Collaborative Mind Mapping Software

Online Collaborative Mind Mapping Software for Student

Projects are an integral part of High School and College education these days. Projects are normally assigned to groups of students to foster teamwork and collaborative thinking. When there are large groups of people working on a common project, mind mapping is the best approach to cover the different perspectives and put them up on a common platform.

Group study can be a really fun way for students to share their knowledge, and Mind Mapping can help them to get the best out of a brainstorming session. The basic concept behind brainstorming is to capture ideas as quickly as possible and the best way is to use mind mapping.

When mind mapping and collaboration go hand in hand, it results in a successful completion of a project or a breakthrough in group study and brainstorming.

Must read: Mind Mapping Software for College Student

Mind Mapping Promotes Collaboration

A Mind Map is an excellent tool for collaborating with others to develop plans or implement key projects. It allows students to harness the input of all members of a group in a dynamic and creative way. All ideas or statements can be recorded in an appropriate place on the mind map and discussed openly at a sensible time.

A project that is completed with the help of mind mapping helps to capture every individual’s perspective and thus has greater chances of being successful.

When used for group brainstorming sessions, Mind Mapping was seen to enhance critical thinking and co-operation as well as providing a solid basis for collaborative problem-solving. Groups involved in the sessions reported that they enjoyed expressing their opinions in a participative and open climate.

Collaboration also helps in:

taking actions which respect the needs and contributions of others
contributing to and accepting the consensus
negotiating a win-win solution to achieve the objectives of the team

Facts and Figures

Some facts about how Mind Mapping and Collaboration work hand-in-hand:

A study by Holland et al (2003/2004) found Mind Mapping to be a useful technique for helping students plan and structure their essays and projects more effectively. Students were able to improve the structure, coherence and, consequently, the quality of their written work and were able to draw value from the technique for project managing practical work.
Mueller et al (2002)43 describe a case where Mind Mapping is used by student nurses for planning patient care so as to encourage critical, whole-brained thinking when applying the nursing process. The use of Mind Maps in this way resulted in a greater ability to focus on the patient, make connections, see the whole picture and be more creative.
Zampetakis et al (2007) found that students preferred to work with Mind Maps in teams. This allowed them to develop synergistic interaction, assemble collective knowledge and work with group minded attitude. The flow of communication between group members also contributed to the creative process.

Mind Vector and Collaboration

Mind Vector is a powerful free mind mapping software that enables the students to collaborate their ideas with almost 20 other students at any given point in time.

They can create a mind map of their project or any subject using the Mind Vector tool and share the map with the other students. With the click of a single button, the map can be shared with all the group members who can in turn access the map and make the necessary changes to it as per their convenience.

Mind Vector provides a unique dashboard facility where the map is visible to all the collaborators who are sharing it.

Mind Vector can be accessed from the Web, and Apple mobile devices. The easy accessibility of this tool helps the group members to access the project plan or topic anywhere and make changes.

We can therefore conclude that with easy availability of appropriate tools, collaborative study and working is definitely the way forward.