Students Will Comprehend, Create, Communicate and Achieve With Inspiration 9, Unveiled Today by Inspiration Software

Newest Version of Leader in Visual Thinking and Learning’s Flagship Software Designed to Build 21st Century Communication and Thinking Skills

PORTLAND, Ore. – Jan 5, 2010

Inspiration® Software, Inc., the leader in visual thinking and learning, today unveiled Inspiration® 9, the ultimate thinking and learning tool to comprehend, create, communicate and achieve more. With the ninth generation of its flagship software, the company is taking the proven ways that visual learning builds critical-thinking skills and improves student achievement in new directions, making the world's bestselling visual learning tool even more powerful. New capabilities in Inspiration 9, such as support for creating presentations and additional visual learning methodologies, provide an essential framework for thinking and help students develop 21st century skills.

Since its debut more than two decades ago, Inspiration has garnered numerous awards from the education, technology and parenting communities. Now used by millions of students and teachers around the world, the software is considered the gold standard of visual learning tools.

"To be successful in the 21st century, it isn’t just enough to learn facts and figures. It is essential that today's students develop strong critical-thinking, writing and organizational skills as well as good communication skills to effectively share their knowledge and understanding," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "Inspiration 9 encourages creativity, comprehension and retention, helping students build the critical-thinking and communication skills necessary for success in school, higher education and life."

New in Inspiration is the Presentation Manager, which students use to create organized and compelling presentations to present and communicate their knowledge and work. The Presentation Manager automatically creates bulleted slides and graphics from a student’s diagram, mind map or outline. Students use this as the starting point to build their oral presentation and handouts and then add slides, speaker notes, talking points, graphics, video and sound to emphasize their points. Inspiration 9 ships with numerous ready-made professional quality themes to quickly develop a visually appealing presentation, or students can create their own themes to personalize their presentations. Once their presentation is complete, they can play it directly from Inspiration or from any Macintosh® or Windows® computer using the free Inspiration Presenter available on the installation CD and at http://www.inspiration.com.

Inspiration also features a new visual view, Map View, which allows students to create and think in mind maps, another proven visual learning methodology that promotes better understanding of relationships and connections among ideas and helps students retain information. Mind maps capture information in a natural, free-flowing style. With Map View, students build visual models, adding ideas branching off a central topic with just one click, and reorganize ideas by simply grafting one branch to another. Graphic images, colors and fonts allow learners to embellish, differentiate and emphasize their ideas. Just like with idea maps, concept maps, graphic organizers and other diagrams created with Inspiration, the process of building a mind map is fluid and visual, complementing the natural way that students think and expand on ideas. As with other diagrams created with Inspiration, mind maps can be instantly transformed into outlines to support the writing process.

Teachers from around the country who participated in early testing of Inspiration 9 gave the software rave reviews for extending the use of visual thinking as a key learning strategy for students.

"Inspiration 9 is familiar but improved," said Deb Logan, librarian/media specialist at Mount Gilead Middle/High School in Ohio. "It takes information to a higher level, giving students the tools to analyze, synthesize and present their thoughts to others. It also helps linear learners create mind maps and visual learners create order. What a great way to bring different types of learners to shared understanding!"

Inspiration 9 also provides:

More visual learning support in Diagram View to strengthen understanding, retention and communication:

• New symbol libraries designed to support curriculum.
• A convenient way to label concept map links using common Linking Phrases to explain relationships easily.
• The ability to lock items so teachers can keep content in templates in place and be sure they aren’t moved or deleted by students.

More capabilities for organizing, outlining and writing in Outline View:

• Students can now see symbols and link text in their outlines to make visual/written connections and to see additional relationships and connections between topics.
• Multiple outline topics can be instantly combined into one topic using Combine Topics.
• Long topics that contain multiple ideas can be quickly broken apart into separate topics using the Break Apart command.
• Word and page requirements can be met with the new Word Count tool.

Purchasing and Upgrading to Inspiration 9
Through a special introductory offer available until June 30, 2010, upgrades to Inspiration 9 are available at a 55 percent savings over the regular suggested education price. Single license upgrades can be purchased for $29.95.

Under regular education pricing, single copies of Inspiration 9 are $69; five-computer license packs are $310; 10-computer license packs are $550; and 20-computer license packs are $895. Additional pricing is available for site licenses and larger volume purchases and upgrades. For a free 30-day trial of Inspiration 9, visit http://www.inspiration.com/freetrial. More information about Inspiration is available at http://www.inspiration.com/inspiration or by calling 800-877-4292.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.
Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.'s award-winning software tools, Inspiration, Kidspiration and InspireData®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help students think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded more than 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.