Mind Maps

Overview:

Over the last couple of days, we’ve been reading about and talking about how the organization of information in one’s mind impacts retrieval and performance.   As we discussed this morning, learning is facilitated through a process of unearthing the pre-existing knowledge structures and preconceptions one holds.  For today’s lab, we are going to look at one possible strategy that you might employ to help with better understanding students’ thinking – mind maps.  Although mind maps are arguably more beneficial when created freehand, we’ll explore some web 2.0 options.

Objectives:

1. To develop some basic strategies that you can employ to learn about new technologies.
2. To understand what mind maps are, including some of their key features, and recommendations for creating them.
3. To familiarize yourself with free web-based technologies for creating mind maps.
4. To think about when you might use mind maps, how you might use them, and how you might decide what technology (including freehand) would be most advantageous.  (TPACK!)
5. To construct your own mind map.

The More You Know:

Before we begin looking at some free, web-based mind mapping applications, I want us to think first about the strategies we employ to learn new technologies.  We’ve been learning about metacognition – a person’s ability to monitor their current levels of mastery and understanding.  Part of this understanding is asking questions like: “What do I think this tool is designed to do?” “What kinds of questions should I be asking myself about this tool?” “Where am I most likely to find out answers to my questions?”  Note that these kinds of questions are based on us making predictions and testing them out.  Each of us has strategies that we use as we explore new technologies.  In this VoiceThread called “Learning New Technologies,” former Year 2 instructor, Joe Friedhoff will share with you some of the strategies he recommends.

Now that we’ve made explicit some strategies for learning new technologies, let’s turn our attention to what Mind Maps are.  For our initial inquiry let’s see how Wikipedia defines Mind Maps.

Since we are under a bit of a time constraint, rather than having your draw on your own search strategies for locating mind mapping tools, we’ve included links to three free, web-based applications that might hold some promise. They are, in no particular order:

Mindomo

Mind42

MindMeister

Evaluate three web-based mind mapping tools – either the three above, or three of your choosing.  Draw on the strategies introduced in the Learning New Technologies VoiceThread above.  As you check out each application, keep in mind these questions:

1. What are the affordances and constraints of each application and how do these compare with each other?
2. How does the technologies compare with creating mind maps by hand?
3. How might I use these tools to find out what students already know about a topic or assess what they have learned?

Your Performance Tasks:

After becoming familiar with each tool, please complete the following tasks:

1. Create a mind map of your own that demonstrates the ideas behind your TPACK project (see example below).
2. Once you have finished your map, embed it in a web page and submit the URL of that page to the comments section below.  In your comment also detail briefly why you selected the application you did over the other ones.

Submission and Due Date:

All tasks for this lab must be completed by 8:00 a.m., Friday, July 2nd.  Please submit your web page with embedded mind map to the comments below.