If I gave you a piece of paper:
Could you make a humongous mind map, go to sleep, wake up with a completely altered idea of the map, and rearrange your drawing of the mind map in under 30 seconds?
Probably not.
There are more stipulations: You are allowed no mouse and no keyboard. Whatever you use has to be able to fit it in a small book bag.
What if I gave you an iPad? Eureka!
Now we’re getting somewhere. The key to the map is using a brilliantly simple app called SimpleMind+.
Let’s look at how we can master mind map:
Assuming you have already installed SimpleMind+, open up the app.
Take a deep breath, empty your mind. Here is what you will see.
Could you make a humongous mind map, go to sleep, wake up with a completely altered idea of the map, and rearrange your drawing of the mind map in under 30 seconds?
Probably not.
There are more stipulations: You are allowed no mouse and no keyboard. Whatever you use has to be able to fit it in a small book bag.
What if I gave you an iPad? Eureka!
Now we’re getting somewhere. The key to the map is using a brilliantly simple app called SimpleMind+.
Let’s look at how we can master mind map:
Assuming you have already installed SimpleMind+, open up the app.
Take a deep breath, empty your mind. Here is what you will see.
1. Double tap the center of the screen. A blue box will open up with a flashing cursor. Type in the topic of your mind map. For me, I'll make up the word "blogstorming," which I shall define as the process of brainstorming about what your next blog will be about.
2. Create your first child, all on your own, by clicking on the plus button to the right of the topic box. A red box will open up with a connector attaching it to the topic box. Type inside the child node. If the box grows too long because of the number of words you write inside of it, you can stack the words by pressing and dragging the "home plate" button in the lower right of any node.
3. If you want to create a sibling of the child you just created, instead of clicking on the parent node, the program is designed to save time by clicking on the asterisk in the lower left of any node. Do that now, and you will see a sibling node open up. Type in there.
4. Re-arrange the orientation of the cells if their current positions do not suit you, by pressing on one and dragging it where you want it to go. You'll find that the connectors magically follow your cell around.
5. Repeat the process adding child or sibling cells until you get a fuller looking map.
6. Here's where the real power of his app comes in: Pretend you don't like the way your map looks, and completely shift a whole branch of cells over to another branch. How, you may ask? Don't worry, you needn't delete/erase every cell and draw it again as if you were holding a pencil on paper. All you have to do is tap the cell whose children you would like to relocate along with it. Then press the three dots in the upper left corner of the cell. You will see this:
7. In that bar that just opened up, you will see three icons which represent the functions: copy, cut, and paste (from left to right). If you want to shift this whole branch over, press the middle icon to "cut." It will disappear as such:
8. Now press the cell to which you would like to re-attach the recently-vanished branch. Press the three dots in the upper left, but this time choose the right most icon to "paste." You should get a result similar to what you see below, but different because of the particular tree you developed. At any rate, you'll see that the entire branch just shifted over and transplanted itself beneath a new node.
9. What if you decided you didn't like the change you just made? Press the "undo" button at the top of the screen, slightly left-of-center. Press it as many times to get back to where you would like to be. It's that insanely easy to make good looking mind maps. If you want to screen capture any of your maps, you would do it like you would in any other app: Press the HOME and POWER buttons simultaneously on your iPad.
Now that you know how to do this, perhaps you will find that your brainstorming through mind mapping will have increased in speed. When there are no consequences toward going down a certain path, you'll find you may hesitate less in your mapping, compared to using a pencil and paper.
Who thought changing your mind----map could be so easy?
Now that you know how to do this, perhaps you will find that your brainstorming through mind mapping will have increased in speed. When there are no consequences toward going down a certain path, you'll find you may hesitate less in your mapping, compared to using a pencil and paper.
Who thought changing your mind----map could be so easy?