http://mind42.com/

The basics

Mind42 is a browser-based free mindmapping application which allows private, public or group shared maps to be created. Nodes are automatically arranged in space, but each node can be enriched with colours, icons, links to websites, notes and so on. Collaboration is easily arranged, using email addresses to invite viewers or participants.

Slides

Presenting the key affordances and possible uses of Mind42:

mind42 – great collaborative mapping of ideas

Video

Discussion and live demonstration of slides:

What is great

Mindmapping is a well-established technique for brainstorming ideas, reviewing concept structures and planning presentations, report and papers. However, Mind42 makes mind-mapping a very different kind of process, with two key advantages. First, Mind42 has excellent collaboration tools built in, including native Skype chat integration, enabling several people to work on a map in realtime, not just making changes but also discussing them (thus getting around one key problem with collaborative distributed work — how to get coherence among individually distinct inputs to a collective product). Second, and in common with many online mindmapping applications, the digital environment makes mindmaps a potential end product, rather than a planning or thinking aid. In other words, via the Internet, mindmaps can become the final expression of knowledge work and, in using this alternative format, perhaps enable learning that is more effective than having to write essays and so on.

An example (only partially complete) of Mind42′s style is below (use the controls to move around the map and collapse / expand it):

Scenarios for using this tool

Mindmapping for essay preparation

In a large first-year unit taught fully online on Australian popular culture, the mindmapping technique is used as the basis for two assignments, so as to reinforce and extend both learning the skill of mapping and its use with other people. In preparation for the first assignment, a traditional essay which asks ‘what makes someone ‘Australian’?’ students are required to prepare a simple mindmap, using Mind42 of the key ideas in their essay and the logical connections between them. The mindmap is submitted along with the essay and feedback is provided on the degree to which the map and essay have worked together. A screencast on how to use the software, and notes and explanations on the idea of mindmapping are provided during the assignment period. During the second part of the unit, small groups of students are formed to do a collaborative task of mapping Australian popular culture with instructions on how to use the features of the software (especially notes, documents and links) to create an interactive ‘map’ of the way they see popular culture. Student groups are left to organise how they will manage the collaboration, but are prompted to use the in-built features of the website. The final submission occurs by presenting the map online, publicly, along with a report on any challenges the group faced.

Mind42:

can work both for individuals and groups;

can enable exported and embedded mindmaps; and

will require some learning of how mindmaps work and what they do – the technology is easy but the ideas less so.

Mindmap as conceptual scaffold

In an advanced undergraduate unit in physiotherapy looking at the diagnosis and treatment of hand injuries, a unit controller develops a mindmap which expresses the 10 main injuries with which patients normally present. Each of these injuries is a node. Students not only work in clinical settings to manage such injuries under supervision, but must also collaboratively map the decision making process using the iconic and text features of Mind42 to indicate the type of relations between the nodes. Students must add links to relevant online information, examples of such injuries, and upload a document which details their own treatment of such an injury in the unit. The map is exported regularly by the unit controller to her blogsite which students can access; she comments on the developing map suggesting changes and additions.

Mind42:

can be the basis for a collaborative project between teacher and students;

has rich features for annotating, categorising and creating depth of content; and

is digital, so the information is easily changed and updated.

Alternatives

There are many alternative mind-mapping tools, though Mind42 has many advantages over them. You could also look at Freemind, a great open-source product, but one that must be downloaded, rather than used online. More direct equivalents of Mind42 include Mindmeister, Bubbl.us and Wisemapping. There are many others which require payment to get the most useful features. For this reason, Mind42 is by far the best available solution, especially for collaborative work.