Community reviews for Popplet

The product is very good as a teaching tool because it is very simple but provides the student with a lot of knowledge. Connecting ideas from a main subject allows the student to better understand what they're learning, without having to be lectured by a teacher. The ideas are self driven and keep the students engaged with an entertaining design.

Although Popplet is not a tool that helps teach content, it is a fabulous tool to help students use their creativity to visually share their learning and create multi-media organizers. Popplet can be used cross-curricular, which I believe is always a bonus to have a versatile web-based tool in one’s toolbox! The free version, using the Try It Out mode is plenty for students to be able to create, organize, and re-organize ideas, thoughts, and data. The only negative is that students cannot save a draft and return to work at a later time in the Try It Out mode and the free version limits users to 10 Popplets (but these are savable in draft form). Though, for a minimal yearly fee, Popplet is a tool I would consider purchasing an account for. Finally, Popplets can be saved as .pdf, .jpeg, and .png files, which makes them easily sharable in blogs, websites, newsletters, etc. This feature can really be helpful in generating communication around an organizer a student created, both peer-to-peer and teacher-to-peer.

Overall, this is a great free app to make deep connections to larger topics. Students are able to be creative with the app and use its features to further their understanding of a topic. After students finish creating a Popplet, they are able to export their work so they can print or view it later. I love that this app is easy to use and functions across all grade levels. It is also nice because it can use used on a tablet or a computer. I definitely recommend this app!

Unfortunately, the Terms of Service are nebulous for the under 13 crowd. The terms state: "The Site is not directed to children and children are not eligible to use our Services. Protecting the privacy of children is very important to us. We do not collect or maintain personal information from people we actually know are under 13 years old, and no part of the Site or Services is designed to attract people under 13 years old. By using our Site, You represent that You are at least 13 years old." However, the tool itself seems very geared for students in elementary or middle grades as it isn't sophisticated enough for high school students. The Popplet for Schools area of the site recommends that a teacher or parent create an account, but that is counter to their Terms of Service. In addition to the confusion about student use, it is limited in its language support, offering only Japanese, Korean, and Hebrew. Its simplicity is appealing, but the complexity in terms of use makes it hard to recommend for younger students and classrooms at the elementary level.

My students and I enjoy using this app for presenting information learned.

I just love popplet.com because it allows teachets and students to in a 1: web setting. I have used it as an assessment tool. My students construct popplets to reflect a topic they have chosen and then share it orally with the class.

Students can easily create their own Popplets after a very brief teacher demo. Color coding, image uploading, links and text-sizing enable students to create organized charts for concept review or subject presentation. Instead of handing out a worksheet for students to fill out, students can build their own flowcharts/diagrams using digital resources. This gives students an opportunity to use their design skills, while sorting out their ideas, emphasizing/de-emphasizing connections. Students can also share their Popplets with selected students, assigning them as collaborators. Collaboration is a necessary 21st Century skill.

For simple brainstorming and organization, this is a great tool to use. It would be great if lines between popplets could be arrows.

Overall, Popplet is an engaging and dynamic tool for mind-maps and brainstorming. I love the ability to not only add text, but also videos, images, and websites. Students who are visual learners, who struggle with large amounts of reading/writing, and students who are still learning English are able to grasp concepts because of the visual aspects. Really, it's a great way for students to form relationships among content topics and find ways to think critically about the organization of information. I also like the collaborative options for this site. If students are working in groups, they are easily able to share their content knowledge, examples, websites, and ideas. When students are finished with their Popplet, there are numerous options for sharing. Users can provide a web link (if it's made public), embed the Popplet in a website or blog, and it can also be downloaded as a PDF of .jpg. That makes submitting the finished product rather simple. One aspect I do wish was different was the number of free Popplets students can create. In the free version, students can only create 5 different Popplets before they have to pay or delete some of their work. Overall, Popplet is a great site for changing up how notes, brainstorming, and content-learning can be done in the classroom. My students are engaged and find that using this site, they have a more hands-on way of visualizing and manipulating what they are learning about.

Popplet is a blank slate that has so much potential for students. Once an account is created, students can start creating a graphic organizer/thinking map using the Popplet tools. These include the Popples, which are bubbles students can input text by typing. Popples can also include images, videos, and drawings. Popples can be moved to create a variety of maps. Popplet also has a share feature where users can share their Popplet with someone else and collaborate on the same project.