Mapping ideas.

Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
Number of replies: 31

I asked earlier both in Wave & the Scope Moodle about how we were using collaborative tools with peers - and was a little surprised that none of you answered - maybe it was too much of an obvious question! ( SCoPE - Collaborative Tools and peers. )

As I'd also asked about Tools (which moved towards pedagogies), I thought I'd try with a tool that I really feel uncomfortable with ... MindMapping - to try to summarise the key points. Mindmapping's one of those things that I know suits a lot of people, and it's something I encourage my students to use, though I don't really like them myself - especially not in a collaborative sense; I can just about cope with them from a personal organisational pointof view. Given, however, that I've also said that I feel it's very hard to really encourage students to use techniques that I'm not happy with, I figured that this was the ideal opportunity for you to all encourage me to see the benefits of collaborative? cooperative? mindmapping.

I've put it in MindMeister - & have set the password as moodle - so hopefully you can all have a go at editing it (please do!) - but anyone just finding it can't destroy it too much :)

http://www.mindmeister.com/44197657/scope-collaboration-seminar


In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers -
Dear Emma,
When I openned it -- nothing was in the mindmap. I'm sure there is suppose to be what you said you put there. Perhaps it got erased accidently or not saved, I don't know, but I can't see anything.
Jo Ann
In reply to Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
I wonder if that occurred because I was editing it at the time you looked? I just checked and it is still there, so I didn't delete it.
In reply to Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers

Re: Mapping ideas.

by E.A. Draffan -
I like Mindmeister for sharing ideas with colleagues and I have to admit I have added branch to your map Emma! I am attaching a jpg of my effort in case it is blank for anyone else - shows how you export from Mindmeister. I have used several online mind mapping tools (sorry they are all on Web2access and Freemind is a good one (if you do not want too many features) as it is free.

I have evaluated quite a few mind or concept mapping applications having worked with dyslexic students who often find them helpful. A list can be found on Emptech but I am revisiting about 10 applications for a talk I am giving in May so in a week or two I will be up to date with the main differences between them all. It really comes down to the ability to use the keyboard to quickly get down ideas or how you can change the look and feel and whether the end result can be viewed as an outline and what you do with the export menu!
Attachment SCoPE_Collaboration_Seminar.jpg
In reply to E.A. Draffan

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Jo Ann Hammond-Meiers -
Dear E.A.,

Thanks for sharing Web2access and Freemind and for showing you scope Collaboration mindmeister. This information really helps me see what is our there and learn how you organize this kind of information.
Jo Ann
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
My apologies in the process of learning to add items to mindmeister I deleted one of you items under Tools.

I am a great fan of mindmapping, we use the concept a lot in medicine, but I haven't had very much experience with it collaboratively. Our students use illness scripts (medical mindmaps) as an effective study tool when they need to remember 1000's of complex interactions. My favourite mindmapping guru is Mindmap Art.
In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
Don't worry about that - it was only Jane Knight's list of tools, but you've probably got most of them in your list and/or Robin's list.

Perhaps we've just discovered one of the weaknesses of Mindmeister; difficulty of reverting to an earlier version if you accidentally alter it. But, in this case, it doesn't really matter.

I've not tried Mindmap art.


In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Norah Andrew -

Thanks for sharing this on a mind map even though it is not your favourite tool. Not mine either but I do see the potential.And the resources are amazing.

Norah

In reply to Norah Andrew

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't really like them; I just know so many evangelists they make me feel a bit odd that I don't really find they do much for me. But I can see the use at times :)
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
I teach a lot of sessions about mindmapping and I find that visual people like mindmaps but auditory/kinaesthetic people don't find them useful. Maybe that is your issue.
In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
That's probably true - for, much as I dislike those labels (I vary in the way I like to work - it depends on what I'm doing, whether it's Tuesday mid-day / the end of Friday etc, etc!) I guess it would also explain why SecondLife doesn't do much for me, though colleagues really like it!
In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Nick Kearney -
How do you identify the visual people?
In reply to Nick Kearney

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Colby Stuart -
We're usually the ones drawing, charting and trying to aggregate all the various bits of contributions into a format that allows others to see what's really going on or being said.

This act of visualisation can aid others in putting the pieces of the puzzle together - if done well. It can also help with the sheer boredom of listening to others drone on endlessly - but I think that might be called doodling.

How much do other people use visualisation?

Check out the info-graphics produced by Brian Solis on Flickr, for examples.
In reply to Deirdre Bonnycastle

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Paul Beaufait -

Deirdre's findings that "visual people like mindmaps but auditory/kinaesthetic people don't" (12 March 2010) continues to intrigue me. At first it was the contrast or distinction she draws between "visual" and other intelligences, and then the conjunction of "auditory/kinaesthetic", that made me wonder about other combinations like visual/spatial and perhaps a more familiar spatial/kinaesthetic.

After stewing on it a bit, and reading the follow-ups by Emma, Nick and Colby, I'm stuck thinking about skills contributing to "ease of use and accessibility", a branch that Emma, I believe, added to the concept map she started some time ago. It dawns on me now that liking concept maps could constitute a bundle of:

a) liking reading maps, that is having had positive experiences interpreting and understanding them;

b) liking drawing them, or just doodling, as Colby suggests (16 March 2010); and

c) liking affordances and constraints of computer- or web-based mapping tools.

One reason, I believe, that automobile navigation systems caught on in such a big way is many people need maps read for them, because map reading is a skill just like any other they disuse and lose or loathe to develop. Another, like the web compared to papers, is the hyper-textual and hyper-visual richness of digitized maps compared to their creased and crumpled cousins that used to reside (maybe still do) in automobile glove boxes or side door pockets.

Then come the skills of drawing maps and elaborating upon them, which, like most skills, take years to develop and hone toward perfection. If I may (re-)turn for a moment to a pedagogical point of view, I'd like to ask: Aren't those skills that educators are bundling, or will bundle, within early childhood curricula? If so, doing it with computers may or may not, as the case may be (depending upon preference and available resources), be like icing on the cake.

Deirdre's role, I gather, is andragogical rather than pedagogical. In twenty years time, let's hope, the sessions she runs to introduce adults to concept mapping will be as necessary as introducing fish to water.

In reply to Paul Beaufait

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
"andragogical rather than pedagogical" I once had the great pleasure to attend a 1 week seminar with Malcolm Knowles in the 1970's which began my reexamination of teaching as a profession.
In reply to Paul Beaufait

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Nick Kearney -
Curious, I was reflecting on the poverty of satellite navigation this weekend. I was taught with the detailed Ordnance Survey maps of the UK. You can look at these and practically see the landscape. Compared to this richness for me using the system was like being led blindfolded. And frustrating therefore.

I wonder if the resistance I encounter frequently to the idea of mind maps is not a question of cognitive styles, but rather that many, whatever their "style" have their way of "mapping" the terrain. Each to their own, like handwriting. Early childhood curricula should perhaps teach us different ways of organising and relating concepts. And as long as we find a way that is comfortable to us, and more comprehensible than the average doctor's scribbled prescription, then vive la difference?

Mind you, my doctor has taken to typing....

In reply to Nick Kearney

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -

Nick Kearney wrote,

wonder if the resistance I encounter frequently to the idea of mind maps is not a question of cognitive styles, but rather that many, whatever their "$:style" have their way of "mapping" the terrain.

Quite possibly! I know I've always been somewhat sceptical of the way that 'learning styles' are, in some cases very rigorously applied, after all, I'm sure most of us have differing preferences depending on the time of the day, subject, weather, no known reason, etc!

(I also know what you mean about OS maps giving you a very rich picture & visualisation of the landscape - scary how many today rely on satnav & couldn't find their way without one).
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Paul Beaufait -
First off, I'd like to note that Ordnance Survey maps sound remarkably similar to USGS topological maps for the US, the basis for maps you can load onto hand-held GPS devices often used for back-country or wilderness travel. However, you still need to be able to read such maps to get around. The ones in cars orient themselves, and read to you; some in Japan even show three dimensional views of city buildings and streets, overlaid with bright arrow paths indicating which lane to be in and where to turn!

Next, I'd like to marvel at a resonance I'm picking up between what Nick says about handwriting and mapping styles (17 March 2010, 05:55 PM), and what Emma reminds us with regard to boilerplate-style application of learning styles (18 March 2010, 08:14 AM) to accommodate a variety of, and variations in, learners' preferences.

As a case in point, a colleague sent me back two maps that I'd prepared on related perspectives of a joint project, at different times, with the same mapping tools (IHMC Cmaps), and suggested that visible differences in the mapping styles deserved further exploration.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
<g>
I'm interested to see that someone's added "faculty" use - that's what I was trying to get to with "personal" (hence putting in the quote marks). More than happy to delete it & to use faculty - (as though I think that many of these tools can be used individually, as well as with groups - it's the collaborative we're thinking about). The reason I'd not put in faculty, was because i never thought of it! I've got a way too UK mindset - to me, a "faculty" is a division of a university & faculty staff are those that work centrally (and rarely interact with students).
But, I know that that's a fairly UK centric definition, so more than happy to merge "personal" with faculty.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
People who've added examples - such as the Interinstitutional links - would be really useful to have some information as to the type of tools you used and/or what the artefacts were ... and thinking back to the discussion on collaboration vs. cooperation vs. coordination where you'd see it fitting.

As I've said before, when I've used Wikis / Google sites etc, with students, i've very much felt that it was cooperation, & not collaboration; there was reluctance to edit each others work; tendency to divvy up the tasks etc. (But, they got the job that I wanted done, so in fact it was OK; I probably set the wrong coursework to allow them to really collaborate)
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by E.A. Draffan -
This is rather what the LexDis students said - often if it was having to blog it was because it was part of the course or needed for reflection. They found discussion groups on Blackboard hard to follow and if the subject lines were not clear they really did not enjoy the experience. Google docs was used if they were working on projects together but there always seems to have to be a leader. Same with us when we collaborate on papers! Wikis were as you said a worry when it came to editing other people's work. I suppose with drop box... you write something and then leave it physically for someone to pick up and same with Groove.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
Faculty here use private wikis collaboratively to write articles and plan events and yes they are very happy to rewrite/reorganize/debate other people's work. I actually know more faculty who use wikis in this way than use them with students. All the committees in my college also have wikis but that is more cooperative. Since I believe that collaboration happens over time, I'm hoping that will change.

Our Master's in Public Health requires students to write team papers and use wikis to do this. They are seeing more collaboration at the end of the course, which supports my idea that collaboration evolves and can't be expected in 1 ofs.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deirdre Bonnycastle -
Actually I like Personal and Faculty because my collaborative PLN's are about more than work and I do present at conferences that aren't part of my job. In Canada, faculty usually teach.

Point in fact, my participation in SCoPE is frowned on at work because it is non-medical but I participate out of personal interest.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Jenny Mackness -

Hi Emma - I can't cope with mind-mapping either, although I am very familiar with them and have taught students to use them. My own mind just does not work like this - and what's more I find it difficult to interpret other people's mind maps. But - I do have colleagues that use them brilliantly - and so long as they interpret them for me I find they can really move thinking forward.

The tool that I am used to is Cmap.

Jenny

In reply to Jenny Mackness

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -

Jenny Mackness wrote,

I find it difficult to interpret other people's mind maps.

Yes, I think that's one of the critical things that I find - also that I equally don't expect other people to understand my way of linking thoughts!

That said, I was helping a friend at the weekend design her website & we ended up doing a kind of mind map of all the stuff that she wanted it it. That did make sense & we both had a similar view on the structure. Wonder if it was so easy because we think in broadly similar ways anyway - or if it was what we were trying to do was just pretty obvious. Whatever, it made sense!
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Nick Kearney -
I always thought the whole point of mind maps is that they allow you to view (through a glass darkly) the alien planet inside someone else 's head. They are an instrument for dialogue, part of the process, never the product.
In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Deleted user -
Hi Emma!

Thank you for 'mapping our minds' with this very interesting seminar! The mindmap is fine but I suggest we should add some more details so that anyone (even non-specialists) can understand how it works.

Amor
In reply to Deleted user

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
What details do you want, Amor? Feel free to add them! Afterall, that's what collaboration is all about :)


In reply to Emma Duke-Williams

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Therese Weel -
Came in to take another look at Google Wave today.

Delighted to see how the few people involved have gathered together and the chaordic craziness of the interactions. The word chaordic came to mind immediately.

The mix of chaos and order is often described as a harmonious coexistence displaying characteristics of both, with neither chaotic nor ordered behavior dominating. Some hold that nature is largely organized in such a manner; in particular, living organisms and the evolutionary process by which they arose are often described as chaordic in nature.

Coming back to read the scope forum I'm inspired by what Colby Stuart wrote,

This act of visualisation can aid others in putting the pieces of the puzzle together - if done well. It can also help with the sheer boredom of listening to others drone on endlessly - but I think that might be called doodling.

I'm seeing more value in waves but still struggling with the user interface. So indulge me as I take poetic license, freeing my imagination to provide a visual outside the constraints of blogs, wikis, mindmaps and other currently used interfaces for collaboration.

Perhaps someday someone will create this interface for waves.

Dolphins, whales, brightly colored fish and all things aquatic. Swimming amongst the waves chattering, diving, playing with each other. The waves generate more waves in all directions some waves get bigger some clash with each other, others dissipate. You, the individual, glide, dive and leap amid the waves. As you leap up you see other waves around you. As you dive down you get a close view of who and what is in the wave as well as the quality of the dialogue - how it ebbs and flows. You find a tasty tidbit here an interesting idea over there. Spying some familiar friends you leap off into another wave dropping your pearls of wisdom and chattering away as you swim on to new adventures.

Is this idea out of the box of our current capabilities?

- Well, a girl can dream can't she?

Therese
In reply to Therese Weel

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Colby Stuart -
Therese captures the poetic aspects of a wave of collaboration in a beautiful metaphor about dolphins and wisdom.

The struggle that even dolphins have is the human struggle as well - the interface issue. Wisdom emerges in each being through different experiences. Some may need to swim in a wave. Others may need a visual about the wave. Others might need someone to tell the story about the wave.

Think about all the different interfaces that we need in life to communicate freely and to bring our full intention across. Add to that, each person has a unique perspective and hears through their own filters. A listening resonance.

We are still in infancy when it comes to virtual applications for collaboration. Until we can address the driving issues - like perpectives, filters, mindsets, preferences for visuals or words, and so much more along these lines - we will continue to struggle with our engagements enhanced or limited by the tools' assets.

What really resonates with each of us to facilitate different levels of communication, collaboration and "getting it"? Here is where the real exploration lies. What enhances a wave of sharing, collaboration or desire to discover and learn and gain wisdom?

Any ideas there?

In reply to Therese Weel

Re: Mapping ideas.

by Emma Duke-Williams -
LIke Colby, I'm really impressed with the rich image you've just invoked with your metaphors, Therese.

Just as I was reading this, a student came into my office to ask about his MSc project; one of the ideas he's had is to look at collaborative tools for learning.
I asked him if he'd used Google wave and, like many of us said at the outset, his view was that he'd had a go, but didn't get it; so gave up.

I'm now wondering if I could create a project for him to start to look at how these waves could be gathered together. So many synergies!