The Lay of the Digital Land - Digital Mind Mapping and Its Applications in Third Level Education

Mind mapping is a tool used to visually represent information in an engaging manner, and as a learning technique to develop an intuitive sense of the relationship between ideas and concepts. Research also indicates that mind... [ view full abstract ]

Mind mapping is a tool used to visually represent information in an engaging manner, and as a learning technique to develop an intuitive sense of the relationship between ideas and concepts. Research also indicates that mind mapping in groups results in a more engaged, active learning experience for students.
Using a digital mind map in place of a hand-drawn mind map confers significant benefits such as the ability for on-the-fly editing and online collaboration.
A number of workshops were hosted on the use of digital mind maps with a range of cohorts including first-year school-leaver students, mature students, and doctoral students. A positive response across the student groups indicates that digital mind mapping is a valuable tool regardless of academic experience or digital proficiency.
42 students completed feedback forms on the digital mind mapping tool, with 34 (81%) responding they found the tool "very useful", and 8 (19%) responding they found the tool "somewhat useful."
The workshops explored the use of digital mind maps in a range of academic activities: subject-mapping, brainstorming and idea generation, note-taking, and collaborative group projects. A free online digital mind mapping tool was used in the workshops.
Student feedback indicated that they found the tool most useful for subject-mapping and brainstorming. Students found the digital mind mapping tool particularly useful for developing ideas for assignments and essays. However, students who used the digital mind mapping tool with peers, as opposed to randomly-assigned teammates, also responded very positively to the collaborative group exercise.
Effective use of digital mind mapping software requires training. Because digital mind maps have a broad range of applications, of particular importance to students is the demonstration of mind map use in specific academic activities.