its new online writing, visual thinking and collaboration tool for students and teachers. The company joins two other long-term Inspiration Software Certified Dealers, Learning Services and Software Express, the official sales partners for Webspiration Classroom in the United States.
Inspiration Software Allied Sales Partners support the evaluation, purchase and implementation of Webspiration Classroom by offering high levels of knowledge about the service, as well as personalized attention. Allied Sales Partners work closely with schools and districts to provide demonstrations, informational webinars and needs analysis to identify the solutions that fit their needs and support them through the subscription sign-up process.
"We are proud to name our long-term partners in the educational software community as our official Allied Sales Partners for Webspiration Classroom," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "Strategic Transitions, Learning Services and Software Express each bring expertise in the ways that Webspiration Classroom can support the development of visual thinking and collaboration skills. They will work closely with educators to ensure that they receive outstanding guidance as they evaluate, purchase and implement our online writing visual thinking and collaboration tool with their students."
With Webspiration Classroom, students use proven visual thinking and outlining techniques to brainstorm ideas, gather and organize information, build comprehension and develop written essays, papers and reports. Collaboration tools allow students to work with their classmates and teachers to create a collective knowledge and develop a stronger understanding of the concepts they are learning.
With online 24-7 access, students conveniently extend their opportunities for learning to develop their thinking and writing skills. All Webspiration Classroom documents are automatically saved and backed up in the cloud, giving students and teachers reliable access to an engaging and safe online environment for learning, sharing and collaborating. Students can sign in from school, home, the library – anywhere they have Internet access – to do their assignments and develop group projects. They can invite their classmates and teachers to review their work, as well as to provide their own feedback on other students’ projects. Assignments can be delivered, revised, evaluated and returned online, keeping work accessible and organized. This streamlined work process between teachers and students increases instructional time and keep students focused on learning.
Webspiration Classroom is available as a subscription for schools, classrooms and individual educators. Every Webspiration Classroom subscription includes unlimited documents, unlimited collaboration and anytime, anywhere access. Account subscriptions include access to online support materials, including lesson plans, examples, student resources, a Quick Start Guide, online how-to video tutorials and a Help Center, which allow students and teachers to take full advantage of Webspiration Classroom's capabilities. School and classroom subscriptions include implementation tips and administration utilities that make multiple account setup and management simple, from one centralized location.
Webspiration Classroom Takes Top Honors in the 17th Annual Best Educational Software Awards
Inspiration Software's New Online Writing, Visual Thinking and Collaboration Tool Recognized for Helping Students Improve Writing and Thinking Skills
PORTLAND, Ore. – April 13, 2011
Webspiration Classroom™, Inspiration® Software, Inc.'s new online writing, visual thinking and collaboration tool for students and teachers, is a winner in the 17th Annual Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Awards, sponsored by ComputED Learning Center, San Diego's leading computer education resource. This honor is the first award for the newest member of Inspiration Software's family of visual thinking and learning tools, which was launched less than three months ago. The BESSIE Awards target innovative and content-rich programs and websites that provide parents and teachers with technology to foster educational excellence.
Honored in the BESSIE Awards "Thinking Skills" category for high school students, Webspiration Classroom combines the power of visual thinking with innovative collaboration tools, offering students and teachers 24/7 access to an online environment where they can work independently, with their peers and in groups, to develop and strengthen their writing and thinking skills.
"In just the few weeks since the launch of Webspiration Classroom, educators from around the country are already sharing with us the ways that collaborating in the cloud is helping their students build critical thinking and writing skills," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "It is exciting for our new online visual thinking tool to so quickly earn this recognition from the education community."
With Webspiration Classroom, students use visual thinking and outlining techniques to build writing skills and analyze, synthesize and comprehend information anytime, anywhere. With 24/7 access, students can apply proven learning methods such as webbing, concept mapping and graphic organizers at school, at home or anywhere they have access to the Internet, extending their learning time to develop their thinking and writing skills.
With Webspiration Classroom's collaboration tools, students work with their classmates and teachers to create a collective knowledge and develop a stronger understanding of the concepts they are learning. Students actively engage in learning as they collaborate on group projects, share documents for peer review and receive guidance from teachers throughout the entire learning process. Webspiration Classroom incorporates everyone's contributions and feedback in one document, keeping the process organized as students produce and publish their work.
All Webspiration Classroom documents are automatically saved and backed up in the cloud, giving students and teachers 24/7 access to an engaging, safe and reliable online environment for learning, sharing and collaboration. Students can sign in from school, home, the library – anywhere they have Internet access – to work on their assignments and develop group projects. Students can invite each other as well as their teachers to review work and provide feedback on projects. Assignments can be delivered, revised, evaluated and returned online, keeping work accessible and organized. This streamlined work process between teachers and students increases instructional time and keeps students focused on learning.
Webspiration Classroom is available in one-, two- and three-year subscriptions in packages designed for both classrooms and individual educators. Every Webspiration Classroom subscription includes unlimited documents, unlimited collaboration, and anytime, anywhere access. Account subscriptions include access to online support materials, including lesson plans, examples, student resources, a Quick Start Guide, online how-to video tutorials, a Help Center and implementation tools, which allow students and teachers to take full advantage of Webspiration Classroom's capabilities.
Inspiration Software Launches WebspirationPRO, Online Service for Brainstorming, Visual Thinking, Outlining and Collaboration
Debut of Cloud Computing Productivity Tool Marks End of Successful Three-Year Beta Program
PORTLAND, Ore. – April 11, 2011
Inspiration® Software, Inc., today announced the launch of WebspirationPRO™, a cloud-computing productivity tool for brainstorming, visual thinking, outlining and collaboration. This online tool is now available to business professionals and college students on a subscription basis.
"During the three-year beta test of Webspiration, hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic users from around the world provided us with valuable insights into the capabilities that would best support them as they brainstorm ideas, visualize concepts, organize information, and write and collaborate with others anytime, anywhere," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "The debut of WebspirationPRO is the culmination of that successful online beta process."
WebspirationPRO offers business professionals and college students:
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Visual mapping capabilities to capture brainstormed ideas and other information
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A place to easily organize information and collaborate with others
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A way to easily brainstorm ideas, visualize concepts, organize information and collaborate with others 24/7 with access to the documents needed for work, meetings, studies and more while on the go
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Complimentary online storage to keep important documents in one reliable and easily accessible place
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Free updates to ensure the most up-to-date software access
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Resources to support personal and professional productivity
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Online help and by-phone technical support Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time
More than 200,000 users participated in the Webspiration® beta program, providing feedback that informed the development of this cloud-computing tool for writing, planning, studying and more. As a special thank-you to beta testers who convert their Webspiration beta accounts to WebspirationPRO before April 30, 2011, individual subscription accounts are available at up to a 75 percent discount, for just $9.99 for one year or $19.99 for two years. Webspiration beta account holders can get this discount by using the coupon code BETA at checkout in the online
WebspirationPRO store.
Under regular pricing, WebspirationPRO subscriptions are available for $39 per year – just $3.25 per month. To learn more about WebspirationPRO or to sign up for a subscription, go to http://www.webspirationpro.com.
K-12 education customers who participated in the Webspiration beta can now turn to
Webspiration Classroom™ as their in-the-cloud visual learning tool. Designed to meet the unique needs of their audiences, WebspirationPRO and Webspiration Classroom both offer users a dedicated service, reliable support and safe storage for their work, as well as ongoing free updates containing more visual thinking and outlining support and thinking, learning and productivity resources.
K-12 Educators Participating in Webspiration Beta Now Turn to Webspiration Classroom for Writing and Thinking in the Cloud
Public Beta of Online Visual Thinking and Collaboration Tool Coming to a Close
PORTLAND, Ore. – April 4, 2011
Today marks the end of the public beta of Webspiration® from Inspiration® Software, Inc. Now the thousands of K-12 educators and their students who provided feedback that informed the development of the company’s cloud-computing productivity tool for brainstorming, visual thinking and collaboration can turn to Webspiration Classroom™, developed to meet the unique needs of the K-12 learning environment.
Launched in January 2011, Webspiration Classroom combines the power of visual thinking with innovative collaboration tools, offering students 24/7 access to an online environment where they can work independently, with their peers and in groups, and receive guidance from their teachers, to develop and strengthen their writing and thinking skills.
"A key finding of the Webspiration Public Beta was that schools serving grades 5-12 have unique needs when it comes to offering students access to an online thinking and learning tool," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "Based on the feedback of the enthusiastic K-12 educators and students who participated in the beta, we developed Webspiration Classroom to include powerful tools for online collaboration that will support learning, levels of security and access that are important to the school environment, as well as numerous other capabilities that will help students become more engaged learners, build critical-thinking skills and accelerate achievement."
With Webspiration Classroom, students use proven visual thinking and outlining techniques to brainstorm ideas, gather and organize information, build comprehension and develop written essays, papers and reports. Collaboration tools allow students to work with their classmates and teachers to create a collective knowledge and develop a stronger understanding of the concepts they are learning. Students actively engage in learning as they collaborate on group projects, share documents for peer review and receive guidance from teachers throughout the entire learning process. Webspiration Classroom incorporates everyone's contributions and feedback in one document, keeping the process organized as students produce and publish their work.
With online 24/7 access, students conveniently extend their opportunities for learning to develop thinking and writing skills. All Webspiration Classroom documents are automatically saved and backed up in the cloud, giving students and teachers 24/7 access to an engaging, safe and reliable online environment for learning, sharing and collaboration. Students can sign in from school, home, the library – anywhere they have Internet access – to do their assignments and develop group projects. They can invite their classmates and teachers to review their work, as well as to provide their own feedback on other students' projects. Assignments can be delivered, revised, evaluated and returned online, keeping work accessible and organized. This streamlined work process between teachers and students increases instructional time and keeps students focused on learning.
Webspiration Classroom is available in one-, two- and three-year subscriptions in packages designed for both classrooms and individual educators. Every Webspiration Classroom subscription includes unlimited documents, unlimited collaboration and anytime, anywhere access. Account subscriptions include access to online support materials – including lesson plans, examples, student resources, a Quick Start Guide, online how-to video tutorials, a Help Center and implementation tools – which allow students and teachers to take full advantage of Webspiration Classroom's capabilities.
One-year Classroom Subscriptions start at $110 for a 10-pack and significantly lower per-account pricing for larger purchase options. For more information about volume pricing and schoolwide subscriptions, contact Inspiration Software at sales@inspiration.com.
Individual educator subscriptions are $39 for one year, $75 for two years and $110 for three years. A free 30-day trial subscription to Webspiration Classroom is available at http://www.inspiration.com/Freetrial.
For more information about Inspiration Software, visit www.inspiration.com, become a fan on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/InspirationSoftware or follow on Twitter at http://twitter.com/InspirationSW. In addition, educators from around the world can connect and share their passion for learning strategies and education on the company’s blog, Thinkspiration, at www.inspiration.com/blog.
Events and Conferences
Come meet your Inspiration Software team and learn about our products and services, including the new Webspiration Classroom service!
2012 Conferences
Visit us on the road and see our visual thinking and learning tools in action! Or, view our videos and webinars.
TCEA
Booth #2239
February 8th-10th
Austin, TX
ISTE
Booth #2229
June 24th-27th
Sane Diego, CA
