

Can you collaborate easily? Another critical feature if you need to work together away from the workplace or classroom.How accessible are they? Is there an ease of use? Do they improve on using a pen and paper? Are they quicker? Do they produce better results? These matter a lot in rapid brainstorming.What templates can you integrate into your design? These can be useful for saving time and presenting your work in a more visually appealing way.Beautiful looking mind maps can draw the eye. How does it look? The aesthetic appeal is important if you are to export the maps or to use them in presentations.
Best free mind mapping software 2017 full#
Is it free or do you need to pay for the full features?.
Best free mind mapping software 2017 Offline#
Can it be used offline as well as online? Is there an app version or a browser plug-in?.Some considerations when choosing your mind mapping tool: He charges a mere £2495 per person, by the way, to attend one of his courses. Similarly, you can expect the inventor of mind mapping, Tony Buzan, to have has his own patented software called iMind Map, currently in its 9th edition. The landing page itself will be enough to put off most people. FreeMind, for example, is free, premier mind-mapping software written in Java. Some available software is highly technical and recommended more for the professional, such as web developers, who need to map out program decision making. Each one has its own appeal and I will offer some advantages and disadvantages for each one. I’m only going to focus on and compare three in this post. There are plenty of freely available tools out there, which you can find for yourself, as well as some premium ones.

This is not one of those posts entitled ’50 mind map tools you must use in class tomorrow’. “The combination of technology, mind mapping, and L2 skills acquisition (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), make for a high energy and very interactive L2 learning experience.” (Ron Morrain interviewed by Phil Wade – here) There are some sound reasons for using mind mapping and tools should only really be used if there is some pedagogical benefits. Brainstorming is often done individually or in groups and many mind mapping web tools allow for this to happen collaboratively.

For the student, a mind map can be a very useful ‘aide memoire’ to review notes taken in a lecture or for exam revision. They can help a prospective employee in getting prepared for a job interview, as in my own real example above. They are used for strategic thinking, giving presentations and used for coaching others. Mind mapping techniques are used in business for problem solving and decision making. It also follows on directly from an excellent Business English SIG webinar (see below) given by Ron Morrain, on using mind maps in the classroom, which I attended yesterday. I have created tutorial videos for each of the tools. These are used widely in education, not exclusively in English language teaching. This post is about some tools that are available for creating mind maps. Classroom Management Mind Map: Brainstorming ideas for a job interview
