MindMeister By: Gloria Decker

1. Opportunities

1.1. Teachers can search through hundreds of public mind maps, which can be a great resource!

1.2. Students can easily collaborate on projects

1.3. Students can be working on the same mind map using different computers, so each student has access to it without arguing over who gets to use it.

1.4. Students can create mind maps for writing they wish to compose

2. Strengths

2.1. Collaborate in real-time

2.2. Maps can be easily shared in a little amount of tme

2.3. Highly engaging and visually stimulating

2.4. Templates are provided for many different types of presentations.

2.5. Every change you make while creating your map is stored, so if someone changes something and you want to change it back, you can easily do it.

2.6. You can import and export information.

2.7. Allows for attachments to be added to a mindmap

2.8. There are prices for education facilities that allow you to use this tool for as little as $1 a month.

2.9. All plans have a 30 day free trial

2.10. You have access to public maps

2.11. You can publish it as a private, shared (choose who sees it), or a public mind map.

3. Examples

3.1. How would you use this tool in an early childhood setting?

3.2. Lesson: Rhyming Words

3.3. Teacher Planning:

3.4. Which subject area would you believe this tool to be most helpful for students to use?

4. Weaknesses

4.1. Only the basic account is available for free, and this only allows for three mind maps to be created. Cheapest plan is $1 a month, but this is for users at a school where 20 or more people will be using it. It can get pricey if you are not in a school setting. If parents want to have access to create, they would have to buy their own account for $5.99 a month.

4.2. The tool could take some time for teachers to teach their students how to navigate and create mind maps.

5. Threats

5.1. Mind maps can be shared to a number of social networks. Children can accidentally end up on websites that they should not be on at school.

5.2. There are a large amount of public maps, some of which may contain material unsuitable for younger children.