Mind mapping is an effective tool for visualizing conceptualized ideas or understand topics. Introduced by Tony Buzan in the 1970s primarily for collaborative brainstorming in the business sector (Buzan, 1974), mind mapping has increasingly been adopted within educational contexts. As part of a Japanese government-funded research initiative, our team integrated mind mapping into a teacher training program. This fully online training aimed to instruct teachers in utilizing a specialized rubric designed to assess recorded speaking performances, specifically focusing on interactional competency. Interactional competence is the ability to use language effectively in social interactions, emphasizing the co-construction of meaning between participants (Young, 2011). One of the issues of testing interactional competency is the difficulties of how to train raters to uniformially measure test-taker’s abilites.

Participants in our training program were required to use mind maps to clearly articulate their reasoning and understanding of the rubric. One of the benifits of using mind maps was that the teachers were able to visually and collectivly understand the process of rating. Teachers involved in the pilot program reported satisfaction and found the mind mapping technique beneficial, thus demostrating that training usage is promising technique. This presentation details the application of mind mapping within our current project and examines its suggested impact on teacher learning.

References:
[1] Buzan, T. (1974). Use your head. BBC Books.
[2] Young, R. F. (2011). Interactional competence in language learning, teaching, and testing. In E. Hinkel (Ed.), Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (Vol. II, pp. 426–443). Routledge.

Keywords: Mind maps, Training, LMS, Education.