Mind mapping is a tool that is used in education. With Mindmeister, students can collaborate with each other and with the teacher. They can easily add images, notes, links, icons, and other resources. User may pose questions, share images and websites, and edit. Because adding additional information is intuitive and can be done automatically, contributing is easy. It is when the technology becomes boring that the social aspect of collaborating becomes interesting. Because Mindmeister has a very quick learning curve, collaborating and thinking is easily achieved.
Students often need assistance in organizing thoughts. Even with mind maps, students don’t always know the direction to take. With Mindmeister, the teacher could start one to set the trajectory and the students add and complete. This type of collaboration enables the teacher to model, monitor, and make suggestions as appropriate.
With the ability to add multimedia to any of the ideas, Mindmeister helps to gather information and resources. If a student is going to use the mind map to create a product that showcases their learning, they are well on their way with one place to store all of their resources.
What a great tool to use in the classroom. I could see this as an opportunity for students to get in front of the class and experiment with this on a SMART board and really get the ideas flowing. This tool sure beats the old idea of using webbing to convey and brainstorm. Why not if you have the resources to make it fun, then use it. It is nice that there is a trial version, however if you use it for your classroom, it might be beneficial to buy an upgrade at least for the class to use. I could see how this tool would really spark some great discussions no matter what age group. Great find!
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