The more efficient your teaching technique the better your students’ comprehension level. This is just one of the benefits of mind mapping and encouraging students to work together as they learn new things.

The following techniques, can be easily integrated in your teaching activity: 

1.      Brainstorming

This technique allows students to work either on their own or together with other people. 

The benefits of using this method are numerous and valuable for any educator who wants to present a new topic or concept, to test students’ retention of material, to encourage critical thinking, teamwork etc.

In addition to this, students will directly benefit from this experience because they can:

●     become active participants

●     share their ideas and opinions

●     understand different perspectives

●     enhance their creative thinking

●     identify key concepts

 In the image below you can see an example of brainstorming on a particular topic “Why learn a foreign language?”

 

2.     Teamwork

Whether you plan on having a debate with your students or simply want to receive feedback on a specific topic, you can assign students to be actively involved and share their opinions depending on the issue you want them to address.  Sharing your mind map with the students will allow them to visualize their responses, to exchange ideas with other students, to learn to communicate with each other as they agree and disagree on different issues and ideas. 

One mind map can become the meeting point of your students, where they can review lectures and new concepts, create new projects, establish the structure of an essay and even collaborate together as they create different presentations.

 

3.      Presentations

Any concept, topic or project you have already created on a mind map can be directly transformed into a presentation within seconds. 

As your students will get used to presenting their ideas and projects they will:

●     better master the content they are presenting

●     collect information and resources on a mind map

●     improve their technical skills

●     create more awareness about an issue

●     become independent learners

 

4.      Assignments as a mind map

One of the newest ways of having mind mapping integrated in your teaching is to create an assignment as a mind map and then share it with your students.  Students can have their own copy of the mind map and can creatively work on their assignment.

Every instructor or educator that wants to discover new ways for increasing students’ participation should be open to introduce this technique in their teaching activity. 

Even for distance learning and teaching the benefits are very easy to spot out, such as:

●     enhanced research skills and critical thinking

●     real time collaboration between students

●     easy tracking of shared tasks

●     creative ways of approaching an assignment

To make your work easier, try out an efficient and complex mind mapping software and take your teaching to a new level.  Your students will be exposed to a new way of thinking, which will be challenging and exciting at the same time.  Using the right tools to enhance students’ creativity will be key to making your teaching more effective and meaningful.

Thumbnial via http://jazzjoll.wordpress.com