Educator Tool: Using Visual Mind Mapping to Organize Class Grades

Assigning grades is usually the least enjoyable aspect of a teacher’s job; keeping track of scores and averaging these scores at the end of each term is cumbersome. In recent years, there have been advancements in methods for keeping track of class grades, such as computerized grade books and software for averaging scores. However, few if any of these methods, contain the advantages found in Visual Mind Mapping software tools. The advantage of Visual Mind Maps is that they allow for the organization of information to be displayed as a spatially formatted, highly visual document. This layout allows the information contained in the document to be more easily conceptualized and processed. Educators can, thus, use Visual Mind Maps to organize student grades in a manner that is both creative and intuitive.

What are Visual Mind Maps and How Are They Created?

A Visual Mind Map is “a means of organizing information that allows individuals to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information”.¹ With a Visual Mind Map, the creator makes use of colors and symbols to construct the map and represent his or her ideas in a non-linear format. When creating a Visual Mind Map, the individual usually begins by showing the key concept or main idea of the information as a central image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image. Subsequent themes of less importance are then attached to these branches using “child branches”, and so on. The resulting diagram is a “mind map” of the ideas and information presented that includes the images, visual graphics, and colors the individual associates with each of the themes and ideas.

Using Visual Mind Mapping to Record Student Grades

A history teacher must give his students a grade based on the average of their scores on three assignments and two tests, each worth 20% of the student’s grade. Instead of the usual method of recording grades on a spreadsheet, the teacher has decided to use a Visual Mind Map this term to organize the grades he gives his students. He begins organizing his Mind Map by placing a graphic representing his second semester history class, as well as images representing the grading scale, in the center of the map. He then attaches the names of each of his 15 students to the central topic via “branches”. On “child branches” connected to the students’ names, the teacher lists each of the five assignments the students will turn in. As the term progresses, the teacher simply updates his Mind Map with the scores the students receive for each assignment by placing the scores on the “branches”. Throughout the map, the teacher adds images corresponding with the grading scale in the center of the map to indicate what grade the students’ scores result in. He also uses color-coding to distinguish the assignments and tests. When he has finished adding all of the scores to his Visual Mind Map, it looks similar to the attached example Mind Map.

Calculating the Grades Based on the Visual Mind Map

When the teacher is ready to calculate a grade for each student, he finds the process relatively simple. All of the scores for each student are neatly “mapped out” in front of him in a visual, colorful format. Because he has used images to represent the student’s corresponding grade for each score he or she received, he can quickly glance at the map and get a preliminary idea of what grade the student will receive. This preliminary grading allows him a check to ensure he has not incorrectly calculated the student’s grade when he averages the scores. Moreover, since he has used color-coding to distinguish assignments and tests, he can easily see how well the student did on homework assignments vs. the Midterm or Final examination. The teacher can, without much difficulty, answer any questions students or parents may have concerning test performance or homework as it is factored into the student’s final grade. The Visual Mind Map has, thus, made the teacher’s job of calculating and giving final grades less cumbersome and more enjoyable.

1. Farrand, Paul; Hussain, Fearzana and Hennessy, Enid (May 2002). “The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique”. Medical Education 36 (5): 426–431.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites