Pesquisando sobre mapas mentais, (uma metodologia  organizada e eficaz de realizar brainstorm,  que se vale de estudos que visam entender como o nosso cérebro faz as sinapses, e com base nestes estudo tem uma metodologia para facilitar a escrita de um brainstorm, de maneira que as idéias se tornem mais acessíveis), encontrei o seguinte site: www.text2mindmap.com.

Já trabalhei antes com softwares de mind map, mas todos no formato tradicional, ou seja, aqueles que você baixa o arquivo e instala no seu computador.

A grande diferença deste  em especifico é que tudo pode ser feito on-line, ou seja, se produz o mind map on-line, formata ele com a cores e tamanho de forma desejados, e quando estiver pronto o site gera um arquivo em jpg para que você possa enviar o brainstorm para quem quiser.

Veja o mapa que eu produzi em alguns minutos:

mind map de confraternização

When I am teaching Mind Mapping I often get my delegates to think about their future. If you are thinking about where you want to be in 6, 9, 12 months time then producing a Mind Map might help you get a clear plan of action. You might see connections and links between areas of your life that you have not noticed before.

Planning your future

Relationships always require work! Some people are better than others at developing and maintaining relationships.

I read an article by Kathy Berman which highlighted tips for success. Kathy uses Mind Maps but had not used one in this article so I decided that I would produce a version which might be of use when counseling a client.

If you are interested I can supply a high quality laminated copy of this Mind Map at cost plus postage. Please contact me for more information.

Effective Relationship Mind Map

I’ve used a site called Mind42.com to create a mind map of nearly everything in the guide. I will keep fleshing it out as I continue and as I add to the guide. You can see the mind map at the link below

Ready for Zombies

Feel free to add suggestions

Until next time, be ready

I have for many years had a dream to have a home built and as I get older that dream is becoming a strong desire.

My taste leans towards minimalistic design, I have never been one for nick-knacks and ornamental finishes. I love clean and uncluttered.

My favourite historical architect is Frank Lloyd Wright, (1876-1959) and of all his work Fallingwater is, for me, simply beautiful. The way in which the design has become part of it’s environment, and from the interior one is drawn into the exterior landscape.

I am determined to turn my dream into a reality and although my funds do not stretch to engaging an Architect of Frank Lloyd Wright’s fame, my early searches have led to the discovery of some very interesting, affordable and achievable building options.

I recently stumbled upon an Australian House Manufacturer Modak. They claim to produce energy efficient, fire, quake and cyclone proof house kits. Although this option is unlikely to be available in my hemisphere I am keen to look further at how they achieve the style and energy rating and how this fits with my dream house.

I have started to jot down my thoughts and my first Mind Map will serve as my starting point. I plan to delve deeper into each branch of thought so that I can collate my fact finding information and help move my thinking process forward towards my goal of a Dream Home.

Click on the Mind Map to see full screen

For years people have used what have become known as ‘question kits’, some by planning them others just by ‘doing’. When I am running a study skills workshop I will always get the students to consider the questions that they need to ask. Eventually they will arrive at the common:

• When?
• Where?
• Who?
• Why?
• What?
• How?

If you apply this to most questioning situations you will see how the application works effectively.

Question Kit used in study skills workshops

Paul Foreman has used a similar idea which I really like as well…

Solution finder by Paul Foreman

Paul’s solution is a Visual Map of ‘how to find a solution’ using the same questions.

Watch the news and see people being interviewed, the questions are the same. Listen to a Crime drama on the radio and the questions are the same.  We all use these questions when we are trying to find the answers to problem, question, how or when something needs to be done.

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday’s webinars. I had a great time talking with Jim about Organizing and Connecting Ideas and Information, and I hope you had fun listening and adding your ideas. If you missed it, links to the recordings are on the Webcasts page of this site.

We asked two questions early in the webinar about the kinds of writing you do and the kinds of writing you ask your students to do. I thought it would interesting to compare the two so I collected all the responses from the chat boxes and made Wordles so we could compare.

Here are the responses to What kinds of writing do you do?

And here are the responses to What kinds of writing do you ask your students to do?

We looked at some tools for helping students organize ideas and information. Below are some resources for helping you learn more about these:

Graphic Organizers and Mind Maps

• Bubbl.us – Web tool that can be used without creating an account.
• Free Mind – Documentation
• OmniGraffle – Tutorials

Lists and Outlines

• Word Processing Programs
  • Pages – Using outline templates and outline feature (video)
  • NeoOffice – Guide to Outlining
• OmniOutliner – Tutorials
• NoteShare -
  • AquaMinds Learning Center 
  • The Well-Organized Student

Storyboards

• Keynote – How to Create a Storyboard (eHow)
• Comic Life 
  • Comic Life in Education
  • Plasq Forums

If you are interested in the Student Research Guide notebook, you can download it from the ACTEM NoteShare server. It’s in the Barbara Greenstone Collection. If you need directions for accessing notebooks on this server, please send me an email message.

Ideas and Resources Harvested From the Webinar Chats

• Some students organize information in their heads before they start writing.
• New Yorker cartoon about organization (mentioned by Jim)
• MaineLiteracy Portaportal page
• Resources from Greece, NY
• The 2.0 Beta of bubbl.us is very stable, and can embed URLs in the nodes.
• “When I write I use both mapping and informal outlines.  The web helps me get started–to generate ideas, see connections, etc. Then I go to an informal outline to organize as I start to draft.  Thus I have learned to be more flexible when working with young writers–need to know our students to know how to help them work through the process of writing.”
• Give students experience in a variety of tools rather than assuming they will always use the one they use first…
• Venn diagram classic GO for compare/contrast
• This tool (Bubbl.us) would be great in brainstorming a new unit! 
  •  yes, very helpful at uncovering kids’ prior knowledge as well as gaps
• “One of my students showed me OmniGraffle.  She was quite pleased to discover it before me.”
• Social Studies students could use this to outline govermental structures (or any other kinds) and include that in their presentations.
  • and exported as images, placed in iPhoto, useful across many apps.
• That’s pretty cool (keystrokes in OmniGraffle) because the interface is pretty busy – so you don’t have to even click on any of those buttons in the toolbar 
• Everyone should use the ACTEM NoteShare server!
• Helping students to think metaphorically about the topic/ideas can also provide a stucture for the text.
• Using visual images first is often an ice breaker for reluctant writers!
• Or their cell phone cameras – they’re an amazing resource (to document field trips).
• Can use presenters notes in Keynote for text and slide for images.  Kind of like a storyboard

Thoughts about synthesis:

• Students are more likely to think deeply and create something new when they care about the topic.
• We have to give them repeated opportunities to do this, to have conversations that have real implications.
• Challenge based learning – make it real! http://ali.apple.com/cbl/
• Examples of “making it real”
  • Interviews with older people or with a career person.
  • 7th graders published and illustrated picture books for first graders
  • “Last year my Mandarin classes wrote captions in foreign languages for photos of school events.  We published a few pages of these in the school paper and had readers guess what they meant.  English answers were on another page.”
  • Making a movie about cells and how they work for 5th graders
  • Storyboards and scripts
• Thinking of Bloom’s Taxonomy and cognitive skills
• We have many great tools to make those ideas “whole.” Keynote, iWeb,iMovie, iDVD, Garageband and podcasts to name a few. The variety of the tools gives learners the motivation and the control. The greater learner control, the more meaningful the content is to the learner and the longer the information stays with them.

Tentang Peta Pikiran (Mind Map)

Sebuah inovasi terbaru dalam jagad raya pengetahuan manusia telah lahir dengan segala kesederhanaannya, namun merupakan produk paling canggih yang pernah lahir dari otak manusia, peta pikiran (mind map).

Apa itu peta pikiran? Sebenarnya di zaman teknologi canggih bernama internet, segala informasi terbaru sudah tidak sulit lagi untuk diperoleh, dari pelosok dunia mana pun selama ada jaringannya. Begitu pula dengan penemuan peta pikiran.

Peta pikiran ditemukan oleh Tony Buzan, seorang pengarang yang melahirkan banyak karya mengenai sistem kerja otak manusia, terutama otak kanan. Dan hasil penemuannya ini telah dipakai jutaan orang di seluruh dunia. Mulai dari para atlet kelas dunia dalam kejuaraan-kejuaraan internasional, para pengusaha kelas kakap, sampai mahasiswa, pelajar, dan ibu rumah tangga. Bahkan mungkin juga para pengangguran yang sedang fokus mencari pekerjaan dan menata hidupnya agar mencapai masa depan ideal, lewat peta pikiran ini.

Fungsi Peta Pikiran

Dalam buku karya Tony Buzan ini diterangkan beberapa fungsi peta pikiran untuk:

• Menjadi lebih kreatif
• Menghemat waktu
• Memecahkan masalah
• Berkonsentrasi
• Mengatur dan menjernihkan pikiran
• Lulus ujian dengan nilai baik
• Mengingat dengan baik
• Belajar lebih cepat dan efisien
• Belajar dengan lebih mudah
• Melihat gambaran “keseluruhan”
• Membuat rencana
• Berkomunikasi
• Bisa tetap bertahan hidup!

Eksplorasi Otak Manusia via Peta Pikiran

Dalam peta pikiran, sistem bekerja otak diatur secara alami. Otomatis kerjanya pun sesuai dengan kealamian cara berpikir manusia. Peta pikiran membuat otak manusia ter-eksplor dengan baik, dan bekerja sesuai fungsinya. Seperti kita ketahui, otak manusia terdiri dari otak kanan dan otak kiri. Dalam peta pikiran, kedua sistem otak diaktifkan sesuai porsinya masing-masing.

Maka dengan menggunakan sistem peta pikiran, kedua sistem otak bekerja sejalan. Tidak berat sebelah, sehingga bisa ter-eksplor dengan baik.

Peta pikiran sangat mudah dipraktikkan dalam setiap kegiatan sehari-hari. Bahkan untuk hal-hal yang bersifat pribadi sekalipun. Misalnya menggunakan peta pikiran untuk merencanakan kegiatan keluarga. Peta pikiran diletakkan dalam suatu tempat, yang di keluarganya dianggap sebagai pusat kegiatan keluarga, dan merupakan tempat di mana peta pikirannya semakin sering dijumpai, pintu lemari es.

Peta Pikiran Sebagai Situs Pribadi

Peta pikiran tak beda dengan sistem komputer buatan manusia. Dalam peta pikiran, komputernya sendiri adalah otak manusia. Karenanya tiap orang tentulah memiliki apa yang namanya situs pribadi. Bedanya peta pikiran tak terbatas dan mampu mempunyai sistem memori yang super canggih melebihi sistem komputer secanggih apa pun. Tentu saja, bukankah otak manusia buatan Tuhan memang bagaikan ruang tak berbatas?

Maka bila kita ingin menggali kembali informasi-informasi yang pernah tersimpan, ataupun menerima informasi-informasi baru, maka otak kita ibaratnya situs pribadi yang siap bekerja menampung semuanya. Namun adakalanya, kita tidak mampu menggali kembali segala informasi yang pernah mampir dikarenakan keterbatasan daya ingat.

Maka dengan adanya peta pikiran, membantu kita untuk lebih fokus dalam menggali kembali serta menyaring informasi apa saja yang ingin kita ambil kembali. Peta pikiran mengajarkan kita untuk berpikir secara praktis dengan cara yang sesederhana mungkin, namun teratur dan meminimalisir kekacauan arus informasi yang ingin kita ambil dalam situs pribadi kita, otak kita sendiri.

Para Pengguna Peta Pikiran

Saat ini para pengguna peta pikiran sudah tersebar luas. Peta pikiran disosialisasikan ke segala bidang kegiatan. Gunanya apalagi kalau bukan untuk membantu setiap orang dapat mencapai target-targetnya dengan cara yang sederhana mungkin, namun rapi, teratur, dan tentunya fokus. Bahkan dalam bidang olahraga peta pikiran telah membantu banyak atlet meraih prestasinya. Sekali lagi, peta pikiran hadir untuk menyederhanakan sistem bekerja otak manusia yang konvensional, cenderung monoton. Peta pikiran hadir dengan keceriaan warna-warni, asosiasi manusia terhadap masalah atau informasi yang ada, serta cara bekerja yang efisien.

Para pengguna peta pikiran dapat segera membedakan betapa rencana-rencana mereka lebih terarah. Dengan demikian membuat hidup mereka lebih berarti dan terencana dengan baik. Peta pikiran mengajarkan kita untuk fokus pada apa yang sedang kita pikirkan dan rencanakan. Maka para pengguna peta pikiran cenderung lebih sederhana cara berpikir dan kerjanya, karena mereka tak lagi tumpang tindih dalam menjalankan visi dan misinya. Pengguna peta pikiran daya kreativitasnya cenderung meningkat, karena otak mereka ter-eksplor dengan baik. Memungkinkan mereka untuk lebih banyak menciptakan karya yang tak terbayangkan.

Sumber: http://ksupointer.com/2009/mind-map-untuk-meningkatkan-kreativita

Organize those ideas!

How can we help our students pull together all the pieces from their brainstorming, research, and other pre-writing activities to begin writing a draft? This is the question we will explore in this week’s webinar, Organizing and Connecting Ideas and Information. We’ll take a close look at NoteShare and its organizing features and investigate two mind-mapping tools on the MLTI image, FreeMind and OmniGraffle. We’ll also look at some free, online tools and discuss other organizing strategies like story boarding with Comic Life. We’ll end with a discussion of synthesis and how we can help students connect and build on others’ ideas to create something new. And, as always, we’ll invite participants to share their experiences, ideas, and resources.

My special guest presenter this week will be Jim Moulton.

Jim Moulton

Many of you are familiar with Jim’s work as a teacher and presenter at numerous state, national, and international conferences. Currently Jim is a Professional Development Specialist for Apple Inc., working right here in Maine with us at MLTI. You may also know Jim as a writer. His articles and blog posts have inspired teachers around the world and he currently has two published books, Talking With Teachers and Computers Can, Computers Can’t… It’s a pleasure to have Jim bring his expertise as a teacher and a writer to our discussion.

Please join us Thursday, November 19 at 3:15 or 7:15 (or both!). Click on the WebCasts tab at the top of this page to find links for registration and directions for joining the webinar.

Organize those ideas! – Illustration by Ann Marie Quirion Hutton

So, thanks to llamacroft I was introduced to a new web2.0 tool recently called Wordle.  This site will analyze any group of words you give it and create a visual word map for you.  What is that?  Well, it is similar to the “Tag Cloud” you see to the right of my blog.  Still not getting it?  Ok, basically they take all the words in what you provide (in my case, my The Verve Path blog) and count how many times each word is listed.  The more times it is listed, the more relevant it is determined to be, and the larger it is in the “map”.  They then take these words or varying sizes (because they are varying degrees of relevance) and display them in a visually appealing way.  Blah blah blah, I know, but this is really cool!!  I am on a path of discovery right?  Well, isn’t one of the ways of determining where to go, is to first see where you’ve been?  What a great way to do this!

When you look at my Wordle, the three largest words are Time, Life, Women.  WOW… I couldn’t have said it better myself. (Except, actually I did I suppose).  That is exactly what I feel focused on.  Following closely are Babies, Mothers, Much, Moment, and Need.  When I look at my Wordle, I feel like it really is a snapshot of me.  It is similar to how I felt when I was in high school and we had to do those magazine collages where you find images and cut them out and paste them together to tell about you.  I relate to it and think this is such a good visual of who I am!

The Verve Path Wordle Display

So, if this is my past, what do I want my future to look like?  I think in the next few months my Wordle will change.  I hope to see more “Goals”, “Success”, “Happiness”, and “Content”.  How about you?  What do you want your Wordle to say about you?

November 11th, 2009 Mallorca, Spain: Developer Tragnarion Studios, creator of the magical NDS title “Doodle Hex”, are back with the announcement of its first iPhone and iPod Touch game, “Map My Mind”.
Map My Mind is one of the most innovative and playable trivia puzzle games to hit the iPhone and iPod Touch to date. Its original gameplay and huge number of questions will be a true challenge for anyone to overcome.

The game:
Offers single player modes as well as online leader boards which will allow the players to measure how much they know about a given subject and compare themselves to other players in their region, country or even around the world.

By using the power of mind maps, Map My Mind puts player’s knowledge and brain to test with themed maps requiring exploring the relationships between concepts to solve trivia puzzles and establish himself as the true king of sports, movies, history or any other trivia that you can imagine.

Miguel Font, Lead Designer for “Map My Mind” at Tragnarion Studios said: “Map My Mind manages to achieve a good balance between a pure trivia and a board game. The fact that each map is unique both in layout and genre of its questions allows us to present the player with a new experience every time they try out a different map. Map My Mind is coming together really well on the iPhone and iPod Touch and it is especially well suited for this platform. The game’s mechanics, the control method as well as the interface mold perfectly to the iPhone and iPod Touch and the art looks simply amazing”.

Map My Mind will come with a huge number of questions and 20 maps to keep you entertained for hours; Do you have any particular interests? Map My Mind will also feature extra downloadable map packs to satisfy your appetite and will be available at launch via the Apple Store.

For more information please visit www.mapmymindthegame.com, Facebook & Twitter. The site delivers screenshots, teaser and the full explanation of the features of this game that will provide the player with an unforgettable gaming experience.

Map My Mind will be released for iPhone and iPod Touch beginning of December 2009.

Unduh mind map buku How to Win Friends and Influence People oleh Dale Carnegie.

Bukan contoh mind map yang baik dan benar, karena dulunya “mind map” ini dibuat hanya dalam rangka me-review aplikasi-aplikasi mind mapping gratisan. Referensinya pun bukan dari buku aslinya tapi dari ringkasan yang dibuat seseorang di jagat internet Tapi karena ada request dari beberapa teman di facebook akhirnya saya cari-cari lagi file ini di hardisk saya untuk di-share. Bukan berarti saya udah nerapin smua yang ada dari buku ini lho. Untuk tipe orang seperti saya, menerapkan hal-hal yang ada di buku ini tidak semudah membalikkan telapak tangan. Butuh tenaga dan usaha yang enggak kecil

“Mind map” ini berisi poin-poin penting yang ada dalam buku ini dan beberapa diantaranya dilengkapi dengan contoh yang terkait. Ambil yang baik-baiknya aja ya. Semoga bermanfaat,

Oia, kalau mau melihat versi live-nya bisa juga dibuka di alamat ini.

 To get a fun introduction to mind map concepts  take a look at :

MindManager on Youtube

I’m finding this month to be busier than originally expected. That is a good thing because I am immersing myself in my studio. Unfortunately I am not keeping up with the blog as often as I would like. So here is a little update.

New Approach to Tracking Studio Time

In my post summarizing Chapter 2 of Standing at Water’s Edge, I mentioned how I often cringe at the word “productive.” The word carries a bit of baggage for me due to my previous job as a Speech-Language Pathologist. Anyways, I realized that my previous approach to keeping track of time in the studio was also a hindrance.

This week I gave up on keeping track of every little thing I did in the studio.  Instead, I track time on my daily priority and to-do list. It has simplified the process significantly. It means I keep my time and tasks all in one place (ah, simplicity.) And I feel less self-imposed pressure to look and be productive.

Old Studio Time Log

New Studio Time Log

With the new studio time log, everything is on one page; my appointments for the day/week, priorities for the day, and a to-do list. And if I’m really good, I’ll add habits to remember, such as exercising and drinking water, and non-habits, such as spending too much time on Twitter or mindless busyness.

Mind Map

Prior to making this change I also wrote out my first ever mind-map. I have a long term goal to have my fine art in 10 fine art galleries. Creating a mind-map gave me a tangible, visible map for all the tasks I need to work on to reach this goal. Mind-mapping is neat because you can drill down to the smallest task you can think of in order to reach a goal. And you can add and expand the mind-map as needed.

After creating this mind-map, I took small tasks from the larger goals and created my list of goals for the month. I also looked at my schedule this month and, working backwards from specific dates, wrote tasks to be completed on the calendar. This whole approach gave me a great feeling of clarity at the beginning of the month and decreased the feeling of overwhelm that can easily creep up on me.

Back Update

About three weeks ago I started physical therapy to heal my herniated discs. I also had an appointment with a neurosurgeon who reviewed my MRI results and concluded that I am not a candidate for back surgery now or in the near future. (Yipee!) The herniated discs are not very big. The disc between L4-5 is the primary problem child; however, physical therapy has made a significant improvement in my level of pain. In fact, I have very little pain these days. In about three weeks, I’ve gone from having leg pain and cramping that would start soon after walking to having no pain whether I walk 1/3 of a mile or 3 miles!

The physical therapist uses a technique called the McKenzie Technique which essentially teaches you how to control and understand your body and your pain. In my case, we worked on back bending movements first to strengthen the back and to get the disc to return to its normal position and then we worked on forward bending movements. It really has been awesome because I felt a noticeable improvement in about 3 days.

Book Update

With this busy schedule I’m a bit behind on my own reading. I finished Chapter 4 in Standing at Water’s Edge this morning and will post a summary early next week.