Getting Started Guides

The Elevate Team, within Learning Services have just released a number of Getting Started Guides which are intended to help you get started with some of our key software. These are designed to complement our face to face workshops, and focus on the practical aspect, ie., how to set up an account, and which buttons to push to complete the first tasks.

The current titles are:

• Reaping the rewards of social media: Getting started with Twitter
• Mindmaps for organisation and reflection: Getting started with MindMup
• Using YouTube to manage your multimedia resources

Here are the current set of guides, more will be released in the coming weeks.

Would you like to capture classroom discussions? MindMapping software can help

Following on from a previous post around using MindMapping software (I've started to use MindMup, as it's web based, and integrates with Google Drive) I thought it would be useful to share how to use it within a small, group teaching session (less than 20).

A common task in small group session is to set a problem for the students to unpack, either individually or in groups, and get them to feedback. When I observe this activity the capture methods range from oral only (no visual recording), to using whiteboards or flip charts. There are a number of limitations with these techniques, including, threaded debates (if oral only), and post session sharing issues.

An alternative use, is to use a MindMap tool, the MindMup allows you to record their suggestions in the sessions (software runs through the browser with no installation required), you then save to Google Docs and you can include the link to the final doc in your LearnUCS course.

For more information, see http://www.mindmup.com/, or email learningservices@ucs.ac.uk

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The image is captured from the MindMap used in the Level 4 Dance In Curriculum Study Skills Course, Session 1

Online Mind Mapping Software: Getting going with Mind Mapping Software

We have had a few requests about straight forward mind mapping software for individuals or groups. One we've started to use within the Elevate Team is MindMup (http://www.mindmup.com). This tool offers a few exciting features. Although it is not A "Mind Map Enterprise Solution".

The features I like, include:

1. Very simple to use, no learning curve
2. Creation of unlimited private Mind Maps
3. Free, it is an extension in Google Chrome
4. Integrates with Google Drive, to allow storage and sharing
5. Some very nice collaboration tools, It looks like very exciting opportunities for online, real time collaboration, which can be enhanced with Google Hangouts

This suits my workflow, as I log into Google Chrome for a number of extensions (screencastify, chromecast, and Diigo). So including with the extensions is really useful. It also works fine on our UCS Domain Machines.

It does open up an obvious classroom based learning opportunity for small groups and tutorials. The lecturer will be able to easily collect ideas through the Mind Map from the group, and post session include a link to the map within their LearnUCS Module.

So, if you are interested in exploring the potential of mindmaps, and you have a Google Account ... MindMups might be perfect for you :-)

If you have any questions, please email elevate@ucs.ac.uk