Always wanted an online tool that creates cool graphs after seeing how Kathy Sierra used them effectively to enhance her blog posts.
Thanks to Steve Dembo I’ve now found Crappy Graph — excellent for creating quick, easy graphs. Below is the Crappy Graph I created (one handed while drying my hair) titled the Web 2.0 Technology curve.
As Steve Dembo says “Without a doubt, there’s no better way to grab someone’s attention than by incorporating an image that piques one’s curiosity.” Creating your own graphs is a fantastic addition to the options for adding images to post.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you know of any other online graph creators can you please share them — would love to test them out. Would also love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how you might use them with students or in blog posts.
UPDATE: I accidentally used the wrong name for Crappy Graphs when I wrote this post. Changing the p’s to b’s the tool was renamed Crabby Graphs. Thankfully Christa Allen noticed it so I could make the changes.
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I just checked out crappygraph. Its really awesome.
NUMZ is the best site to share
WELCOME TO NUMZ ZONE
@Larry Definitely really easy to use. Thanks for the extra links to graphs. Have to say they also look hard for me 🙂
@Gail P Jessica’s graphs look so cool and I feel more graph envy happening. Wonder how she creates them?
@Janzalone Totally know the feeling. Every time I feel like I’m more comfortable I learn something new. Like just the other day I realised that I could create groups in Gmail — how did I not notice that? Look forward to seeing how your teachers go with it.
@Donna B Thanks for GraphJam. I followed up with a post on using it because I thought it would be good for educators who want to create equations. Your wiki is excellent. I spent a bit of time checking it all out.
@Jerry Swiatek Thanks for the link to Create-a-graph. They are really easy to use and had a bit of fun trying them out. Although I’m now considering that I may need therapy for my graphing addiction.
I’ve found the Create-a-Graph tool from the National Center for Education Statistics located at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createAGraph/ to be a good site for creating different types of graphs. The graphs are fairly easy to create and once created, the graphs can be printed, downloaded, or emailed. Students and faculty have used this one in my school and have had some success with it.
For “fun” graphs try GraphJam:
http://graphjam.com/
Create pie charts and Venn diagrams (line graphs and bar graphs coming soon.) Examples will get your creative juices going and tickle your funny bone, too.
See more graphing and charting tools at the WebTools4U2Use wiki:
http://tinyurl.com/3u5keh
@Sue
Thanks for the great post! I swear just when I feel like I can get comfortable and can relax, I get sucked back in!! I can see this chart tool integrated into all types of content areas (other than math!)…With standardized test score improvement being shoved down our throats here in the US, our school has the kids graph their understanding and effort (similar to how you did) after reviewing the tests, then write about it and set goals. This would be a great thing for the teachers to assign the kids to do on thier own and post to the teacher’s blog…
I can also see this being a great closure activity for tech trainings I do for teachers in my district.
Thanks again!!
@Gail
Thanks for the blog recommendation…Jessica’s site is a crack up…
Somehow through twitter I discovered Jessica Hagy and her index cards of humor and wisdom. She comes to mind after reading your post on graphic representation of thinking. Interested folks can find her at jessicahagy on Twitter and her blog http://thisisindexed.com/category/consumption/
Sue,
This is a neat find. It’s clearly the most accessible way I’ve seen to create online charts.
There are actually quite a few web tools that let you make charts and graphs, like:
http://charts.hohli.com/
http://www.onlinecharttool.com/
However, they are all FAR too complicated for me to figure out.
Larry