Here's where I turn into a Luddite again. But it's not primarily because I'm a Luddite that I don't think I'll be making much use of Mindmeister. More importantly, I am a text-not-image person and I don't think visually. I never make spider diagrams; I make lists, and only rarely even colour-code them. Mindmapping just doesn't suit my learning style, and I doubt this is going to change just because I can now draw the diagrams online.
In any case, I am not yet convinced of the advantages of drawing mindmaps electronically. If you want to share them with friends and colleagues, that's another matter: the benefits of sharing things online are obvious. But if you're working by yourself -- either because it's an independent project, or because you're doing some preliminary work prior to the shareable part of the task -- is Mindmeister really so much better than pen and paper?
[ベスト] 雪ノ下雪乃 かわいい 176442-雪ノ下雪乃 かわいい
3 years ago
It's a good point, and when I'm brainstorming, I probably would use the older technology. But I think collaborative mind-mapping might be a good teaching tool, and also, because you can export as an image file, it can be a visually pleasing way to present complex information (see my own overview of the Polish locative case).
ReplyDeleteI agree that doing it electronically is just too slow and clunky and distracting. But if I wanted to have a 'neat' version or one to share I might consider it.
ReplyDeleteThat might be a useful idea for teaching, getting students signed up to it and to have them submit mind maps of seminar readings. Again, the on-line version would facilitate sharing, not necessarily creation.
I'm with you 100% on this. Having missed Bill's introduction yesterday, I instead patiently watched the site's tutorial video. This made it quite clear how to use the application, but left me just as confused as to why I would wish to use it. I find ‘thinking visually’ a sure route to confusion (just the hint of a diagram will turn me off any article); indeed, I’ve been known to counsel students against it in lectures, or at least to move on from it as soon as possible in their thinking process, as I suspect that a failure to develop a keen sense of linear verbal reasoning often manifests in a failure to construct logically persuasive arguments.
ReplyDeleteHah! I keep telling my students the exact opposite. Use mind maps to get your thoughts down, and then use the map to linearise it for writing up.
ReplyDeleteI also use mind maps occasionally to keep notes of an article I'm reading. But everybody has different learning styles, some are more visual, others aren't.