Mind Map

With my mind maps, I was working to put down in my sketchbook everything I was holding in my mind surrounding my current classes. For me, it was almost a way to organize my thoughts and responsibilities for each of my courses, while also presenting an interesting display of a college student’s schedule. When I moved to my second, more specific mind map, I decided to choose my most intricate class – Literary Publishing – to map out. This class is a different one than most, so I thought it would be interesting to explain in this format. Something that I realized while making both of my maps though, were that there were some aspects of one class that would connect with an aspect of another class, but I had no way to tie them together and show that connection. As I was creating my second mind map, this was something that I tried to implement.

Something that I realized while making both of my maps though, were that there were some aspects of one class that would connect with an aspect of another class, but I had no way to tie them together and show that connection. As I was creating my second mind map, this was something that I tried to implement. By doing this, I was able to make it simpler, since each thing was then only on the map once with two or more connections, rather than written multiple times. Along with this idea, I found that I often got a bit lost in my first map, and words would go wherever they would fit, not necessarily where they made the most sense. This was something else that I focused on with my second map –  making sure that my placement was purposeful and careful.

It was when I moved to my second map that I began to realize the true purpose and usefulness of these maps. While making my first mind map, I began to feel good about how my ideas were being organized on the page, yet I still felt like I could go further. It was easy for me to pick the class that I would focus on for my second map because it is my most complex class and I felt the need to explain it further. This was where my “AHA!” moment came in, and I realized how useful this method is for explaining and communicating about things that can be otherwise very complicated. However, it is still interesting to look at.

It was interesting to see what things I found most important, and what messages I was subconsciously communicating with my mind map. Reflecting the ideas of the “Why are we changing maps?” video, the things that I think are important are often presented larger than other things that might hold the same importance for someone else. If somebody was looking at my mind map, they would probably be able to tell which class was my favorite based on which was the most elaborated on. The person looking at the mind map might have an entirely different preference but would be thrown off because of the imbalance of information provided.

If I were to do this assignment again, I think I would start smaller to allow more room to expand. I would also try to use more words that would pair well with images to make my mind map more engaging. Overall though, I was pleased with how my mind maps came out and I feel as though it served its purpose well for me in this situation of “my classes”.