iPads in the classroom are being introduced to schools all over the world and the results so far have been very positive. Studies have shown that using the iPad to teach in the classroom directly boosts test scores in fields such as science, mathematics, reading and foreign languages.

There is a huge number of applications available to people in all levels of education, Whether you are an educator looking for a teaching aid or a student wanting to make flash cards for study, there’s an app for you! In the mind map below we have a list and  features of 10 of the best Learning Apps for the Apple iPad:

• Evernote
• Mental Case
• MindMeister
• The Elements
• Wikipedia
• Mathboard
  
• Nasa
• 3D Brain
• Voice Memos
• Flash my Brain
  

MindMeister recently thought a class of 12 year old students how to use mind mapping in the classroom. Check out Thomas’s story in his blog post here: Mind mapping in the classroom using Apple iPad

This week there are some great new movies in the cinema such as God Bless America and Where do we Go Now. Also the one most people have been looking forward to is Tim Burton’s new feature starring Michelle Pfeifer along side Johnny Depp in Dark Shadows. (it’s another vampire movie so it better be good!)

There is also a list of some eagerly awaited upcoming movies, two of which I really cannot wait to see! Firstly, Sasha Baron Cohen is back on our screens with another one of his controversial comedies, The Dictator, then secondly, after a few years we finally have Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones back together on our screens saving the world from aliens yet again in Men in Black III.

 For a full list of all the new releases and upcoming releases see the mind map below:

The Olympic flame first makes an 8 day trip around Greece before the handover ceremony at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on the 17^th of May. The next day the torch will travel to the UK to begin a 70 day relay journey around England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will pass through over 1,000 towns and villages coming within 10 miles of 95% of people living in the UK.

The organizers are completing the final preparations and the city of London is buzzing with excitement ahead of the summer games. It really is shaping up to be an unforgettable event with the opening ceremony taking place on the 27^th of July.

We have a mind map of the entire London 2012 Summer Games covering 26 sports and 300 events. Check it out below:

As the designated sales guy at MindMeister, I got the chance to learn by a hands-on experience how 12-years-olds respond to web based mind mapping in a classroom environment.

I had a very interesting conversation with the Dean of a high school in the southern part of Austria.

The school’s teachers put a lot of effort into evaluating the right teaching tools and apps for enhancing the learning experience. It was no accident that the Austrian Ministry of Education funded the equipment for one of their iPad classes.

The school’s principal Hannes Thomas is a long-time mind mapper himself. He showed me one of his own mind maps which is used for planning purposes. Nevertheless he was skeptical that 12-year-olds would also benefit from using a mind mapping tool.

Since Hannes was already familiar with Mindjet^TM and MindManager I showed him our collaboration process on a shopping list for the MindMeister office.

After learning that more than 600 Danish schools had signed up for MindMeister and that even 10-year old’s require no training on the software, Hannes offered me the chance to teach a class for two hours and prove that MindMeister would work in a classroom environment.

I loved it. I believe that selling and teaching have some similarities. You have to:

• Gather and keep your audience’s attention
• Understand what they are good at
• Help them become even better

How I introduced mind mapping to 12 year old students:

We created a personal mind map for explaining the basic concepts on the fly:

• Why and how to use colors and symbols
• Just write down anything without evaluating good or bad ideas
• How to use images for boosting your creativity

We are getting started with mind mapping basics

I engaged the students by having them guess my age, hobbies, place of birth, place of residence, what I do for a living, what I want to be when I grow up , things I’m good at etc.

It was a fun quiz, I asked questions and took notes on the MindMeister App. My iPad screen was mirrored to the video projector.

Then it was the students’ turn to create a mind map about themselves. My personal mind map was still being projected as a reference.

I was impressed. Many students used features I didn’t even demonstrate when creating the initial mind map. One of them, Simon, was brave enough to demonstrate his mind map in front of the whole class. Then the first lesson was over.

How to use the iPad for classroom collaboration:

In the second lesson I wanted to try an experiment.

What would happen, when 17 students and 4 teachers brainstorm in real-time on the same mind map?

Since the students didn’t had email access we used the free App “Paper Plane Notes” for sharing the link giving everyone access to the same mind map.

Real-time collaboration on the iPad was a fun process! The students inspired each other with new ideas. This time they entered their ideas themselves and were in complete control of the mind map’s creation process.

This is the mind map we created:

We would love to hear your experiences with mind mapping in the classroom, please share them with us below!

For more info or if you want to contact me (Thomas) please visit our Academic Page and find out how you can for start a free mind mapping pilot in your school!

Or you may be wondering ‘How do I use my existing MindMeister account in Google Drive?’ before downloading the MindMeister Google Chrome app.

We have put together a short help section on how to use Google Drive with an existing MindMeister account.

All your mind map files are safe and available to use as normal!

MindMeister users, today we have some very exciting news for you! As a Google Drive launch partner, MindMeister has integrated with Drive, Google’s newly released cloud storage and collaboration service. This will change the way users create, store and share mind mapping files, with a huge range of features and services on offer.

What is Google Drive?

• A cloud storage and collaboration service from Google
• Access your stored files online from anywhere with any device
• Supports all web browsers and both Android or iOS devices
• 5Gb of free storage with additional storage may be purchased
• You can create, edit and share files with people all over the world
• Integration with top applications!

One of those top applications, as you may have guessed, is MindMeister. We’ll be proudly wearing the badge to show what cool things we can do with Google Drive.

How will it work?

• Seamlessly import and export mind map files between Google Drive and MindMeister
• Create, share and co-edit mind maps directly in Google Drive
• Attach documents directly from Google Drive to topics in a mind map
• Bulk export compressed mind map files to Google Drive
• Auto-sync maps with all devices and clients
• Share and collaborate on mind maps with Google contacts
• Create MindMeister accounts and sign in directly using your Google account

In addition to all this, users of Google Drive can open popular mind mapping files from Freemind, MindManager^TM and XMind straight from their docs list using MindMeister, without the need for having any of those programs installed.

These mind maps can be fully edited in MindMeister – even collaboratively using MindMeister’s real-time engine – and then saved back to Drive in the original format. Of course, new maps can also be created, shared and co-edited, and are automatically synchronized to the Google Drive folder on the user’s computer.

We’re very pleased to be making this announcement as MindMeister continues to push forward and offer its users the very best tools and solutions for brainstorming, online collaboration and task organization.

Get started with MindMeister and Google Drive

So why not sign up to Google Drive and install the MindMeister App from the Chrome Web Store today and start enjoying mind mapping and file sharing like never before!

1. Get the MindMeister App from the Google Chrome Store:

Get the MindMeister Chrome App

2. Create a mind map file in Google Drive

3. Upload attachments from Google Drive:

This year Gustav Klimt would have celebrated his 150th birthday. Gustav is one of Austria’s most famous painters ever being born in Baumgarten, near Vienna on July 14th 1862. He was also one of the founding and most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement founded in 1897. His most well known painting is ‘The Kiss’ which can be seen at Vienna Belvedere.

To celebrate the special occasion there will be more of his work on display across the capital than ever before. There are many special exhibitions in a number of Vienna’s museums.

In the map below, Klimt Year 2012, Gustav Klimt’s biography, painting style and all his works are detailed. There is also a list of the dates and locations of his exhibitions if you want to plan a trip to Vienna this year!

This mind map is an example of how to achieve the body you want for this summer. It is a guideline for nutrition, exercising and keeping hydrated. Get in Shape for Summer 2012!

Good luck!

She says, “I’m thrilled to be the winner of the iPad 3 Mindmeister Birthday contest! I can’t wait to test out my new iPad 3, especially the Mindmeister app, I can now collaborate and share my Mindmeister maps with colleagues, and sync them to view while offline. Thank You so much Mindmeister for such a wonderful gift, and Happy 5th Birthday!”

We would like to say a big thank you to everyone that took part in the competition and also to everyone who joined in the special celebration promotions for our 5th birthday.

So the first milestone of 5 years has been reached, it has been a really great journey for everyone involved at MindMeister to date and we’re delighted to have such fantastic followers and Mind Mapping enthusiasts with us. We’re looking forward to all the new possibilities in the future, adding to our service creating the best Mind Mapping experience for our users…Roll on the next 5 years

Stay tuned for some exciting announcements as well as more competitions and promotions coming soon.

To mark the occasion we have a new featured map with a list of all golfs heroes who have won more than one Masters title since Horton Smith won the inaugural tournament in 1934. The list includes golfing legends such as Gary Player, Ben Hogan, Nick Faldo and the late Seve Ballesteros. And of course at the top of the list is Jack Nicklaus whose record of 6 Masters titles still remains!