The revenge of the mind map
When the going gets tough, the tough get mapping.
Or mind mapping, which have made a bit of a reappearance in my life, after a delay. Mind mapping is like a habit which you have to get into.
With some birthday money (well, an Amazon gift voucher, which is as good as cash for me), I’ve purchased the classic Tony Buzan book Use Your Head - which uses mind maps as a revision aid as well as a technique for making connections.
My Open University students must create a mind map as part of their final assignment, and I’ve been able to point them towards using FreeMind, a mind mapping software which is cross-platform, and very very good, I just wish it would move from version 0.8 to a full version.
Then Simon pointed me to this post about mind mapping. I have yet to evaluate the other packages mentioned, but at first glance they appear a little complex, and over the top for my needs (I still sometimes use paper and felt tip pens for my maps). If I get chance to give these a proper review, I’ll post here.
Finally today, I’ve created two mind maps - one for my IPR (appraisal) with my manager next week, the other the mapping of a brand new module which I have to deliver next semester. I’ve attached this second map below as a link (it’s saved as a PDF) , created using FreeMind on my MacBook.
The key is getting the balance right, and knowing when a mind map is useful or productive. I find it great when I can’t get a handle on something or a task appears to be too large. Breaking it down without the rigid structure of an outline within a document helps me make connections, and similarities. I think I fell out of favour with the idea after my dissertation, I spent days creating beautiful mind maps which captured on one page the primary research which I had carried out for the MA dissertation, which were then all but ignored by the supervisor and marker. This was frustrating for me, but I’m (hopefully) putting this behind me now.
