What is a Mind Map? by Professor Marek Kasperski

A Mind Map is a visual representation of ideas or concepts. It consists of a central topic, with branches radiating outward to represent related ideas or subtopics.

Mind Maps help organise and structure information, brainstorm new ideas, or visualise relationships between different pieces of information.

They can be created using various media, including pen and paper, whiteboards, or computer software.

Many people ask me how the early invention of the Mind Map helped Tony Buzan so much. The answer is Tony’s discovery about the way we feed our brains.

When writing notes and we wish to use them for revision, we typically write in a narrative form. When Tony was studying in tertiary institutions, computers were unavailable, and all notes had to be handwritten. Even though we now have computers and it is straightforward to write notes for classes or business, the problems that Tony discovered are still the same.

In the Practitioner, Advanced Practitioner and TBLI courses, I look at what a Mind Map is, and discuss why they are superior to taking notes in the traditional way. You will be surprised by the answer.