School has started for me and the rest of the world. With that in mind, my last few articles have been focused on brains – or at least on how they learn and some tools to support it.
At EdTech Researcher, I wrote one of my first heavily researched articles: Backchannels and Brain Research: Help or Hindrance?. Not only did writing this provide me with an opportunity to conduct scholarly research and practice APA citations, but it also gave me a chance to shift from blog writing to something more academic in nature.
While doing this writing, I actually reflected a bit on both my practice as well as some of what a group of us uncovered during my Reading, Writing, and Research workshop over the summer. When it comes to pre-writing and organizing ideas, learners seem to fall into one of two camps: those requiring structured graphic organizers and those who prefer more open-ended mindmaps. You can guess to see where I land. Anyways, reflecting on this process led me to write The Great Debate: Graphic Organizers vs Mindmaps.
I’m curious about thoughts on either post, so fire away!