Mind Mapping

The process of “mind mapping” was quite interesting for me. Naturally, I’m just a bit scatter-brain so this was a bit of a challenge. It’s usually hard for me to organize my thoughts, get them on to paper, and somehow do it in a neat and orderly fashion. Somehow, I pulled it off and ended up making a decent mind map with just using pen and paper. I had to color code in order to stay more organized. This really is a great way to get organized and to keep your thoughts flowing. I decided to make a mind map of my budget. As a college student, my entire life is centered around a budget. I had a good idea of where all my money was going, but by making a mind map I was able to clearly see where I spend my money and where my financial priorities are. You can use a mind map for practically anything.

Using a software mind mapping tool was much easier for me. I tried out several of the different tools recommended but I settled for Mindomo. I liked this software the best because it seemed the most useful. It was really easy to type in all the topics you wanted, add subtopics, and then delete or edit as you go. It forced me to stay organized because everything was clearly laid out. This way was not only easier but it ended up looking much more professional, organized, and was much less time consuming.

My mind map I created with Mindomo:

http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=79db42ebf2444e81b6470c4277646717

5 potential benefits of using this visual technique in instructional design:

1.) It keeps your thoughts clearly organized when developing a new lesson plan or designing/laying out a curriculum. Being organized helps you stay on task and on subject.

2.) It helps your creative thinking. This can help the designer be more innovative and help them brainstorm new ideas. When thoughts are clearly written out, it’s much easier to bounce news ideas back and forth and see if they fit.

3.) It helps the overall idea. When everything is laid out like it is in a mind map, it’s really easy to see the big theme or idea. This can help students follow-along or relate the sub-topics back to the main topic.

4.) It can help time management. If the mind map is used for a lesson-plan or curriculum, dividing it up into sub-topics and topics can help the teacher stay on schedule. The teacher can dedicate a certain amount of weeks or days per topic or  sub-topic and will know when to move on to the next topic.

5.) Mind mapping also helps develop relationships between ideas. A more complex mind map can have inter-working relationships between subtopics and this can help the overall lesson. Sub-topics and topics from different parts of the map can have relationships (indicated by lines) so the student can always refer back to previous sub-topics that have already been discussed. It helps the student relate current ideas with ideas previously learned.