Inspiration Software

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Inspiration Software, Inc. develops and publishes visual learning software for educators, students and business professionals. Visual learning is the use of graphic organizers--such as diagrams, webs and concept maps--to visually represent ideas and their relationships. Research in both educational theory and cognitive psychology indicates that visual learning is among the very best methods for teaching students of all ages how to improve thinking skills, retention and writing.

1 Mission
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

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Mission

The Oregon-based company's mission is to support improvements in education and make a positive difference in students' lives by providing software tools that help students learn to think. According to market research firm Quality Education Data (QED), a division of Scholastic, Inspiration Software's products are in use in more than 60 percent of U.S. school districts.

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History

Inspiration Software was founded in 1982 by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver. Originally focused on business software products, the company's first product was for the CP/M operating system to help systems analysts build products to meet business needs. Next, the company released a line of products for the Tandy Model 100, the original notebook computer, used primarily by outside sales staff, writers and editors.

In 1987, the focus changed to brainstorming, thinking and organizing tools. The first version of Inspiration was released for the Apple Macintosh in 1988. Subsequent releases included a Windows version, major upgrades and a native Japanese version on both platforms.

1996 brought a significant change - a new focus on developing Inspiration to meet the needs of educators and students. Inspiration 5.0 Education Edition was released in 1997 and was marketed towards grades 6-12. Then, in order to extend visual learning to younger students in kindergarten through 5th grade, Kidspiration was released in January 2001.

Subsequent education versions have followed, with the release of Inspiration 7 in 2002 and Kidspiration 2 in 2004. Also in 2004, Inspiration for Palm OS was released to run on the Palm OS handheld platform. In 2005, Inspiration 7.6 and Kidspiration 2.1 were released to support emerging classroom technologies like interactive whiteboards and Tablet PCs, and Inspiration for Pocket PC was released to run on the Pocket PC handheld platform. In February 2006, Inspiration 8 was released.

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