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Home » Methods » Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping

up to 15, 15-25, 25+
medium
30-60 minutes
  • Digital whiteboard: Miro or Mural
  • Video conferencing: Zoom, Microsoft Teams etc.
Best Practices

Explanation of the method

  1. Introduce the method briefly to use time efficiently.
  2. Explain the main concept of your study. Give participants 5 minutes to think about the main concept.
  3. Share a whiteboard with participants and remind them to use colours, shapes, symbols, or pictures to increase visuality.
  4. Write the main concept in the centre of the whiteboard with a visual image.
  5. Find the key concepts that are related with main idea.
  6. Write the critical concepts with their images and link them with main concept. Use colourful links to increase creativity. Ordering the keywords clockwise will make thinking more accessible.
  7. Continue to link minor key concepts related with each key concept and try to visualize every minor idea. You will see the links between related concepts when the mind map is completed.

Advantages

  • Links between conceptual structures that were thought to be unrelated emerge.
  • Visualizing ideas increases retention.
  • Mind maps can be updated at any time.
  • You can find many examples on internet.
  • Increases creativity and allows cooperation.

Disadvantages

  • Mind maps are great for organising simple to somewhat complex thoughts but may not work for complicated topics.
  • Mind maps are nonlinear, which might be a problem when working with linear or chronological material like historical timelines.
  • Different people may perceive the same mind map differently, causing collaboration issues.

Advice from practice

  • Use colours, pictures, different shapes, symbols, images in your map.
  • Selection of key concepts is important.
  • It will be useful to order key concepts clockwise direction
Please note that the tools and methods were created as of August 2024 and all Miro Boards are editable.
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