...wherever you are, we are pleased to send you...

... large numbers of resources at the speed of light, via the world wide web...


circle-of-excellence
Download Our FREE
Archived Software
...software, which we have all but retired,
but which some users may still find useful...

LibraryDesk (2005) - MarkThis Pro (2004)
Catch-22 16/8 (2001) - BrainBox 16/8 (2001)


...resources to suit many interests...

...personal, educational and business...


Overview Of Page Contents
...a
few of the options from which you can choose..

...jump to anchor... LibraryDesk Ver 2.1 (2005 - free)
LibraryDesk is now an integral part of BrainBox. Hence, the 'stand-alone' version of the program has now been moved to our archived area. It may be of interest to you if you want to make use of our books, but you do not want the additional BrainBox nodules. However, since we adopted web folders as a way to store and deliver our books to you, the need for LibraryDesk has been much reduced. But feel free to use it if you would like to.

(Find out more or, if you know what you want,
g
o direct to our web folder for archived downloads

or, download LibraryDesk as part of our BrainBox program,
or, download our books from our web folders).

...jump to anchor... MarkThis Professional Ver. 3.0 marking & feedback software (2004 - free)
MarkThis enables teachers and trainers to develop a bank of comments and to associate marks and weightings with those comments. Hugely customisable, the only way to truly understand how MarkThis can ease your marking load is to give it a test drive. Even if you have your own marking machine, the comment bank alone makes it worth downloading MarkThis, because all comments are in Word format and can be easily integrated into other 'marking machines'.

(Find out more or if you know what you want,
go direct to our web folder for archived downloads)
or find out about the forcoming new version of MarkThis, due Autumn 2006.

...jump to anchor... Catch-22 Ver. 16/3 role-play software for training (1999 - free)
Catch-22 provides an environment in which teachers and trainers can present individual students and groups of students with complex and controversial issues. While designed in an earlier age of computing, the simplicity of the Catch-22 concept will still find much to commend it in many educational contexts.

(Find out more or if you know what you want,
g
o direct to our web folder for archived downloads)

...jump to anchor... BrainBox Ver. 16/8 concept sorting for Windows 3.1 (1999 - free)
The early versions of BrainBox won acclaim in the early 90s, in the national Business Software Challenge. And,
despite its 'ancient pedigree', we still get emails from users who tell us that they find BrainBox 16/8 useful for generating and sorting ideas, as a part of planning or design work. Interestingly, the software was particular popular with would-be authors. So if you have an old machine that you want to use to brainstorm and sort ideas, this program is for you..otherwise you should go to our main BrainBox download area, and download the full Windows 98/ME/XP compatible version of our work.

(Find out more or if you know what you want,
go direct to our web folder for archived downloads)


NB: See BrainBox 6 (2006)
for the latest version of LibraryDesk.


This is one set of books for which you won't need to build a new set of shelves.

Though you may begin viewing life from a fresh perspective,
and find a new eloquence in the way you communicate.


(Last major revision, for the stand alone version, was 2005. Future developments
will only take place within the version bundled with our BrainBox suite of programs)

LibraryDesk 2.1
...software that make sit easy to collect, collate
and organise electronic resources, such as ebooks (freeware)...

Our set of books on accelerated learning, and focused thinking, consists of over half a million words, illustrated with numerous pictures, stories and backed up with a large number of practical exercises. The books are ideal for anyone involved in teaching, training or coaching who wants to enhance the quality of the lessons they deliver, by making use of cutting edge developments in a variety of fields of technology and applied psychology. The books also meet the study needs of both full-time students and lifelong learners who want to ramp up the speed at which they learn new ideas, and the ease with which they attain higher grades.

In terms of content, the books cover a wide variety of Accelerated Learning Techniques and associated Mind Technologies: from traditional theories in Psychology to Neuro-Linguistic Programming; from DeBono DATT to Scenario Planning, from Knowledge Representation to Design Human Engineering; from Mozart Effect to Hemi-Synch; from Computer Aided Learning to Web-Based Learning; from Flow Diagrams to Soft Systems, from Expert Systems to Neural Nets; from Formal Logic to Fuzzy Logic; and from Production Rules to Genetic Algorithms. Thus, if you are keen to tune up the power of your mind, then you will find something of interest in our work, and plenty to make your curious, along with web-links to help you find out more.

LibraryDesk helps you to access our catalogue, and more, through the 'magic' of web folders. Open LibraryDesk and click the web folder option, and (assuming you are on line with a broadband link) you will be linked to our server, with a view that is reminiscent of any other Windows folder on your computer. This makes it easy for you to decide what you want to download, select, and drag-n-drop. Which is much, much easier than downloading individual files.

And then, once downloaded, LibraryDesk provides you with a Windows Explorer style view of your files and folders, in which you can create a suitable structure to organise your acquisitions. Which makes LibraryDesk an ideal medium in which to download and organise electronic resources from many sources.

(A screenshot of a page of one of our books loaded into Adobe Acrobat Reader 6)
Click this image for more screen-shots...


With regard the future:


...We intend to keep improving LibraryDesk. However, with the advent of web folders, it is so much easier for you to drag and drop multiple files and folders from the web to your desktop. Which undermined the usefulness of LibraryDesk as a separate program, in its own right. Hence, we decided to integrate LibraryDesk with our suite of 'thinking tools' called BrainBox Pro. As a result, all future versions of LibraryDesk will be available from within this suite. So, unless you really, really want the stand alone version, we suggest that your best course of action is to download the BrainBox suite of modules.

 


Options:


...click to follow this link.. read our books, online,
with the option to view the same words in Screen, A4 or LETTER formatted documents.

...click to follow this link.. comments people have made
read some feedback we have received about our work

...click to follow this link.. download our books,
from the web folders in which we store them.


...click to follow this link.. see some LibraryDesk screenshots
get a feel for LibraryDesk and read some hints to get you started.

...click to follow this link.. legal and minimum specification info
which you are deemed to both understand and agree to, if you use our work.

...click to follow this link.. download LibraryDesk
from our archived web folders, hosted by the College of St Mark & St John.

...click to follow this link.. obtain an activation code now
(Only required if you will be installing our work
on a computer that does not have access to the internet.
Otherwise, you can use the online one-click activation process).

...click to follow this link..read LibraryDesk FAQs
If the answer isn't there, mail us, it will help us build a better help system for the future.


...click to follow this link.. open the circle-of-excellence archive web folder
If you want to download several of our archived programs, quickly and easily.


NB: See MarkThis 4 (2006) for the latest version.


Explore ways in which computers can ease workload
while improving the quality of feedback to students.

Ultimately, where would you like to do your marking? Because...
as electronic submission and marking become more viable, your dream can become a reality..


 

(Last major revision 2002, last minor revision 2004)
MarkThis Professional 3.0
...marking & feedback software (freeware)...

MarkThis enables teachers and trainers to develop a bank of comments and to associate marks and weightings with those comments.

When assessing student work, teachers need simply to click on the most applicable comments - and the software does the rest, converting individual comments into a final mark, and even creating a rich text file report for both examiners and students to peruse.

Hugely customisable, the only way to truly understand how MarkThis can ease your marking load is to give it a test drive.

Click this image for more screen-shots...
(A screenshot of the MarkThis screen for listing students)


With regard the future:


... MarkThis really needs to be re-implemented as a set of Excel Macros. Currently, we have a set half way complete code, but need about two months of focused time and effort to complete the programming and testing...which means that, realistically, we won't have time to complete in the foreseeable future...because we have all our available research time devoted to upgrading and enhancing BrainBox...

...unless there are any sponsors 'out-there', who would like to buy-out some of our time, thus releasing us from some of our other college duties, so we have time to give the MarkThis project the attention it deserves. (NB: If you know of any companies who would like to increase their profile in secondary and tertiary education in the UK, perhaps you could be persuasive on our behalf).


Options:


...click to follow this link.. find out more about MarkThis Pro,
information on the thinking behind the program, along with notes on the programs evolution.

...click to follow this link.. see a range of MarkThis Pro screenshots
get a feel for MarkThis pro and read some hints to get you started.

...click to follow this link.. FAQ that might enter your mind
as you begin using MarkThis Pro.


...click to follow this link.. legal and minimum specification info
which you are deemed to both understand and agree to, if you use our work.

...click to follow this link.. download MarkThis Pro
from our archived web folders, hosted by the College of St Mark & St John.

...click to follow this link.. obtain an activation code now
(Only required if you will be installing our work
on a computer that does not have access to the internet.
Otherwise, you can use the online one-click activation process).

...click to follow this link.. read MarkThis Pro FAQs
If the answer isn't there, mail us, it will help us build a better help system for the future.


...click to follow this link.. open the circle-of-excellence archive web folder
If you want to download several of our archived programs, quickly and easily.

.


The world is a complex place.

All of us can use some practise weighing conflicting arguments
and determining an opinion that we can call our own.


(Last major revision 1999, last minor revisions to install package 2001 and 2004)
Catch-22
...role-play software for teaching and training (freeware)...

Catch-22 provides an environment in which teachers and trainers can present individual students and groups of students with complex and controversial issues.

The idea is that though the use of controversy, students will be denied the 'easy option' and will have to face the underlying assumptions and prejudices they bring with them to the decision-making table'. To illustrate this idea, two sample files are provided that we devised in association with health educators working with young people. The files relate to catch-22 scenarios related to drug dependency and AIDS.

Students are encouraged to apply various focused thinking techniques and to then decide upon a course of action. Example scenarios are provided to help teachers to understand the environment - teachers then have a simple set of tools with which they can create role-play files of their own. In essence the software is extremely simple. The art is in crafting the scenarios that you can use to make your lessons 'fly'.

Click this image for more screen-shots...
(A screenshot of the opening screen for Catch-22)


With regard the future:


...Catch-22 really needs to be re-implemented as a set of PowerPoint Macros, preferably linking in with Outlook or a pop3 mail server, so that results from a class can be automated collected and collated.

Currently, we have some plans for the code, but need about a month of focused time and effort to complete the designs, and the complete the programming and testing...which means that, realistically, we won't have time to complete in the foreseeable future...because (as we said previously) we have all our available research time devoted to upgrading and enhancing BrainBox...

...unless (again, as we said previously) there are any sponsors 'out-there', who would like to buy-out some of our time, thus releasing us from some of our other college duties, so we have time to give the Catch-22 project the attention it deserves. (NB: If you know of any companies who would like to increase their profile in secondary and tertiary education in the UK, perhaps you could be persuasive on our behalf).


Options:


...click to follow this link.. find out more about Catch-22,
so you decide if it will meet your needs.

...click to follow this link.. see Catch-22 screenshots,
get a feel for Catch-22 and read some hints to get you started.


...click to follow this link.. legal and minimum specification info
which you are deemed to both understand and agree to, if you use our work.

...click to follow this link.. download Catch-22
from our archived web folders, hosted by the College of St Mark & St John.


...click to follow this link.. open the circle-of-excellence archive web folder
If you want to download several of our archived programs, quickly and easily.

 


The original suite of thinking-tools for use by people who want to:
study freely, focus discussion, or prepare presentations.

A suite of creative thinking tools rooted in concept sorting.
Designed for use in the old days, when computers were more modest in power.


(Last major revision 1999, last minor revision to install package 2001)
BrainBox 16/8

...working in business and in education (freeware)...

BrainBox 16/8 provides users with the ability to concept sort in
Windows 3.1x.

Of course, Windows 3.1 has been superseded may times in the last few years. However, we maintain a link to an installation file for BrainBox 16/8 because a few visitors tell us that they have a old computer that they like to use for 'odd tasks', and they also tell us that they appreciate the way BrainBox 16/8 works so well on low-powered machines.

The early versions of BrainBox won acclaim in the early 90s, in the national Business Software Challenge. And, despite its 'ancient pedigree', we still get emails from users who tell us that they find BrainBox 16/8 useful for generating and sorting ideas, as a part of planning or design work. Interestingly, the software seems particular popular with would-be authors.

With regard reliability under later version of Windows, despite being so 'long in the tooth', we have found BrainBox 16/8 to work under Windows 95 and 98, though there have been a couple of reports of minor bugs when the software is installed under Windows 2000 and Win XP.

So the choice is yours.

Stick with BrainBox 16/8, if you have a low-powered machine, or move up to the newest version of our software, BrainBox Pro, if your computer is a little more 'whizzy'...

Click this image for more screen-shots...
(A screenshot of the opening screen for BrainBox 16/8)


With regard the future:


...The future is already here! Windows 98/ME and XP versions of BrainBox already exist. Click here to download them...


Options:


...click to follow this link.. find out more about BrainBox 16/8,
the original version of BrainBox, developed for Windows 3.1 , in the late 1990s.

...click to follow this link.. see BrainBox 16/8 screenshots,
get a feel for BrainBox 16/8 and read some hints to get you started.


...click to follow this link.. legal and minimum specification info
which you are deemed to both understand and agree to, if you use our work.

...click to follow this link.. download BrainBox 16/8
from our archived web folders, hosted by the College of St Mark & St John.


...click to follow this link.. open the circle-of-excellence archive web folder
If you want to download several of our archived programs, quickly and easily.

 


 

 


 

 

 

 

Unique visits since the counter was last zeroed,
in September, 2004.

 

All elements of this page are copyrighted, most are copyrighted to circle-of-excellence.com