What Whimsical does

Whimsical is a digital workspace designed to facilitate visual thinking and collaboration. It provides a range of tools such as flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps, and sticky notes. These tools allow teachers to create engaging, visual content for their lessons. Whimsical also promotes real-time collaboration, enabling teachers and students to work together on a single document. This makes it ideal for group projects and interactive learning. Whimsical also offers a variety of customizable templates to suit different needs, making it adaptable to various teaching styles and subjects.

Key features for teachers

Whimsical offers several features that can be beneficial for teachers:

• Boards: Whimsical combines different methods of visual thinking on an infinite canvas, known as Boards. These methods include diagramming, whiteboarding, and more, allowing teachers to visually represent complex ideas and concepts.
• Docs: Whimsical offers Docs, which are ideal for combining written and visual content in an engaging, easy-to-read document-style format. This feature can be particularly useful for teachers when creating lesson plans or instructional materials.
• Collaborative Work: Whimsical supports collaborative work, making it an excellent tool for group projects or team-based activities in the classroom. Teachers can invite their students to collaborate on Whimsical files, fostering a more interactive and participatory learning environment.
• Education Plan: Whimsical offers an education plan that allows teachers and students to use the platform free of charge, making it a cost-effective tool for educational institutions.
• AI-powered suggestions for Mind Maps: This feature helps users generate new ideas instantly, aiding in overcoming mental blocks during brainstorming sessions.
• Text-to-Flowchart feature: This tool allows users to translate their ideas into flowcharts in seconds. It can be used to create user flows, share process flows and concepts, and guide thinking to find solutions.
• AI-assisted mind mapping: This feature helps with brainstorming by providing inspiration and ideas in seconds.

Potential classroom applications

• Lesson Planning: Teachers can use Whimsical's mind maps and flowcharts to plan lessons and visualize the progression of topics throughout the semester.
• Interactive Learning: Whimsical's real-time collaboration feature allows students to work together on group projects, fostering teamwork and interactive learning.
• Visualizing Concepts: Complex concepts can be broken down and visualized using flowcharts or mind maps, aiding in comprehension and retention.
• Brainstorming Sessions: Sticky notes can be used for brainstorming sessions, allowing students to contribute their ideas and see the collective thoughts of the class.
• Presentations: Students can create visually engaging presentations using Whimsical's wireframes.
• Feedback and Revision: Teachers can provide feedback directly on students' work in Whimsical, making the revision process more efficient.
• Story Mapping: In subjects like literature, students can use Whimsical to create story maps, outlining plot points and character development.

Pricing

Whimsical offers three different pricing plans: Starter (free), Pro ($12 per editor/month or $10 per editor/month when billed annually), and Org ($20 per editor/month when billed annually). However, Whimsical is free of charge for educational use, making it a cost-effective tool for teachers and students.