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Freeplane is a FOSS application that can be used to create concept maps; this toolkit will introduce you to use of Free plane and various functionalities.   

Freeplane is a FOSS application that can be used to create concept maps; this toolkit will introduce you to use of Free plane and various functionalities.   

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![[File:COL_-_Opening_Freeplane.png|thumb|450x450px|Open Freeplane|left]]

![[File:COL_-_Opening_Freeplane.png|thumb|450x450px|Open Freeplane|left]]

![[File:Conceptmap1.png|450x450px|thumb|Creating a concept map using Freeplane]]

![[File:Conceptmap1.png|450x450px|thumb|Creating a concept map using Freeplane]]

==== Inserting nodes ====

==== Inserting nodes ====

To learn working with Freeplane, we will start creating a concept map for Digital Story Telling; you will see above that Freeplane has opened a window with a box with text "New mindmap".  This node, also called the "root node" will contain the core idea/ theme of the resource.  Additional ideas are added by adding more nodes, called child nodes.  The concept map gets built by adding further child nodes, for topics and sub-topics.  Use the ‘insert’ key to create a ‘child node’ this is a sub-concept of your current concept. Use the ‘enter’ key to create a ‘sibling’ this is a parallel concept to your current concept. Thus you can create a concept map with knowing just two functions – add child node (insert) and add sibling node (enter).

To learn working with Freeplane, we will start creating a concept map for Digital Story Telling; you will see above that Freeplane has opened a window with a box with text "New mindmap".  This node, also called the "root node" will contain the core idea/ theme of the resource.  Additional ideas are added by adding more nodes, called child nodes.  The concept map gets built by adding further child nodes, for topics and sub-topics.  Use the ‘insert’ key to create a ‘child node’ this is a sub-concept of your current concept. Use the ‘enter’ key to create a ‘sibling’ this is a parallel concept to your current concept. Thus you can create a concept map with knowing just two functions – add child node (insert) and add sibling node (enter).

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|[[File:Conceptmap2.png|left|thumb|450x450px|Creating the node tree for a concept map]]

|[[File:Conceptmap2.png|left|thumb|450x450px|Creating the node tree for a concept map]]

|[[File:COL_-_Concept_Map_on_DST.png|thumb|450x450px|Concept map on digital story telling, after all nodes are created]]  

|[[File:COL_-_Concept_Map_on_DST.png|thumb|450x450px|Concept map on digital story telling, after all nodes are created]]  

Did you notice the red arrow in the root node of our concept map?  This main node has a hyper-link which opens the wikipedia page on DST.  You can embed a hyper-link on a node, such that clicking that node will open a page on the Internet or a file on your computer. This connects a node on your map to related resources you may want the reader to access.

Did you notice the red arrow in the root node of our concept map?  This main node has a hyper-link which opens the wikipedia page on DST.  You can embed a hyper-link on a node, such that clicking that node will open a page on the Internet or a file on your computer. This connects a node on your map to related resources you may want the reader to access.

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|[[File:COL_-_Type_the_hyperlink_in_Concept_map.png|left|450x450px|Inserting hyper-link in a concept map|thumb]]

|[[File:COL_-_Type_the_hyperlink_in_Concept_map.png|left|450x450px|Inserting hyper-link in a concept map|thumb]]

|[[File:COL_Freeplane_concept_map_on_DST.png|thumb|450x450px|Concept map with the hyper-link (pink arrow)]]

|[[File:COL_Freeplane_concept_map_on_DST.png|thumb|450x450px|Concept map with the hyper-link (pink arrow)]]

By default your concept map is saved by Freeplane as a '.mm' format file. However, the concept map can be saved in many other formats. You can export the map to a text document file (in .odt or .doc formats). You can also export the map as an image (in .png or .jpeg formats) or as a web page (in .html format).  We will discuss how you can use this image or html pages in the subsequent chapters. The images below show you how to save and export concept maps in Freeplane.

By default your concept map is saved by Freeplane as a '.mm' format file. However, the concept map can be saved in many other formats. You can export the map to a text document file (in .odt or .doc formats). You can also export the map as an image (in .png or .jpeg formats) or as a web page (in .html format).  We will discuss how you can use this image or html pages in the subsequent chapters. The images below show you how to save and export concept maps in Freeplane.

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|[[File:COL-saving_freeplane.png|thumb|450x450px|Saving a concept map in Freeplane|left]]

|[[File:COL-saving_freeplane.png|thumb|450x450px|Saving a concept map in Freeplane|left]]

Open LibreOffice Writer on your computer, through <u>Applications → Office – LibreOffice Writer.</u>

Open LibreOffice Writer on your computer, through <u>Applications → Office – LibreOffice Writer.</u>

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|[[File:COL_-_Opening_LibreOffice_Writer.png|thumb|459x459px|Opening Libreoffice Writer|left]]

|[[File:COL_-_Opening_LibreOffice_Writer.png|thumb|459x459px|Opening Libreoffice Writer|left]]

|[[File:LOWriter1.png|thumb|450x450px|Creating and saving a new text document]]

|[[File:LOWriter1.png|thumb|450x450px|Creating and saving a new text document]]

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You should create a ‘new’ document, giving the title as the topic name of your OER. We have created a document called- ‘Learning Digital Story Telling’ and this is saved in the personal digital library folder. You should save this document, on your folder created for your personal digital library. Saving this document, creates a text document “Learning Digital Story Telling.odt” where odt stands for Open Document Text.  The concept map that you have prepared for your topic can give you a plan for writing the text document. You will also refer to the OER text resources from Wikipedia and other sites for your topic that you have searched.

You should create a ‘new’ document, giving the title as the topic name of your OER. We have created a document called- ‘Learning Digital Story Telling’ and this is saved in the personal digital library folder. You should save this document, on your folder created for your personal digital library. Saving this document, creates a text document “Learning Digital Story Telling.odt” where odt stands for Open Document Text.  The concept map that you have prepared for your topic can give you a plan for writing the text document. You will also refer to the OER text resources from Wikipedia and other sites for your topic that you have searched.

[[File:COL_-_Creating_a_text_document_on_'Learning_Digital_Story_Telling'.png|thumb|450x450px|Creating a text document on 'Learning Digital Story Telling'|left]]

[[File:COL_-_Creating_a_text_document_on_'Learning_Digital_Story_Telling'.png|thumb|450x450px|Creating a text document on 'Learning Digital Story Telling'|left]]

You can format your text in many ways either through <u>Format--->Text</u> or <u>Format--->Character</u> or by changing the parameters on the tool bar.  Click on the Format menu option of LibreOffice Writer to see the options. Commonly used formatting includes selecting text to highlight it through the ‘bold’ ‘italic’ or ‘underline’ functions, changing the font color or size and adding text highlighting.  All these functionalities are also available on the tool bar.

You can format your text in many ways either through <u>Format--->Text</u> or <u>Format--->Character</u> or by changing the parameters on the tool bar.  Click on the Format menu option of LibreOffice Writer to see the options. Commonly used formatting includes selecting text to highlight it through the ‘bold’ ‘italic’ or ‘underline’ functions, changing the font color or size and adding text highlighting.  All these functionalities are also available on the tool bar.

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|[[File:LOWriter2.png|left|thumb|450x450px|Formatting text using Format--->Text]]

|[[File:LOWriter2.png|left|thumb|450x450px|Formatting text using Format--->Text]]

|[[File:LOWriter3.png|thumb|450x450px|Formatting text using Format--->Character]]

|[[File:LOWriter3.png|thumb|450x450px|Formatting text using Format--->Character]]

Here we will take a section from our document and format to make it bold, italicized or underlined.  Remember to select the text before clicking on these options.

Here we will take a section from our document and format to make it bold, italicized or underlined.  Remember to select the text before clicking on these options.

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|[[File:COL_-_Formating_text_by_highlighting_using_LOW.png|thumb|450x450px|Selecting text to format|left]]

|[[File:COL_-_Formating_text_by_highlighting_using_LOW.png|thumb|450x450px|Selecting text to format|left]]

|[[File:COL_-_Text_highlighted_(bold)_using_LOW.png|thumb|450x450px|Selected text formatted (bold)]]

|[[File:COL_-_Text_highlighted_(bold)_using_LOW.png|thumb|450x450px|Selected text formatted (bold)]]