Mind mapping

A few days ago, I was chatting with my colleague. During the chat this colleague mentioned that they have access to a grant which can enable them to do a masters qualification in their field (IT related). However they were not sure about what topic should they go for. Furthermore the day we were chatting also happened to be the last day when people could enter their name for accessing that grant.

I told my colleague that we should develop a mind map, to which they said they do not even know what a mind map is. We were able to get a workable solution for my colleague but it got me thinking about mind maps and what they mean. In this blog post I will talk about these handy little tools so the readers of this blog can become aware of them too. Do let me know if you use mind maps for other things that I may not have covered.

To start off, mind maps are often described as brainstorming tools where ideas and concepts can be represented graphically but what does it really mean. It means you take a concept, any concept that you wish to think about or discuss and start writing topics related to the concept around the concept and join them to the main concept. These topics should be written as single words or in as short a description as possible. Avoid long phrases. You can and should use different colors and symbols to identify and denote different topics. Then write sub topics related to these topics and join them to the respective topics as well. Follow the same guidelines regarding colors and symbols to bring vibrancy to your mind map.

Some examples of good mind maps can be found here by Paul Foreman.

Mind maps hold advantage over lists as our brain is good at remembering images but not so good at remembering lists as they have to do much more work to remember lists compared to the work they need to do to remember images. Think about that.

The other main advantage in my viewpoint is that when drawing out a mind map you tend to think about the broad concept and then break it into smaller concepts and then further into peripheral concepts. This exercise gives you a well rounded view of where your original concept is and what are its implications.

Mind maps can be used for brainstorming, solving problems, planning next steps and identifying potential hiccups and obstacles.

So go forth and give your latest problem the mind map treatment and see the problem melt away.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Scaffolding

Scaffolding In instructional/learning design we often use the term scaffolding. But what is it? Scaffolding is when we break up the learning or a concept into smaller chunks and support it with various activities that help in understanding and embedding what is being learned. Scaffolding also involves usage of different instructional techniques to gradually enhance learner understanding. The main aim of scaffolding is to make the learner comfortable with what they are learning. So, it should not be viewed as something that needs to be done out of compulsion or convention. Rather, it should be looked upon as the support that is provided to the learner that will make the learning process easier and more effective for them and enable them to apply the learning independently. But how is scaffolding done? Scaffolding is done every time the learner is provided with a tool or information that supports their learning. This may be a:          Clearly provided direction on
Keep reading

Change Managemnt

In this post I want to talk about Change Management. I am seeing an increasing convergence between learning projects and change management almost to the point where they seem part of the same process. A bit like two sides of a coin. So what is Change Management? Change management is the process of helping an organization adjust its strategies and structures to better meet its goals. It's a broad term that can be used in many different contexts and refers to a process for managing organizational changes and focusses on how individuals respond to change and managing their concerns and resistance to the proposed change. The goal of change management is to make sure that the changes you're making to your business or organization are as smooth as possible. You don't want people to feel like they're being forced into something they don't want, or that they don't understand why they're doing it. You also want to make sure that when you do make these changes, you ca
Keep reading

The Learning Hook

Can you recall a class that you took or a learning course that you had to go through that instantly grabbed your attention? What was it about the course that grabbed your attention like that? That was a learning Hook! What is a learning hook? A learning Hook is something that grabs the learner’s attention. Something that would make them instantly engage with the learning. So how can we go about developing a learning hook? Well, a learning hook can come from a number of areas. It could be talking about a current event. It could be talking about an ethical or moral dilemma. It could be talking about something that may have directly impacted the learner. It could even be a curious fact, or a mystery or an interesting story. For example, I was once teaching a sales and marketing course and prior to starting any course I usually try to   know my cohort as in, what would they like to do what is it that they find interesting and so on and so forth. So, during
Keep reading