Reflection – Mind Mapping

Challenge

In my line of work, which is teaching, mentoring, and doing research, I always find it challenging  to provide a big picture of a research question to my students, especially my undergraduate  advisees. I always find them lost and puzzled after deciding on a research theme or topic.  Hence, I always look for ways on how to jumpstart their research initiatives. With the attention  span of students getting shorter and shorter, a visual representation of their research topic will  allow them to see what they are doing and in what direction they are going. In addition, prior to  engaging the researchers in their work, mind maps allow us to craft the focus of our work while  acknowledging constraints on time and resources.

Selection

A visual representation such as a mind map can provide a bird’s eye view of how we approach a  research question. This tool provides us the opportunity to look at the state of the art as well as  the research gaps that can be addressed. This also encourages collaboration among the team  members.

Application

Once my student has selected a research topic or theme, I asked them to create a mind map of  their topic. Generally, the main topic is broad so that we can capture the current landscape of  the topic or the technology. The first mind map will be on the topic itself and how it branches  out to more specific sub-topics. There will be a series of meetings between me and my students  to try to improve the map and ensure that we have captured the interconnectedness of the  topics. The students usually work in groups to solicit contributions from their peers.

After the mind map of the topic, we create another mind map on the state of the art and the  available literature. This allows us to identify the current state of research initiatives, research  gaps, what other researchers are doing, and procedures used. This will allow us to plan our  activities and processes that will eventually have novelty and does not duplicate the works of  others.

The two mind maps will be used as our guide as we commence our research activities.  Throughout the implementation period, we continously assess our outputs and our efforts and  compare these to our mind maps. The comparison will tell us whether we are doing the  activities as expected or need to adjust along the way.  Sometimes, we also update the mind  maps if necessary. Flexibility and adapatability is very important in a highly creative atmosphere  with a lot of uncertainties.

Insight

Mind mapping is an effective visualization tool that immediately provides the big picture of a  research undertaking or any project. It offers a common ground that keeps everyone aligned  with the project.

Approach

Since I learned about mind mapping, I have included this in the courses that I teach. I want to  give students alternatives on how to approach a particular research question by looking at the  bigger picture using mind maps. In this way, they will be able to realize their potential  contributions to their field of interest. This activity can be easily integrated in any class or  course. Anybody can do this. In fact, I encourage my students to use this tool beyond the  classroom. It is a powerful tool for visualization especially in a collaborative environment.

