jueves, 31 de marzo de 2011

Always on my mind...

This mini-tutorial is in honour of the great visual thinkers on my PLN - Naomi Epstein, David Dodgson, Jason Renshaw, Jamie Keddie and of course David Warr . It's about making digital mind-maps using Freemind. Part One is about viewing maps, and part Two about creating and modifying them.

Viewing mind maps:

 Modifying and creating mind maps:

Freemind is available here.

A summary of basic commands in Freemind:

1. To move the map, drag the background, not the map itself.
2. To zoom in or out, Ctrl + mouse wheel.
3. Hover over an element to highlight it.
4. Hold Alt to freeze the highlighting so you can move the mouse elsewhere.
5. Highlight, then Insert to add a child node.
6. Highlight, then Enter to add a sibling node.
7. To move a branch, drag and drop to the tail of its new parent.

What you can do with them:

a) Having made a map in class on the board, make a digital version after.
b) With a little familiarity and a decent screen, you can make them live in class.

Having made a digital map you can:

c) Keep in your own archive for future classes.
d) Send to students for their records, or to modify themselves for homework.

By the way, if you want a copy of the Phrasal Verbs map, here's the link in Google Docs.

Edit: I don't think Blogger lets me post files so that viewers can download them directly from here. If somebody knows to the contrary, do let me know.


3 comentarios:

  1. What I most like is that it's dynamic, so students can add to it and make their own versions. Not just for L2 learning, of course, good for study in L1. Is there a paid version? More features? The idea of being able to hide the words paves the way for lots of activities in the classroom. And such a nice commentary too!

    ResponderEliminar
  2. I don't know of commercial versions, but that's just because I haven't looked for them.

    If I get a moment, I will.

    ResponderEliminar
  3. The best version of this I know is Tony Buzan's iMindmap software. You pay for it, but it's really cool, colourful, bendy, and you can stick any kind of file to a branch and sub-branch, including quick voice recordings, xl files, videos... Great for presentations. Free trial for a week... Then you're gonna WANT to buy it...

    ResponderEliminar