Using Mind-Map App with Logos Bible Study
This tip is for anyone with a solid working knowledge (mechanics and methodology) of creating different types of concept maps or mind maps. I have used mind-map software for years, but now I have discovered that I can link my web-based mind-map software to my Logos Bible Software. The benefit is that it extends the functionality of the Logos Bible Software when I do a Bible study. This could be a URL link within a Bible Study workflow template or, as I have it, a link on the Logos Bible A Software Tool Bar.
This linkage between the mind map and Logos Bible software:
- Can provide insights within the Bible study process. Adding Biblical text and visuals to the mind map and connecting them allows me to observe how texts, visuals, and concepts connect or are related.
- Can organize my Bible study. By dynamically reordering connections and relationships on the fly inside the map, I can discover better ways to manage and restructure concepts and units of meaning.
- It is easy to create a record of my Bible study learning outcomes and edit and reuse them later. Think of a mind map as a digital visual journal to record your Bible study.
- It is easy to publish what I learned for my use, reuse, or others. By easily reformatting and exporting the map into a text document, it can be used as a teaching handout, even a sermon outline, and many other uses.
Here's how I did it.
- I added the URL of the web-based mind map app to the my Logos Tool bar. I added a Label (i.e., "Mind Map Tool") and an Icon (i.e., a red triangle) to the link to jazz it up on my Logos Tool bar.
I have already done this with other web apps to make them quickly accessible from the Logos Tool Bar (for example, I use URL links for Kindle, Britannica.com, Guttenburg.org, and the AP Stylebook). - Next, I opened up the mind map from the Logos toolbar.
- I toggled back to the Logos Bible Software dashboard and began my Bible Study in Logos Bible Software, as I would normally. However, instead of marking up the Bible text or using Notes in Logos for my observations, I "copied and pasted" information from the Logos Bible Software into the appropriate places on the mind-map screen. Then I toggle back and forth and copy and paste between the mind-map and the Logos Bible software as needed.
I don't think this will work universally on all Logos operating system platforms and devices, but it should work with Logos on most desktops and laptops.
If you have a working knowledge of mind-maps, the ways that you can study the Biblical text has expanded exponentially.
Comments
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I think what you have done is great! I take it you prefer it overusing Canvas which can be a little klunky.
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I have tried using Canvas, but it is a nightmare compared to mind-map software. It is like trying to use the end of a screw driver when what your need is a hammer. Yes, you might be able to pound the nail a little ways with the end of a screw driver, but what you really need the hammer to get it done. Thanks for the feedback.
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Which mind map software are you using? Do you have an online example?
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Here's a Bible chart I did in Canvas with Bible links.
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John Fallahee - I assume your question is directed to me? Right now I use FreeMind for Mind Mapping. Every Mind Map (aka Concept Map) is a unique. So showing a good example of a finished map is difficult. It probably would be more helpful to watch a demo of the mind map process. A way to describe a mind map is that the end product (a mind map) is a document created from observations and brainstorming. The document shows how all the observations, ideas, and data are connected in a radial hierarchy around a central task, idea, or question. Attached below is something I put together to try to show the difference between a Canvas chart or graph and a Mind Map. Also, you can read a bit on Mind Maps in Wikipedia. I create Mind Maps the way many Logos Users might create Workflows as a specialized study tool to guide and record their observations. So it is a dynamic Bible Study Workflow tool, but with much more flexibility to discover new questions and observations for study. Mind mapping frees the learner to work with how their brain actually thinks, which is not for most people in a set of sequential study tasks.
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Thanks Ric! I will check out FreeMind. I am familiar with "Mind Mapping" and have always appreciated its value, although I personally have not fully embraced the process since I have my own process that works well my my studies.
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I have my fav process too. It is a formal inductive study process. I know there are several Logos Workflows that in my opinion do a good job to support inductive study processes. However, I find that my brain works more productively by managing and documenting in real time, the random associations and connections it discovers through brainstorming questions rather than to force my thinking into a mostly linear logical sequence. For example, even in the inductive method, one finds that they bounce around and back and forth between observation, interpretation, correlation, evaluation, and application tasks. In reality we do not do these in sequence. Logical sequence of the study results comes into play after the information is fully documented. Then, the study findings can be organized and presented and/or applied. So I have found a way to follow a structured process of Bible study using a less structured process that more aligns with the actual discovery and learning process - random associations and connections. I read a passage multiple times for the information it might provide, by asking tons of random questions as I read. Using the mind map process, I might ask who wrote this passage, who was the passage written to, where did the event in the passage take place, where was it written, why is this important, what words am I not familiar with, what were the circumstances or purpose for writing this passage, how does this passage connect to that which comes before it and after it, and on and on. These are basic brainstorming questions WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHY, WHERE, AND HOW, about the central passage. I use the mind map to record and show the connection my questions and add new questions that are spawned from the ones asked. I use Logos as the source to be able to find most of the answers. When I am finished I wordsmith my mind map observations, rearrange the questions into logical hierarchical relationships, and then export the map as a document. Long story short, I would not be surprised to find that there is a way for your to use the process that works best for you within the context of a mind map tool.
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