Mind Mapping

Learn how to Mind Map right here at Wikiversity!

Content summary

So what's up? Well, this Wikiversity page is all about what Mind Mapping is, what to use it for and how to do it yourself. And it even tells you how to teach it to others. To start out however, you will see why you would be needing Mind Mapping at all and what problems it might solve for you, and of course which it won't.

Don't worry about these problems yet, however. The only necessary skills that you will need to solve them are basic reading, writing and drawing. And since you are reading this text, I'm quite sure that you already master at least one of them!

For whom is all this intended? Since Mind Mapping is being used in business, education, arts, daily life, etc. it would probably benefit most of us out there. So to make it a bit more concrete, there will be several discussion groups in every lesson, one for each of the aforementioned categories and possibly more. So if you are especially interested in applications for business for example, you can read the discussion and experience sharing pages on business and just skim through the rest.

Goals

Now what will you get from all this? Well, the goals of this learning experience on Mind Mapping are for you

• to be able to Mind Map,
• to get introduced to and develop a firm understanding of the Mind Mapping technique and to be able to explain it to others,
• to know what Mind Maps can be used for and to be able to apply it in other areas,
• to get convinced of its usefulness and to be able to convince someone else of the technique,
• to be able to pass the quizzes at the end of each lesson.

Learning materials

How will you learn all this? Well, this learning experience on Mind Mapping will let you share your personal experiences with other Wikiversity participants. You'll be able to read other people's difficulties and tell future readers about your own. You'll be asked to give your opinion and ideas about several subjects. And above all, this wouldn't be a wiki if you couldn't alter the course itself!

Furthermore, you can download

• a presentation (with speaker notes included) for a course on Mind Mapping and the accompanying mind map with the presentation overview,
• a sheet with 10 ways to explain to someone what a Mind Map is,
• a Mind Map overview of this learning experience,
• etc.

Lessons

So where do you start? Well, if you're not yet convinced of Mind Mapping, or you'd like to know how to convince someone else of it's usefulness, start out with lesson 1 on the why of Mind Mapping. If you'd rather go directly to the how of Mind Mapping, then skip forward to lesson 2. If you're interested in a deeper understanding of Mind Mapping and really want to know what it is exactly, then read lesson 3. And finally, if you're looking for specialized applications in business, studying, arts, science, etc. then definitely read lesson 4. You'll be surprised to see how and where some people use Mind Maps. And no learning is complete without a summary, so you can find it in lesson 5.

• Lesson 1: "Do I have a problem then?"
• Lesson 2: "OK, now you made me want to solve it!"
• Lesson 3: "But what am I doing here, exactly?"
• Lesson 4: "Even more problems?"
• Lesson 5: "What did you just say?"

Assignments

What can you expect to be doing? Well, you'll be making your own mind maps, that's for sure! But besides that, you'll also have the following activities and readings available to you during this learning experience.

Activities

• Discussion groups: read what others experienced, felt or had an opinion about and what kind of ideas they had.

Readings

Yes, you learn by reading too! Here are some of the articles and websites referred to during the lessons.

• Wikipedia's article on Mind Mapping
• etc.

References

Additional helpful readings include:

• The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps, Tony Buzan, ISBN 0-00-721291-7. It covers the basis of mind mapping in a book that at least you can say is colorful.
• A interesting survey of the uses of Mind Mapping in business. You get to see how mind mapping software and mind maps in general are used in real life.

Active participants

Active participants in this Learning Group

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