BRAINSTORM  

This exercise requires you to brainstorm your ideas to begin to consolodate them. What is a brainstorm? I am pretty sure that by now you all know what this is but just in case…..

Brainstorming/mind mapping has been an educational technique that has been around since the beginning of cognitive thought. This is a tool that facilitates ideas and collaborative in nature.  “A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing. (wikipedia)”

Top 10 Sites for Brainstorming/Mind Mapping

1. Slick Plan – What’s not to like? Easy to use, create beautiful flow charts, then embed to a site.
2. Webspiration – The popular desktop application (Inspiration) is now the web… nuff said.
3. Diagrammr – Quite simply the easiest mind mapping site to use, no registration is necessary, then share the URL w/ others.
4. Imagination Cubed – Nice looking site that is ideal for the electronic whiteboards w/ the ability to draw your own mind maps.
5. Edistorm – Real-Time mind mapping w/ sticky notes.
6. Education Eye – A great way to brainstorm w/ this innovative search engine.
7. Mind42 – Nice collaborative mind mapping site that is easy to use.
8. Mindmeister – Beautiful looking mind mapping site w/ the ability to embed into a site.
9. Mindomo – One of the most detailed mind mapping sites w/ lots of web 2.0 features, such as sharing, commenting, etc.