Week 10 - Tech Tools for Critical Thinking

This week we learned about mind-mapping applications and their uses. Mind-mapping applications provide a way to create concept maps. Concept maps record ideas and notes in a visual format, and are meant to be representative of the way we think. These applications can be great for presentations, and are useful in a variety of fields. Some examples of mind-mapping applications include Inspiration or the online version Webspiration, Bubbl.us, and Gliffy.

Mind-mapping applications could be useful in my field, elementary education. As an elementary student I remember being instructed to create concept maps to organize my thinking before I began to write an essay. Making concept maps online could be a fun alternative for my students who get tired of writing or who have trouble fitting all their ideas onto one page. I could also use these applications as a way to create presentations for my class.

This video is about collaborative web-based mapping. I thought it was a great tool that we hadn't discussed in class. People can easily share a concept map, as well as simultaneously edit it. The video shows how to make a collaborative web-based map, and how it could be useful. It could be a good way for my students to work on a group project together.

Concept Map

Follow this link to view my concept-map of how I would use social tools in my field, elementary education.