MindMeister.

MindMeister is a tool that allows to collaboratively create mind maps and share them online. It can be used for real-time collaboration and brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, from anywhere.

Take this quick tour around mindmeister...


 Jill initially put me onto this resource, she is currently using it as a tool to communicate with her debating team, discussing topics etc. Here is a review of how she has found the resource:

  My Experience with MindMeister: Jill Ewbank

I decided to use this tool to plan a debate with a couple of really bright year 11 students. We needed somewhere we could brainstorm ideas, easily cut and past to and from, and a ‘mind map’ design to help our ideas flow.  I found the website through a simple google search.

Essential Details:

What is it? – A collaborative online mind mapping tool.

Cost – Free for Basic membership, only allows for 3 mind maps and limited exporting options, however can still export as a PDF to save on the computer.

Platforms – There is an App for iPad and iPhone, also an online platform through any browser.

Pros –

As a teacher, it is easy to set up a mind map, the whole interfaces is very usable and quite intuitive. There is a ‘how to’ tutorial you can do to get the most out of the program, however I was a little time poor and skipped this and decided to ‘wing it’. I probably didn’t use every function available, however the students found it very useful.

You also have a great deal of control over what students post up. There is also a chat function associated with the mind map that you can easily look through the history.

Cons –

I tried to use the iPad app, but had a great deal of trouble once the students began to post on the mind map. 

We also had a minor panic when I accidentaly deleted everything the students had written and couldn’t ‘undo’.  However, once I realised that I had to kick the students off the page in order to undo the process this was rectified.

If you only sign up to the ‘basic’ membership, there are limited ways you can export the mind map document, I exported as a PDF simply as a back up.  If you were wanting to cut and paste text, you need to do this directly from the website version of your mind map.

Uses in the classroom –

I used this for a Debate prep, which was 3 students and myself. I don’t feel this would work in large groups as too much would be going on whilst they were collaborating. I do feel it would work in small group work for students to explore an idea, brainstorm and develop strategies or arguments. It would be great to print out the PDF and use as any sort of Evidence for subjects that require this for assessment. One big issue is that you can only ‘own’ 3 maps on the basic membership, which limits your control. If you decided to upgrade your membership there are many more options and much more control. It would be worthwhile for departments to look at an education membership if it is something they feel they could use regularly.

Screen Shots…

This is our mind map, zoomed out quite a bit, you can see how much information we could put up on the map. It is very easy to zoom in and out of the map so you can read through information or focus on different parts of the map. The students decided to colour code certain aspects to make it easier to read.

 A ‘zoomed in’ section of our mind map… clever kids hey!

For those of us who are very…. Visual... there are many themes that help with presentation… one example below.

 The limits for this resource seem to be endless for collaboration and class discussion purposes.

If you would like help implementing or using this resource please do not hesitate to ask!

Shaun