As various people have suggested, there are advantages and disadvantages of
all the different types of map, and you have to make a couple of decisions,
which as usual is about balancing the benefits of free software with the
benefits of the collaborative web based ones, with the more powerful
commercial products. Of the commercial products I personally use Mind Genius
for mind mapping, as it is very powerful, and easy to use and would be my
weapon of choice however it's HTML export isn't as good and its built in
image gallery is very poor

Inspirations is widely used to support dyslexic learners, and has a very
good image gallery - you can also do an HTML export from it which you could
then put into a VLE - I have blogged about this for Blackboard and Moodle as
follows:-

http://davefoord.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/uploading-an-inspirations-output-t
o-blackboard/

http://tinyurl.com/5ld5r5

 and

http://davefoord.wordpress.com/2008/06/23/integrating-inspirations-outputs-i
nto-moodle-to-manage-files/

http://tinyurl.com/4jhf8d

However when it exports to Word, Inspirations doesn't do this as well as
Mind Genius as it doesn't apply the heading styles which I think is a real
Achilles heal for it, and Inspirations is really only suitable for use with
learners, whereas Mind Genius could be used by managers for planning,
project management etc.

Another tool which I have seen but haven't used is OpenMind - this appears
to have a good gallery like Inspirations, it does the HTML export (so you
can upload it into your VLE) and when it exports to Word it keeps the
heading styles, but as I say I haven't used it yet (and they wouldn't let me
have a trial version!) so it may have other advantages/disadvantages

And finally there is Tony Buzans (creator of mind mapping) own tool called
iMap - which if you want to apply his principles exactly is very good. I
tried it and personally didn't get on with it, but that was probably just
because I am so used to Mind Genius.

I don't see a problem in using multiple tools - things like MindMeister or
Mind42 or Mindomo or Bubbl.us are all collaborative web based mind mapping
tools, which if you want to do collaborative work - these are great, but
there is still a justification for the power of something like OpenMind or
Mind Genius (but to get the most out of it, people need to firstly learn how
to use it properly, and also think about the ways that they are using it
educationally) whilst in the institution.

If anyone wants to watch a video about the use of mind maps educationally,
then there is one on my website
http://www.a6training.co.uk/resources_concept_mapping.php

Sorry for length of reply, but I have become a bit of a guru on this topic
so feel that a balanced argument is justified.

Dave Foord
A6 Training and Consultancy Ltd
Mobile: 07922115678
Tel/Fax: 01509 556950
web: www.A6training.co.uk 
Skype:dave.foord

A6 Training and Consultancy LTD is a registered Company 6025999 (registered
in England and Wales).
Registered Office: 8 Cartland Drive, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 5YD

-----Original Message-----
From: Virtual Learning Environments [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Heather Peake
Sent: 06 October 2008 12:36
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VLES] mindmaps: any suggestions?

We have a site licence for MindGenius Education edition. I Hi 

We have a site licence for MindGenius Education edition. I'm not saying it
is the best, it just happens to be the one we have.

Regards

Heather Peake
VLE Development Co-ordinator
Tel  01623 627191 ext 2292 

-----Original Message-----
From: Virtual Learning Environments [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
niki lambropoulos
Sent: 06 October 2008 12:30
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VLES] mindmaps: any suggestions?

Hi everyone,

I wold be grateful for your suggestions on easy-to-use and flashy (well
designed) mind maps.

thank you in advance
have a wonderful week

niki
http://nikilambropoulos.com 

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