Mindmeister

1. Mind mapping

1.1. What is Mindmapping?

1.2. Examples in Education by Mindmeister

2. How To...

2.1. Mind Mapping in Education

2.2. Learn Mindmeister in under 4 minutes

2.3. Basic Introduction to MindMeister-Advertisement

2.4. Example for Educators and Students

3. Lesson/Planning Ideas

3.1. Using Mindmeister as a tool to complete the lesson

3.2. Way to plan lessons in a class with multiple teachers and aides

3.3. Lesson Plan for Greek Social Studies Unit

4. Benefits

5. Personal Reviews

5.1. Kim Wilson- I believe that Mindmeister has some true benefits in the classroom. It can be used as a resource for teachers for lesson planning and visual aides used in lessons. A teacher could use the program as a resource for students on any topic. The students could then navigate through the map independently to obtain information. Teacher's can also use it as a visual way to organize lessons or days. However, there are many drawbacks to the program. Many of the features that would be important in a lesson are only available if you purchase a subscription. I also had a lot of trouble navigating the site on several occasions, some of the features were down and then worked when I logged back in. We tried to use the program as a group for the presentation and we had to purchase a subscription to add additional users to our Mindmeister. I would say that the program has some neat features, but the cost of the subscription is not worth the use a teacher would get out of it.

5.2. Lori Sand - Mindmeister is a Web 2.0 concept mapping tool that is easy to use at the first level of adding topics and subtopics. Once additional features are desired such as attaching images or files, the basic account must be upgraded. Having multiple editors also required an account upgrade. The features that make this mind mapping tool different than some of the other freeware is the ability to upload files, links, videos and images. The tool also has a presentation feature. This also requires an upgrade. A downfall of the presentation mode is that it is only supported by some browsers, Internet Explorer is not one of them! Mozilla Firefox added some hyperlinks to our presentation to unrelated material that could not be removed. One of the strengths for student use is that the mind maps save automatically as the are being created. This prevents lost work. The tool is available for school or organization purchase. I think this tool functions better as an organizational tool for planning purposes rather than presentation purposes. For this aspect, there are other free tools that do not require upgrades.

5.3. Christine Young- Mindmeister has pros and cons in the teaching world. In terms of pros, educators can use the mapping tool to organize lessons/units, share ideas with department members and other coworkers, as well as run meetings and student activities. Although at first site, Mindmeiser appears to be confusing to do since it lacks a traditional beginning and end that is utilized in other presentations, it has it benefits in keeping students and other users on their toes. For the classroom, students would have to "search" more for the answers and read all the information presented instead of waiting for the teacher to go to the next slide or skim the title of each slide only. This type of presentation would work well for a flipped classroom presentation of material. It would test students' abilities to seek out information and also allow the teacher to see if all areas were truly read by each student. However, there are also cons to Mindmeister. I believe that this type of presentation would be very difficult for some special education students (and very traditional students) to grow accustom to and be able to follow. I currently work with direct instruction students who are only in the general education classroom for my class, Social Studies. Many have a difficult time with tranditional presentation and often cannot keep up to speed with the class even when given teacher copy of notes. Since Mindmeister does not have a clear beginning and end, I foresee some of my special education students who need lots of structure getting confused, frustrated, and lost. While it be a unique way to present information, the transition for any educator would have to be slow and with lots of practice. Another con is that many of the templates offered are for businesses, not educators. This may discourage some educators.

6. Pros and Cons