Concept Mapping and the Cmaptool

I have recently been introduced to concept mapping and the CMaptool. Concept mapping was developed by Joseph Novak. I am sure that many of you are not new to concept mapping and may instinctively think that this must be a new term used for mindmapping. There is however a difference. While Mind mapping takes on a tree structure, consists of one central idea and a few cross-linking, Concept mapping assumes more of a networked structure with a number of key ideas. The image above was taken from an advert in the 12 April Argus 2011 newspaper featuring what I thought was an example of  a concept map very cleverly used for marketing. One of the slogans on the "ad" states that "When it comes to making extraordinary connections, nothing comes close to the human brain". The CMaptool was designed specifically for the design with concept maps in mind. The power of the tool is the ability to collaborate on the development of maps as well as sharing with a global community. Concept mapping has been used in various field to make ideas or processes explicit. I hope that you will find it useful.