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Institute for Information Law
and Policy at NYLS presents Legal Education Technology
Series: Visual Outlining Matthew Cuttler,
Student Research Fellow Institute for Information Law
and Policy
Introduction This is the
first in a series of newsletters on Legal Education Technology prepared by the
Institute for Information Law and Policy at What is
the Challenge? As the proliferation of
computers in the classrooms increases, we must be open to the new opportunities
technology has to offer for teachers and students. In a recent
Newsweek article, Bill Gates commented that: "...as software gets smarter about
how people think and work, it's starting to help them synthesize and manage knowledge,
too. Some of this technology is deceptively simple...a new generation of "mindmapping" software can also be used as a digital "blank
slate" to help connect and synthesize ideas and data-and ultimately create new
knowledge." What is "visual
outlining"? "Visual outlining" or "mindmapping" software is a graphical alternative to the
rigid structure of conventional text outlining, and could be used as a powerful
tool for teaching and learning in the law school classroom. A mindmap looks something the top view of a tree. In the
center, the trunk is the title of your project. Ideas or topics are shown as
branches. And subtopics under each idea are shown as smaller branches. Mindmapping software lets you freely drag any of these
subtopics to another branch.
Why Mindmapping? Mind maps
allow you to look at the big picture, yet drill down to specific tasks and
pieces of information and see them at the same time. By arranging information
in a mind map, it's possible to solve problems in new ways and allow you to see
things differently from the usual linear lists. Generally, a mind map
has many functions:
Here is a simple textual
mindmap describing the many benefits of mindmapping, and here is the same mindmap
transferred into Microsoft
Word .doc format. One law professor, Jerry
Kang, has implemented Mindmanager, the leading PC mindmapping software in his classrooms at UCLA. Mindjet, the
creators of Mindmanager did a spotlight
on his method of teaching law with mind maps: Professor Jerry Kang uses MindManager
maps to create lecture notes, in the way other professors might use PowerPoint
or Word documents on a screen. He creates lecture notes as a MindManager document, with color-coded notes to
himself. For any particular class, he filters out his own teaching notes,
and projects only the bare skeleton map of what is to be covered that
day. He starts with a broad overview of the case material, then adds complexity step by step as the class conversation
unfolds. Kang says he finds MindManager to be the
perfect for modifying his lectures, should topics or discussion shift according
to student interest or need. "When students ask questions, I capture the
essence of the questions and the answers," he says. "I will type their answers
or responses right into my presentation, open up branches, draw arrows, and
clump and reclump information based on the nature of
the conversations, so that I have a dynamic way of capturing the class dialogue
based on the Socratic method." MindManager is also a great tool for organizing
information after a lecture has been completed. At the end of the class, he
outputs the map as HTML and posts it on his class Web site for students to
review. Changing the way teaching works Kang has never liked PowerPoint, the de facto standard for
teaching classes at many professional schools. "It brings a C teacher up to B,
but never gets beyond that," he says. "If you can't capture the interactivity
of the classroom you are encouraging a passive form of teaching. MindManager, on the other hand, has allowed me to integrate
student responses and ideas right onto the screen– and at the same time manage
the big picture and the small details." Students are "staggeringly positive" about his teaching method,
Kang says, as are other faculty, whom he has trained to use MindManager.
"Jaws drop when I use MindManager. Since I have been
using it for so long, I forget how amazing it is the first time you see it.
Students deeply appreciate the clarity and precision that this method of
teaching invites. They can see the underlying organization of the course
material. They can see what they've said and what other students have said. And
they are able to see ideas and concepts be manipulated
or transformed. Being able to reorganize ideas in real time enables my students
to reach a deeper level of analysis more quickly." Kang has also posted
samples (map1,
map 2)
of his Civil Procedure mindmaps on his faculty page at UCLA
along with a more detailed explanation
of how he has managed to implement mindmapping into
his teaching. What are the
advantages/disadvantages? At first glance, mindmapping software may seem a bit daunting, especially in
the classroom context where a student is trying to keep up with a fast-paced
law school lecture. However, once the learning curve is overcome, many mindmappers can create and manipulate a mindmap
with ease. Unlike traditional outlines or handwritten notes, mindmaps can be quickly altered or rearranged by simply
clicking and dragging facts, rules, holdings, or explanations to their desired
location. Ideas can be linked together with ease by creating arrows, and colors
can be associated with different aspects of your mindmap.
But more specifically, each mindmapping program comes
with its own set of advantages and disadvantages as described below. What are the
available tools? MindManager and NovaMind are the
leading mindmapping software programs for PC and Mac
respectively. NovaMind can import MindManager
files and both programs have the ability to easily move between the mindmap and a corresponding outline. MindManager's
quick and easy one-click interoperability with Microsoft Word is a valuable
tool that NovaMind does not have as a feature. Both
of these programs may be expensive for some. MindManager
Basic edition is $229 and NovaMind Basic edition is
$99. There are also other PC programs such as Visual Mind and Concept Mindmap. There are
also free alternatives, such as FreeMind (open-source Java, available on all platforms)
and MyMind
(a free Mac OS simple mindmapping program with an
emphasis on outlining.) Both of these programs are less functional than the
high priced versions, and do not offer as much compatibility with Microsoft
Office as the pricier mindmapping programs. However,
they are reasonable alternatives for students who cannot afford the pay
programs. Other
Alternatives to Mindmapping? Programs such as OmniOutliner
and OmniGraffle for Mac are other viable alternatives to
traditional note taking separate from mindmapping
software. OmniOutliner is a powerful linear outlining
tool and OmniGraffle is a diagramming, drawing, and
flowcharting tool, both of which can be used in the law school environment with
great success. It is my belief that
students and teachers can benefit greatly from mindmapping
software in the law school context. For the Spring
2006 semester, I decided to take all of my reading and lecture notes within mindmapping software. Other students have seen my mindmaps in the classroom and have inquired with interest
what I was taking notes with, and I have made suggestions to fellow students to
try their hand at mindmapping instead of the rigid
linear outlining we are accustomed to. Professors should try their hand
experimenting with mindmaps as a way to present
graphically detailed analyses of law and cases to classes who can follow along
creating their own mindmaps. There are many
possibilities to enhance the law school experience by integrating new
technologies, and departing from rigid formal outlining into mindmaps is one approach that may have positive benefits
for everyone.
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