TE year1sourcebook/year1 unit2 Topics of Study in the Unit

Creation of concept maps

Concept maps can be an effective way of creating a textual resource that can be organized graphically, in the form of a map or tree of ideas; it provides a pictorial overview of the concepts, related concepts / sub-concepts for a topic. In the map, you can link to additional resources, add annotations, graphically organize ideas through links etc.

Concepts acquire power and meaning when they are connected to other concepts. Hence, organizing the concepts relevant to your topic is an important first step of generic resource creation. Concept mapping can be used to build skills in students for ideating and organizing ideas; you can use it for your teaching. It is a great tool to help organize your thought processes when writing.

Freeplane is a FOSS application that can be used to create concept maps (image ); in this section you will learn to use of Freeplane.

What is a concept map?

Close your eyes and think of a word. For example think about the word plant. Now think of all the words that that come into your mind when you think about the word plant. List these words in your notebook.

Some of the common thoughts/words that would come into mind when thinking about plants are: PLANT, WATER, PHOTOSYNTHESIS, LEAF, FLOWER, ROOT, STEM, SOIL, SUNLIGHT, CARBONDIOXIDE

These words have meaning that can be pictured in the mind. These words can be called concept words. Concept is a way of describing a word that can be pictured in the mind. It is also any thought, idea, belief, picture or image that is formed in the mind when we think of a word or topic. For example, one concept for plant is that it is a living thing.

Learning to use Freeplane

Freeplane is a free and open source software application that helps you create and edit concept maps, as a generic resource creation.

You can learn Freeplane here, with the following functionalities

Creating a map

You should first develop a concept map for any topic you want to develop a resource on. The ideas you have about the topic, the sequencing of ideas and sub concepts, the specific points for each idea / sub-concept can be developed on the map. Links between nodes, with web pages, notes explaining concepts can all be inserted in the concept map. The power of the digital concept map is that you can keep revising the nodes, adding and deleting, moving and copying nodes as you want. This makes the process quite dynamic. Once you have completed your concept map you can share it with your classmates for feedback with which you can refine the concept map still further.

Inserting nodes

To learn working with Freeplane, we will start by creating a concept map for Digital Story Telling; you will see, when you opened Freeplane that the application has opened a window with a box with text "New mindmap". This node, also called the "root node" will contain the core idea/ theme of the resource. Additional ideas are added by adding more nodes, called child nodes. The concept map gets built by adding further child nodes, for topics and sub-topics. Use the ‘insert’ key to create a ‘child node’ this is a sub-concept of your current concept. Use the ‘enter’ key to create a ‘sibling’ this is a parallel concept to your current concept. Thus you can create a concept map (image 9) with knowing just two functions – add child node (insert) and add sibling node (enter).

Hyperlinking files and weblinks

You can embed a hyper-link on a node, such that clicking that node will open a page on the Internet or a file on your computer (image 11). This connects a node on your map to related resources you may want the reader to access. You can also use the keyboard short cut CTRL-K. Freeplane will open an input bar (image 11), in which you can type in our web page address.

Adding notes and note window

To add a note, you can click on the node, go to View--->Notes--->Display note panel; this will open a window in which you can type your notes (image 13). You can change the position and size of this note window.

Saving the file

By default your concept map is saved by Freeplane as a '.mm' format file (image 16). However, the concept map can be saved in many other formats. You can export the map to a text document file (in .odt or .doc formats). You can also export the map as an image (in .png or .jpeg formats) or as a web page (in .html format)(image 17). We will discuss how you can use this image in the next chapter. The images below show you how to save and export concept maps in Freeplane. While saving the file, Freeplane will display the file browser, to allow you to select the folder in which you can save your file. By default, the file is saved in your home folder.

You should make concept mapping a habit. It is a wonderful way to document your ideas, and keep ideating, iterating as you think / document.