Using MindMeister in the Composition Classroom
by Jeff Canino
1. Pros
1.1. The Internet! Wheee! Share your mindmaps with the class, or make students collaborate online together.
1.1.1. Throw out those:
1.1.1.1. 1. Markers
1.1.1.2. 2. Oversize pieces of newsprint.
1.1.2. Real-time collaboration, too.
1.1.2.1. Multiple people working at once.
1.1.2.2. Updates color-coded for ease of reference to personal edits.
1.1.2.3. Lots of buttons to press. Press buttons together.
1.1.2.4. Togetherness.
1.2. Neat and pretty! Organizes itself.
1.3. Make it available to the whole Internet. Collaborate with people from outside the classroom, too.
2. Uses?
2.1. Brainstorming
2.2. Essay outlining
2.3. Class activities involving:
2.3.1. Brainstorming
2.3.2. or
2.3.3. Outlining
2.4. Maybe other stuff too.
2.4.1. Like visually demonstrating the interconnectedness of certain ideas.
2.5. Peer critique!
3. Cons
3.1. Paper is probably easier.
3.2. Yeah, it's intuitive, but some people would still need training.
3.2.1. Paper doesn't need training
3.3. This
3.3.1. Thing
3.3.1.1. Can
3.3.1.1.1. Really
3.3.1.1.2. Out
3.3.1.2. Get
3.3.1.2.1. Of
3.3.1.2.2. Hand
3.4. And the controls are not sensitive in the least and it's sort of a pain to hit every button twice.
3.4.1. Also, it's slow.
3.4.1.1. My lord, it crashed Firefox.
3.4.1.1.1. Okay second attempt it's working better.
3.4.1.2. And it's a system-hog, to boot.