Abstract:

Mind maps use in education range in a variety of applications, from note-taking to organizing and planning. They can also be used as a strategy for collaborative learning where groups of students are required to communicate and negotiate, which leads to greater individual understanding. Furthermore, the inclusion of technology in education has allowed new affordances for mind map creation such as hypertext, infinite changes, and the insertion of media (images, videos, hyperlinks, and others). In the Mathematics Education program at Western University, online mind mapping has been included as a strategy for collaborative work for over a year. For this purpose, we have used three different tools - Popplet, Mindmeister, and Mindomo – and two scaffolding techniques - explicit question prompts and provision of topics lists. In this paper, we present a descriptive case study of these activities, along with general results in terms of experiential and learning outcomes. We reflect about the tools and scaffolding techniques used and outline recommendations for future practice.

Keywords:

Mind Maps, Online Collaboration, Online Activities, Case Study.