OpenMind and it’s use in the Educational Setting

Judy has asked me to write an update, so here goes!

My Year 8 class has now had two lessons in the ICT room. They were introduced to OpenMind in the first lesson, and were given a print out off an OpenMind map that they could use as a template – I didn’t have time to save one on the school’s VLE (or whatever you can call the Topics folder!) earlier for them. Some copied it almost word for word to begin with, others were more imaginative from the word go. Very quickly, they were adding smileys and changing the colour and style of the branches. Some began populating the map during that first lesson.

In the second lesson, most pupils began to use Google to find the answers to the questions they had put on their maps. I showed a few students how to add comments, and they were able to show their friends. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken taken my memory stick with me, so I wasn’t able to save any of their maps – I will try and remember to do that next lesson!

My Year 7s had a late start to the lesson because of a double booking in our original ICT room, so they were high as kites by the time we got into the room! However, we eventually got logged on, and again, some pupils got off the ground really quickly, while others took longer. A couple of pupils who are really quiet during lessons really shone, which was great. I think they appreciated having the chance to sit and quietly get on with some work by themselves without being distracted by the others.

One or two were asking if they could get straight on to the Powerpoint presentation, but I explained that their presentation would be much better if they planned it first, and that OpenMind was helping them to order their thoughts, and they seemed quite happy.

I will try and save some maps next time to share, and will let you know how the next lesson goes. I am interested in the transition from OpenMind to spresent …

I think I’ve written a comment about this already, but thought that there was no harm in adding a post that others might want to comment on.

I am beginning a three lesson long project with my Year 7 class on Tuesday. During this lesson, they will learn how to use OpenMind, will be shown a couple of examples (which they can use to start them off if they want) and will begin planning their research. At the moment, my idea is that they will then use the following lessons to complete their research and produce a presentation (using spresent). If they want, they could convert their OpenMind map into a word document as a supplement.

I suppose it’s a case of “watch this space” to find out how successful we are!

I started the same project with a Year 8 class last week, and they have picked up OpenMind very quickly. I was impressed. Let’s hope it’s the same with the Year 7s!

I have just been sent a newsletter re MindMapping which includes a review of OpenMind 2 BE.  Our Transformation Teachers don’t have this version yet!!! nevertheless I think the review is well worth reading and can be found by clicking this link. I hope this it useful.   Please contactme with any sample of OpenMind mind maps that you have produced.

I thought you might be interested in the results from Chuck Frey’s latest mind mapping software survey .

I have been a fan of OpenMind since it was released, in fact I think that Haringey City Learning Centre was one of the first places to purchase a site licence. David Kidd at Matchware, please confirm…… What I think is lacking is a collection of opinions about OpenMind and how it is used in education in the UK. I am looking for examples of how OpenMind has been used and sample outcomes! Please add to this blog ….. contribute to it and help me to build an exemplar site about the use of this powerful package in our classrooms.

There is a website on Mind Mapping that covers reviews of most of the mind mapping software available out there. Click here to read it. There is a new version of OpenMind 2 called the Business Edition and the review of this site needs reading.

One of the participants on the Transformation Teachers Programme in Haringey published her first exploration into OpenMind and you can see this by following this link.