Benefits of using Mind Mapping Software in Distance Learning
Distance learning has become an indispensable part of universities and colleges worldwide, facilitating the development of online collaboration and networking among students. At the same time, online distance learning programs have greatly influenced the level of communication between academic instructors and their students.
The challenges faced by educational instructors who are highly engaged in the online distance learning process are mainly related to their ability to find the right distance learning tools, software or providers, which should be the perfect match for their teaching content.
In this very challenging context, when knowledge itself tries to beat distance barriers through powerful distance learning tools, mind mapping software stands out as a highly effective method for distance learning bringing the following benefits:
- Online Assignments
Every educator that understands the benefits of distance learning systems knows that the teaching material has to be adapted to students’ needs and to the virtual learning context. By creating online assignments, the educational instructor allows for individual contributions as well as team collaboration among students.
- Real Time Collaboration
When creating a new assignment, the instructor can collaborate real time with other students, especially if the online assignment is project based. At the same time, students can choose to work together on various writing assignments. Collaborative writing highly contributes to the development of their networking, communication and social skills.
- Multimedia Resources
To make an online assignment more clear, the educational instructor can add audio visual resources which are meant to guide students in their learning process. Teaching resources are often accompanied by images, mind maps, links, graphics, in order to illustrate content in friendlier ways rather than a simple written paragraph.
- Feedback on Assignments
Do you ever get bothered when you hand in an assignment but you don’t receive any feedback on it? Or even worse, after you received written feedback on an assignment you realize you have just misplaced the assignment and can no longer find it. With online assignments, your work is saved and so is your instructor’s feedback.
Like everything else in life, distance learning can be either a challenge or an opportunity. Keeping the right perspective on the benefits of online learning keeps the learner motivated and the instructor involved in the long-distance teaching process.