This past week we had a group assignment to create a mindmap about the history of HPT (Human Performance Technology). My group chose to use Mindmeister to accomplish this task so that we could work collaboratively (and so one person wouldn’t be stuck copying 5 individual maps into one).
Mindmeister has some pretty cool features:
- More than one person can edit the map at the same time.
- You can launch Skype from Mindmeister. We used Skype chat to coordinate who was working on what. (also Facebook IM).
- You can search Google images for an image based on a node’s text, and launch the page that contains the image from that search box, and insert that image from the search box.
- You can add URLs to nodes, in fact Mindmeister will show you a Google search of the text in the node.
- You can export the map to PDF (and other formats), or embed the map on a web page. Exporting the map also exports the links!
The only thing Mindmeister didn’t have was a way to add the connecting words that are a standard part of mindmaps. I hope we don’t get dinged for that. To compensate, we added our own connecting words in parenthesis on the parent nodes.
I like the way the map turned out, its much easier to read than a .cmap or document. You can check it out here. We were to base the map on our readings, so it is possible we left people out. But I think my team would love any feedback you have.
The exercise got me thinking about time lines, especially as I looked at the dates for the facts I included in my last post about information imposters. There is a post or two in there, I just need to reflect on it a little more.
Thanks for the Mindmeister tip! I’ve never heard of it before. I will soon need a mindmapping tool. Great map too!
Cool map. I always struggle with mind maps.
Hi Gminks,
I am a graduate student at Pace University in New York, majoring in Educational Technology. I like the idea that you have created a blog to document your experience throughout this grad school. I find your postings to be very interesting and I find myself thinking… “why didn’t I think of that?” Though our majors are different, I have picked up a few ideas from your blog that I have found to be very useful, such as, Mindmeister. Thank you for introducing me to this application and good luck in grad school. I will continue to visit your blog to see what new and interesting suggestions you may have to share.
Dee
Dee I wonder if our majors are that different? You should start blogging your homework too! I bet I could learn from you too….