Friday, December 07, 2007

FreeMind Trouble Shooting

Hello there all,

Sorry if I didn’t answer your comments on e-tivity 9, but for some unknown reason, Blogger wasn’t sending the comments as it usually does :-( Anway, here I am with a trouble-shooting post about FreeMind. But do remember, it’s optional, not compulsory, for e-tivity 9. The aim of the task is for you to reflect on your learning - that's what I'm interested in, not the technology at this point.

First of all, don’t worry, sourceforge is a very reliable source.

If you’re having trouble downloading, from the downloading page you can choose a different location, e.g. Bologna, Italy. This might (or might not) speed up the downloading process. Note that once you’ve downloaded it, if it’s like the one I downloaded, it’s a zip file and you’ll have to extract the files first. Once you’ve extracted them, installation should start.

But first, let’s look at the system requirements because there’s no point in installing software that can’t run on your computer.

· As far as the Java script is concerned, if you go here you can find the 1.4 version specifically requested by FreeMind. Otherwise, go here and find the latest version. Note that the site says to restart your browser once you have installed it (it may even be worth restarting your computer). Click here for a little useful information about Java :-).

· About 13MB of Hard Disk space for the full version, including all the plug-ins.

· At least 512MB of Memory.

To find out about your hard disk space and memory, click on ‘risorse del computer’, right click on your mouse, and choose ‘proprietà’. This should take you to ‘proprietà del sistema’ where you can find this information.

Linking it to your blog.

As I believe you all know, a wiki is a webpage that can be edited by anyone. The FreeMind website is a wiki, so you can edit it and add your mindmap to the Mindmap Gallery. I’d put them under the English-Educational category. But first, upload your mindmap to the wiki. Click here to do that. Click on the edit button. As usual, you will have to login (use whatever name and password you want, but as usual, if you use the same one, it’s easier to remember!). Go through the process and it will welcome you. Go back to the English-Educational category and click on edit again. Click here to find out how to embed them OR just take a look at what Martina did last year and do the same thing ;-) When you click on save, your link should appear and you can link this to your blog.

OR

If you haven’t got the time or desire, do it on paper, take a digital picture and upload it to your blog (or upload it to Flickr and then to your blog). Flexibility, that’s what finding a solution is all about.

I hope some of this helps. Feel free to write questions as comments to this post now.

Sarah

17 comments:

Alessandra said...

Hi everyone,
my name's Alessandra and I took Sarah's course last year. I'm here because Martina Torresan left a comment on my blog and I was curious to see how you were doing. Well, it seems you're doing very well--better than how we did last spring!

I found the PLE e-tivity to be the most difficult one, probably because it's not so easy to understand what it is all about. And I didn't want to download another program to my computer (which is my dad's, rather than my own) so I did the mindmap on paper, but I didn't have a digital camera to take a picture, either.

Now I'm experimenting with mindmaps again, and I've found MindMeister, a website which allows you to create, host, and publish mindmaps without the need to download a program. You need to sign up for a basic/free account, and then you can find a tutorial video explaining how to get started.

Just a suggestion... coming a bit late, maybe. Good luck with your PLE!

Elena B said...

Dear Sarah,
I just want to tell you I can't come to our Englsh lesson neither tomorrow afternoon nor Wednesday afternoon in the lab because I'll work. Anyway, I created my PLE mind map and I uploaded it in my personal blog. In the next days, I'll tried to upload my map also in the wiki.
See you soon,
Elena

tortina84 said...

Dear Sarah,
like Elenab, I can't come to our lessons this week: today I have a visit and on Wednesday I start working (I'm going to give private lessons in a private school). Anyway, I did my PLE and I published it in Wiki as well.

See you soon,
Martina

Letizia said...

Hi Sarah,
I just want to tell you that this week I can't come to our lessons. Today afternoon I have to accompany my old grandmother to the hospital for a visit and on Wednesday I have an exam.
Anyway, I'll published the post with my PLE on my blog.

See you soon,
Letizia

Camilla said...

Hi Sarah!
How are you?
I'm not so fine as I would! Unfortunately today I cannot come to lesson because I'm ill, I've got flu, but I'll manage to do my best to come to lesson on Wednesday, so that I'll be able to do my mind map presentation. However, if you want you can have a look at it on my blog, I did it in paper, took a photo and uploaded it to my blog. Actually I'm not so fond with technologies, and I don't have broadband, so that it takes hours and hours to me to download a program!
See you on Wednesday!
Camilla

Laura Zock said...

Hi Sarah!
Unfortunately this week Valentina Mioni and me are not in Italy...we are on a trip in Vienna...Christmas markets are so nice!
We are really sorry!
C u!
Laura

Silvia Nicolini said...

Hello Sarah,
I'm sorry but today I can't come to lesson because I've caught flu (as all of my family have!) and on Wednesday afternoon I have an exam. However, I've just posted the e-tivity on my blog and I'm trying to upload my mindmap to the wiki as well.
See you soon!
Silvia

alessia f. said...

Dear Mrs Guth,
I'm writing you because unfortunately I can't enjoy our last lessons before Christmas: I have a very bad flu with a high temperature. I'm really sorry! I posted my PLE on my blog and I hope you'll find it fine.
I'm glad to wish you a Merry Christmas!
bye bye

alessia ferrara

Sarah said...

Well everyone, I'm beginning to wonder if these absences are due to the fact that you have to present ;-) But don't worry - we'll find an opportunity for those who miss out to make up for it later on!

I'll be in touch (look out for the blog post) and let you know what that will be.

For all of you who are sick - get better soon! I myself am suffering from a bad cold, cough, runny nose, etc. I think we all need a break :-)

Sarah

ElenaCosta said...

Hi Sarah!
I'm really sorry that such a lot of people can't come today and I'm one of them unfortunately: I have to go to the dentist, not a great fun! You can have a look at my PLE on my blog.
See you on Wednesday,
Elena

elisac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
elisac said...

Dear Sarah,
today I can't attend your lesson because I've got flu. I hope to feel better and be able to come on Wednesday to discuss my mindmap (I posted it on my blog), I know how important it is to see what the other students do to learn languages. However, if I can't come on Wednesday can I write a comment on what the members of my group have done? I would like to complete e-tivity 9 and have the same amount of work of the others even if it is not the same thing or having an opportunity later as you said. I sent you an e-mail this morning saying you the same thing.
Hoping to come,
see you soon,
Elisa Caramori

Elena B said...

I'm sorry.. I've just read the comment I sent to this post. I realized that there are at least two basic grammar mistakes in a few lines. Shame in me! Sorry but I was in a hurry while writing it and I didn't think a lot about what I was writing....

Anna B said...

Dear Sarah, unfortunately our teacher has changed the day of the last lesson of her German course (see here).
Can I do my presentation at the beginning of Wednesday lesson please, so that I can attend to both lessons?
Thank you very much!

Anna B

Anna B said...

I'm sorry, the link doesn't seem to work... This is the complete URL! http://www.lettere.unipd.it/infolettere/pub/docente_public.php?doc=620

Thank you

Anna B

Eva said...

Hi Sarah,
Katja and me have a compulsory lesson tomorrow at 14.30. Usually, this lesson starts at 16.30 but today our professor told us that tomorrow it will start at 14.30. I know it all looks very suspicious, but we really found this out just 2 hours ago. This course is very important for us as Erasmus students, because we have it in our Learning Agreement and we have to pass the exam if we want to keep the scholarship. So, we can't come to your class tomorrow. We are really sorry! We swear we didn't do it on purpose. You can check here which course I am talking about: http://www.lettere.unipd.it/infolettere/pub/infocom_view.php?id=25614

Bye!
Katja & Eva

monica said...

Dear Sarah,
I'm sorry but I can't come to the lesson today because I have an exam tomorrow. Anyway, I completed the activity9. Don't worry the absence is not due to the fact that we have to present our PLE. I'm glad to present it later, if this is possible!
Thank yu
Bye