Mapping Mashups

     I am starting a new blog topic and it is on "Mapping Mashups."  I personally have never heard of Mapping Mashups before, but after doing some research on it, it is basically a map (like google earth) with data placed on top of it.  An example I saw in an article is a map of the United States and alumni from Syracuse University for instance, could see where their fellow classmates have ended up.  Or colleges could see how their recruitment is holding up across various parts of the Country or World.  I am curious if any of you have heard of Mapping Mashups before and what the context was.

An interesting youtube video on mindmaps

    I came across this youtube video that shows a famous author of books discussing topics surrounding the brain and learning and his take on mindmaps.  I think he brings up a couple good points during his interview, but there are some that I don't agree with as well.  The ideas I like is when he described mindmaps as "a thinking tool that reflects externally what goes on inside your head."  I also agree with him when he talks about how mindmaps are effective because they make associations with multiple ideas.  What I don't necessarily agree with him on is when he said that rigid lines in mindmaps don't make them as effective.  These are my thoughts on the interview....I was wondering what you all thought!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ

Mind map templates

     As I was reading more information on mind maps I came across one website that provides templates for you to use.  I didn't like this idea because I felt that it contradicted the whole idea about why mind maps work.  In my opinion they are so beneficial because they allow the learner to create something that will benefit their learning, if they are given a template to go off of it limits their creativity and personally I feel the benefit of creating a mindmap.  I was wondering what you all thought, any opinions on this?

A reading for another class....

      While I was reading for another class I came across this sentence,

"Student- constructed concept maps can provide information to teachers as well as to students, in particular, such maps may indicate possible misconceptions and 'holes' in students understanding" (Ormrod, 2008).

    This was discussed in the chapter about Metacognition, Self-Regulated Learning and Study strategies.  I thought I would pass this along as another way to think about mindmaps.  When I read this the part that stood out the most to me was finding "holes" in what students know.  Sometimes students can bluff their way through a paper by only highlighting on concepts that they know, but I feel this is harder with mindmaps because there are so many ideas that are connected with one another that students really have to know the concept and how the ideas relate to one another.