This week we finally had our group presentations. The one that stuck out to me the most was Mindmeister.
I can see myself using this going forward as it allows you to really organize thoughts in a way that makes sense to me. I can not only see myself using this program for organizing my own thoughts and ideas, but I think Mindmeister could prove a useful tool for my classes going forward. For instance, as a biology teacher, I can see this being a really useful way of organizing ideas for my students. I could possibly give them a mind map or idea map to help them understand complex topics from cell physiology to taxonomic concepts.
I really like the fact that you can switch between a mind map and a more traditional list / outline depending on your needs. They serve different purposes with the same information. The one thing I’m not completely crazy about is the fact that you can only have up to three mind maps at a time, so if I were to try to use Mindmesiter in my classes as a teacher I would likely have to pay for the full version. In addition, I played around with the tool myself and found it a little clunky in some ways; it can be a little hard to move your topics / bubbles in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and the presentation mode is a little awkward to use as well.
Ultimately, I think it’s a really good tool for general organization with a couple downfalls. I could see myself trying to use it in the future, but I wonder what other kinds of mind map programs are out there and if they feel a bit more natural to work with?