Using visuals and visual thinking strategies in class has a multitude of benefits. It can support understanding, aid memory, enhance learner engagement, and make lessons accessible to all.

Visual thinking strategies include:

• mind maps
• graphic organizers
• sketchnotes
• diagrams
• images
• visual storytelling

You can use these techniques to simplify complex information, guide conversations, activate schemata, and help students to understand and process their learning.

If you’re looking for examples, I’ve written loads of blog posts for Ellii sharing super simple, minimal preparation visual thinking activities. You can check them out on the Ellii blog here. 

In this post, I would like to share some of my favorite digital tools for visual thinking activities. These can be used in various ways in both online and face-to-face classes. 

Canva, Miro & Mural

I can’t tell you how much I love Canva. It is a free design tool, but if you upgrade to a paid plan, you'll get more access to its bank of stock images, icons, videos, and audio.  

You can use it to:

• create and deliver presentations
• develop resources
• edit videos
• make social posts such as Instagram reels
• use mind maps and graphic organizers

The tool I love most on Canva is the whiteboard. Like many teachers, I was devastated when Google announced the end of Jamboard. It was fantastic for creating visual and interactive activities for online classes.

After the announcement, I looked around for other tools. Miro and Mural are fantastic online whiteboards. As with Canva, they let you share access to the whiteboard via Weblink. This allows you collaborate with learners in real time or gives them access to class content whenever they need it. 

Miro, Mural, and Canva also let you:

• draw
• use their pre-made templates
• create your own mind maps, graphic organizers, and visual stories
• use virtual "sticky notes" 
• add text, images, icons, videos, etc.
• upload your own images, PDFs, and audiovisual files

For me, Canva whiteboard wins because it can do all the extra things like create videos, social posts, and PDF resource packs.

Annotation tools in Zoom

Annotation tools in Zoom are so much fun and can bring any online class or webinar to life. They are a great way to engage learners and course participants.

If you share your screen in Zoom, your learners will see a green bar saying "You are viewing [your name]’s screen." They’ll see a drop-down menu. If they click it, they will be able to add text, icons, and doodles directly onto the zoom screen.

I love doing this with visual templates, images, tables, or graphic organizers. It’s a great way to have students share their ideas, give feedback, or cast their votes.

Ellii’s Photo Prompts are perfect for some interactive annotation fun. Share your screen to display the image and then have students add text to:

• brainstorm useful vocabulary
• suggest what people are thinking
• write a caption

These tools can be more interactive and engaging than simply using the chat function. However, if learners are unfamiliar with Zoom, you might want to get them confident with simple features such as chat before teaching them to use annotation tools. 

CamScanner

People often ask me how I digitize my paper-based drawings and sketchnotes to make them so white and shiny. My secret is CamScanner and its Magic Color function. 

Here is a sketchnote I did on a paper notepad and then took a photo. You’ll notice there are shadows and it is a bit gray.

Here is a sketchnote I did on paper and then used CamScanner's Magic Color function. You’ll see it is much cleaner, brighter, and whiter.

CamScanner is a free app, though it does have lots of advertisements until you upgrade to a paid plan. I find the ads quite tolerable though. You can save and share files as JPEGs or PDFs.

It is perfect for taking photos of your doodles or hand-drawn infographics. You can also use it to capture students’ work, such as their posters, mind maps, sketchnotes, graphic organizers, or writing.

Adobe Fresco

If you want a superclean look for your sketchnotes, doodles, or hand-drawn visual thinking activities, Adobe Fresco is a good place to start. It is a much simpler digital drawing tool to use than Illustrator or Photoshop. For Apple users, I’ve heard Procreate is great, though I’ve never used it. 

Here’s a sketchnote I created in Fresco for ElliiCon 2023. You’ll notice it is super shiny and bright:

Visualizers

A visualizer is essentially a 21st-century overhead projector! It acts like a webcam that can be pointed at various objects to stream to your computer.

Visualizers are brilliant for online classes as they turn your desktop and notepad into a whiteboard. I love using them to draw and tell visual stories.

In this story, "Stan’s Lunch," I doodle words with simple phonics sounds: SATPIN. You can view it here.

For a more detailed demonstration on how to use these tools, check out these videos. 

What are your favorite digital tools? Have you tried any of these? We’d love to know.