Drawing The Perfect Poster

Drawing The Perfect Poster:
A Summary Of Advice Provided To Students Undertaking Assignments In Which They Have Been Asked To Summarise Reading In The Form Of A Concept Map Poster
Author: Dr Peter EH Smee Date: Thursday, 08 June 2006 Home: circle-of-excellence.com
Synopsis: Mind Maps and Concept Maps have long been used by a variety of professionals to summarise reading. Speed Readers and Photoreaders use Mind Maps and Concept Maps to help them pull together key word notes into a coherent pictorial summary of a book or a series of books; Systems Analysts use Concept Maps as a way to orient themselves into the needs of a client; Knowledge Engineers use Concept Maps to orient themselves after reading and before interviewing experts in the field they are modelling and Teachers use Mind Maps and Concept Maps to summarise lesson content. This document describes ways in which Mind Maps and Concept Maps can be used as an artefact handed in for assessment in Higher Education. It provides hints and tips for any students who have been asked to draw a Mind Map or Concept Map poster by their tutor. By extension, tutors new to Mind Mapping and Concept Maps can use this document to help direct attention to the worth of the final artefact submitted to them for marking.
By the time you finish this document, you will realise that, once you begin to think about it, the skills required to read, identify key ideas and represent those ideas graphically, underpin the intellectual skills that are required to succeed in almost any profession you can name. Without those skills you risk disappearing in a sea of information.
Important Note!
All the posters presented in this document have had to be reduced in size. The limitations of current computer screen technologies means that the detail on such posters is often lost. If a poster interests you, you are advised to print it, or to refer to the original, which will be of a much better quality.
Introduction
Mind Maps and Concept Maps have long been used by a variety of professionals to summarise reading. Speed Readers and Photoreaders use Mind Maps and Concept Maps to help them pull together key word notes into a coherent pictorial summary of a book or a series of books; Systems Analysts use Concept Maps as a way to orient themselves into the needs of a client; Knowledge Engineers use Concept Maps to orient themselves after reading and before interviewing experts in the field they are modelling; Teachers use Mind Maps and Concept Maps to summarise lesson content. Mind Maps and Concept Maps are also associated with many forms of accelerated learning and with research into the techniques that differentiate students who succeed from those who do not. This should not be surprising because in order to draw a map of ones knowledge, there is a need to identify key ideas and issues, and then collate and order those ideas and issues into a coherent model. In particular, maps indicate that the author of a map is able to identify key ideas and issues and is also able to identify key relationships between those ideas and issues. Thus, practising the drawing of Mind Maps and Concept Maps is a good intellectual exercise that mimics the same intellectual strategies that characterise not only effective learners, but also mimics the mental strategies of good decision makers, who also need to identify key ideas and issues and collate and order those ideas and issues into an appropriate mental model. Arguably, learning to be able to express ones thoughts visually and in an ordered fashion tests the degree to which someone has the intellectual capabilities associated with teaching, learning quickly, making good decisions, undertaking a technical analysis, implementing a sophisticated plan of action or designing an inventive or creative solution to a problem or challenge. In short, Mind Maps and Concept Maps test and practise cognitive processes that underpin success in pretty much any profession that one can imagine. To add to both the utility and challenge of projects associated with Mind Maps and Concept Maps, if a map is to be presented to others, a would-be author of a map has to externalise their thoughts in the form of a well designed and aesthetically pleasing design. In short, to produce an educational poster suitable for a specific readership, in addition to the intellectual skills associated with Mind Mapping and Concept mapping, authors also need to be able to think about how to communicate to their specified audience in a way that is appropriate. This means learning to articulate aspects of design and also learning to master simple, yet potentially sophisticated, aspects of IT, such as DTP and Graphics software. In structure, the pages which follow demonstrate the underlying skills required to prepare a simple Concept Map. They then go on to explain the differences between Mind Maps and Concept Maps, which in reality are mostly a matter of aesthetics and personal preference. Continuing the script, this document presents a range of maps and other posters from a variety of sources, who themselves have used Mind Maps and Concept Maps to summarise information and communicate knowledge to other people. This document then finishes by offering a short getting started guide, before explaining (in an appendix) how to generate output from a presentational package, like MS Publisher, which is in Acrobat format and thus easy to email, hand in on CD or upload to the internet, plus, an appendix which outlines ways to judge the worth of a map.
Concept Maps and Mind Maps are to a field of knowledge what a geographical map is to a physical location. Both help their readers to find their way around without getting lost.
Concept Sorting
Many people begin to draw a Concept Map or Mind Map by using a process called Concept Sorting. To use a metaphor, think of Concept Sorting as like constructing the framework around which the rest of a building will be constrcuted. You begin with the basic sketelton, perhaps some scaffolding, then you build in the girders and concrete beams that make up main supports. Then you place the bricks that give the building its final shape before going on to decorate. With this metahpor in mind, the process of Concept Sorting involves generating a set of key word notes and shuffling those notes around to gain an idea about what the structure of the final map will look like. As you add additional ideas, and the structure becomes more defined, you can imagine that the scaffold is giving way to more fixed girders. Gradually details become added as the map begins to take shape. Finally, you might add some notes, insets and graphics to make the map more visually appealing and easier to understand, if it is to be given to others.
Scaffold, framework, new building.
Metaphors aside, Concept Sorting is a simple process. So too is converting the results of a Concept Sort into a Concept Map. The technique can easily be undertaken with minimal expense, and with minimal equipment. The diagram (below) illustrates the three main stages in concept sorting: (Stage 1) idea generation, (Stage 2) visual sorting of ideas into natural clusters, and (Stage 3) drawing lines to highlight major relationships. What is interesting about concept sorting is not the process, which is simple, but rather how such a simple process can be used to focus thoughts and generate new ideas, whether you are working alone or whether you are working in a group.
The ThreeStage Process Involved In Concept Sorting.
As examples of the application of concept sorting, variations on Concept Sorting, Concept Mapping and Mind Mapping are now used in many organisations and classrooms to focus group discussion. We have met a number of teachers and trainers who customise the technique for use with children and adults of all ages and abilities. In short, Concept Sorting is extremely adaptable within Education. We also know a number of corporate trainers and facilitators who have used Concept Sorting to smooth the progress of meetings at boardroom level in a variety of well-known organisations. For instance, one used the technique to help plan a merger between two large companies; while another used the technique to elicit staff concerns during the introduction of new technology to an office. In terms of personal examples of our own use of Concept Sorting, look at the following, then peruse a gallery of posters that we present in the pages which follow.
Examples of a version of concept sorting called Thinking With Hexagons. (See the website for IdonResources).
When planning a new module a few years ago, we undertook some concept sorting on a whiteboard. We then converted the results of the Concept Sort into a Concept Map for inclusion in a course handout. (NB: Here we only have space to show a hugely reduced size version of the actual handout)
S t at e-of -mi nd: Thinking Like An IT Pr of essional
Met acogni t i on: r ef l ecting on what you do wel l and how you can impr ove Taki ng r esponsi bi l i t y f or your st udy: Setting cl ear aims Identif ying r esour ces E vol vi ng new Expl or ator y pl ay power s of mi nd Near tasks v f ar tasks Enabl ing hel p V disabl ing hel p
Ti me management
Lear ni ng St r at egi es Pl anni ng Ski l l s
Mi nd mappi ng and st or yboar di ng
Mappi ng t he way ahead
S t r uct ur i ng a dat abase
How t o dr i ve t he sof t war e

Pr act i cal ski l l s t o hel p you on t he r oad ahead
F13
G r oupwor k Ski l l s
Int er per sonal ski l l s: Negotiation... Responsibil ity... Mutual assistance... C ontr ibution... Dir ect tal king...
Negot i at i on wi t h t he al i en l i f e f or ms who shar e your gr oup Possi bl e f or ms of gr oup l eader shi p: Aiml ess bewil der ment... Facil itator of decisions... Initiate and pr ompt... C onsensus management... Str ict management... Dictator ship...
Access Ski l l s: Key concepts... Tabl es... Fiel ds... Recor ds... Sear ch... Web...
Publ i sher S ki l l s: Key concepts... Text... G r aphics... Impor t/expor t... Web...
Desi gn S ki l l s: Aesthetics... Layout... Reader s needs...
More examples of a version of concept sorting called Thinking With Hexagons. (Again, see the website for IdonResources).
Concept Maps
As you will be able to see from the gallery of pictures on pages to come, a Concept Map is in many ways simply the end result of a Concept Sorting process. We tend to find it helpful to think in terms of process and product, though this is our own personal preference and not necessarily a view shared by everyone else. To show you what we mean
Here is an example of a Concept map which we drew to summarise the field of Education Technology, as it was in 1999. (See our web site, circle-of-excellence.com, for the full A3-size poster).
Communication technologies are fuelling growth in distance learning, life-long learning and work-place-based learning. The Internet provides an opportunity for learners and teachers to share resources. Conferencing enables tutors and learners to be geographically distant from one another.
Major Issues:
1. To what degree can Reality be simulated? 2. To what degree are computer-learned skills transferable to the Real-World? 3. Can the cost of technology be defended?
WorldWide Web
A major limiting factor with regard the utility of simulations is the expense and difficulty involved in developing appropriate interface technologies. Simulations in which learners can explore phenomena. For example, changing the co-efficient of gravity to explore how gravity affects the orbits of planets.
Computer Conferencing
New Media Of Communication Micro-Worlds Using Simulations Virtual Reality
Networks of people can participate in large simulations. For example, US tank crews from around the world often train in a large electronic battlefield. Learners practise the use of analytical tools and focussed thinking techniques to create their own intellectual models of complex issues and phenomena.
Simulations are only easily developed in situations in which the subject matter may be mathematically modelled.
Simulations in which learners can interact with situations and/or environments that replicate aspects of the real-world. Such simulations are often used to reduce cost/danger. Some simulations may require the learner to interact with a variety of other software in order to make decisions within the role-play environment.
Modelling Tools Developing Concepts Programming Tools
Practising Skills
Classroom Technologies
It is easy to forget that one of the most powerful computers and most effective modelling tools, is the Human Brain.
Computer-literate learners can implement and test their intellectual models in the form of computer-based simulations. Some simulations may have CAL modules monitoring the student and adjusting the situations to which the student is exposed.
Example of tools: word processors, spreadsheets, data-bases, graphics suites, multi-media presentations desktop publishing and electronic publishing. Computers can enable better quality of presentation, and thus help promote a sense of achievement when completing project work.
Learning Tools
Many off-the-peg software packages can be used in the classroom.
Computer - Aided Learning

C.A.L. May be helpful in subjects in which the answers students give are easy for a computer to analyse, and in which there is little controversy.
In Linear Systems, students keep working through exercises until they get each exercise right. In branching systems, accurate modelling of a student is used to provide said student with a dialogue appropriate to their level of ability.
Computer software can be used by students to help access information, complete project work and clarify thinking.
A ForeSight! Resource
In Intelligent-Computer Aided Instruction, complex branching and monitoring of students is used to simulate many aspects of human tuition. For example, the provision of feedback in error-correction.
Copyright P.Smee 1998. Sponsored by The College of St Mark & St John in assoc. with ADAPTthroughRATIO
Some examples of Concept Maps drawn by professional designers, called Graphic Facilitators, who work with groups to summarise discussion in the form of a graphic. (Examples are from allide.com).
More examples of Concept Maps drawn by professional designers, called Graphic Facilitators, who work with groups to summarise discussion in the form of a graphic. (Examples are from allide.com).
Some of our own examples, which can be downloaded in full size from the ArtGallery section of our cricle-ofexcellence.com web site. Visit there to view between fifteen and twenty examples of our own Concept Map posters. We drew these several years ago, so with the advice we are about to provide you later in this document, your future posters should be even better than our own.
Cybernetics
Meshing Man and Machine
Psychotronics investigates ways in which to sense, interpret and affect the electro-magnetic fields on and around the human body.
Human-Computer Interface Devices

From mouse and keyboard, to brain implants and electrodes measuring brain-waves, technology is increasingly integrating organic decision-making and computer-controlled technologies.
Electro-Magnetic Fields
Aura Mind
Hearing Aids Radios Recorders
Technology makes it possible to see things that an unaided eye cannot.
Glasses, Optics and Magnifiers Cameras and Video Technologies Visual Readouts Spectral Shift Technologies
Eyes
Technology is continually changing the human ability to discern, record and transmit sound. In the absence of technology, an individual human is relatively weak. From stones and spears, to mechanical diggers, we use technology to extend our reach and amplify our strength.
From volt-metres to night-vision goggles, technology can make visible the invisible.
Ears
Microphones Technology has made it possible to communicate ideas across time and space. Electronic Media
Mouth Written Media

Tools Tele-Presence
It has also made it possible to amplify sound, and thus talk to larger groups face-to-face.
Muscles Hands Organs Limbs
Buildings and Control of the Environment Plastic Surgery Prosthetics and Artificial Implants Autonomous Control though External Feedback Protective Technologies
Monitoring Technologies
From weight training, to the use of monitoring devices to help improve motor-skills, and the use of EEGs to gain control over autonomous and sub-conscious processes, technology is used to enhance human ability.
Feet
From changing the appearance and structure of the body and replacing damaged parts, to preventing damage through the development of protective technologies , humans are able to live and work in places in which an un-protected person would perish. Increasingly, people can enhance and extend the structure and appearance of the human body, and use monitoring technologies to gain control over autonomous processes, that were previously too subliminal in nature to be trained.
Transport Technologies
From cars and bikes, to jets, submarines and rockets, technology is used to help humans get to their destination.
The way people use words gives insight into the way they think, and the extent to which they think clearly or act within a fog of habit and impression Using verbs as nouns, Bits of a sentence are left unsaid, is problematic, since or are assumed. (eg I am confused) the verb often becomes Deletions a poorly understood generalisation. (eg I need help) Nominalisations
Meta-Model
Where people stand or sit, and the focus between people, affects the degree to which a group can effectively interact
Everyone has emotional anchors which fire specific emotions. Anchors affect decision-making, and can be installed or deleted
Positioned Anchors for success Away!
Generalisations Lack of (eg They are always referential getting at me) indices People often pre-suppose things, which on reflection turn out to be mistaken. (eg Ive failed Unexplored and not presuppositions lived up Semantic to your expectations) Violations People may base conclusions on mind-reading, non-sequiturs, and value judgements. An exploration of such judgements can provide insight into the persons decision making processes. Milton (eg people dont like me)
Milton-Model to obfuscate and hypnotise Reframing to alter meaning and emotional impact
Cooking with words
NLP in F2F communication
The Past
Where, in space, does your interviewee place memories of the past? There is often a time-line extending beside or behind the person. (Beside is favourable)
Eye Movements
Visual Constructed Visual Remembered Audio Remembered Audio Digital
(Internal Self-Talk)
Tonality
The power of tone and tempo of voice cannot be over-emphasised
Audio Constructed Kinesthetic Awareness
TOTE
Test-Operate-Test-Exit
What kinds of V.A.K. experiences go to make up the TOTE? Does the person make decisions on the basis of desire or fear of the consequences?
The Future
The future often has a spatial location
Locate where future events are organised in space, compare and contrast events which are sure to happen, with hopes and expectations
Power Centres Pacing

Gaining empathy, Establishing rapport
Mirror a proportion of body movements, gestures, tone, and speech patterns
Beliefs, fears, triggers and other processes often have a spatial location
Ideas can be non-verbally moved in or out of a power centre, to gain the effect you desire For example, create an image in space associated with previous good decisions and the other person will be drawn to agree
Copyright P.Smee 1999. Sponsored by The College St Mark & St John in assoc. with ADAPTthroughRATIO
More of our own examples, which can be downloaded in full size from the ArtGallery section of cricle-of-excellence.com.
Focusing on The Part
Development of the Left Brain is essential to the acquisition of an analytical mind...
Using Your Brain
Development of the Right Brain is essential to evolving an aptitude for insightful problem-solving...
Focusing on The Whole
Good at:
-Critical thinking -Logical description -Following instruction -Mathematical thinking -Working with technology -Spotting fault -Categorising things
Males have fewer connections, and tend to perform better on hemisphere specific tasks. For example, technical problems and spatial problems...
Females have more connections, which tends to enhance ability on cross-hemispheric tasks For example, able to concentrate on multiple tasks, and better at languages...
Advantages
- Foresight and Vision -Synthesising information -Spatial awareness -Control of movement -Creative thinking -Artistic thinking -Perceiving possibilities -Recognising pattern -Musical ability -Perceiving the Big-Picture - Visualisation in planning -Generating analogy - Understanding metaphor -Caring for others Specialises in recognising patterns, in image-based problem solving, and in exploring associations between ideas. Closely linked with both memory and with appreciation of ones emotions.
There are typical gender differences in the number and quality of connections between Brain hemispheres...
Poor At:
-Integrating multiple sources -Apprehending the Big-Picture -Experiencing Reality -Being appreciative -Interpreting the spirit of the rules
Left Brain
Different parts of the Brain apprehend and react to stimuli in different ways...
Right Brain
Specialises in processing sequential information. Excels when confronted with problems amenable to logical or mathematical solutions.
Dis-Advantages Techniques
-Logic -Deduction -Induction -Scientific Method -Socratic method -Propositional Logic -Truth-Tables -Predicate Logic -Mathematics -Categorisation -Air-headedness -Possible gullibility -Possible emotionalism
Techniques
-Analogy -Metaphor - Thought Maps -Diagrams -Fuzzy Logic -Art
Lower Brain
Specialises in fast, approximate, processing of incoming stimuli. Is the seat of emotional and intuitive thinking. Can often hi-jack behaviour, initiating an action before the higher centres have an opportunity to react.
Over-riding Positive Quality A childlike ability to appreciating the Now.
Other Advantages
-Fast reactions -Access to subliminal perceptions and intuitions -Access to psi and spirit (?)
Over-riding Negative Quality: A tendency to childish tantrums and fixations.
Other Dis-Advantages
-Easily swayed by outside influences -Easily influenced by the imagination -Difficult to understand: much processing is at a subliminal level
Visualisation can be Critical appraisal, used to help become based on feedback, more conscious of the can be used to calibrate of the lower-brain... ones ability to intuit... Developing Lower Brain awareness is essential for People Skills...
Focusing on Impression
Decision Making
...Mental Faculties...
(Understand the strengths and weaknesses of different parts of the brain)
...Systems...
Copyright P .Smee 1998. Sponsored by The College of St Mark & St John in assoc. with ADAPTthroughRATIO
Left Brain
Logical
Seat of reason Mathematical skills Analytical Sequential Defining Critical
Lower Brain
Emotional
Fast processing Often subliminal Source of intuition Sometimes anomalous Spiritual (?)
Controversial
Anomalous
Executive-Intuition Psychotronics technologies
Impressionistic
Artistic expression Metaphors and analogies
Systems which are inherently unpredictable...
Traditional
Words Writing
Right Brain
Pictorial
Pattern recognition Imaginative Inventive Associative Creative Good memoriser Synergistic
Emergent
Artificial Life
Self-Evolving Nets Genetic Algorithms
Communication Co-operation and Synergy Deduction Propositional Logic Logical Exposition Word Processors and DTP
Fractals
Simulations Virtual Reality
Neural A.I.
Pattern-Recognition Data-In, Rules-Out
Linear Mathematics
Inferencing Statistics Spreadsheets
Holistic
Fuzzy Logic in A.I.
Fuzzy-Rule-Based Systems
I.T.
Data-Processing
Data-Bases Information-Systems Small systems, Symbolic A.I. issues or problems Rule-Based Expert Systems that can be easily Wizard-Based Advice Systems talked or written about. Well defined questions, such as those that might be included in a questionnaire...
The more defined our models, the less accurate they are... (Paraphrase: Albert Einstein, physicist) We have no idea how complex the world around us is, until we try to define something... (Paraphrase: Bertrand Russell, philosopher)
Visualisation
Computer-Aided Design Graphical Representations
Systems in which there are no immediately discernable patterns, but in which, over time, some discernable patterns do emerge. Systems in which the unexpected disrupts our expectations...
Thinking skills
Focussed Thinking Thought Mapping Imagination
Systems which one can describe to an expert in a 30-minute phone conversation, and systems which can be represented in the form of a flow-diagram.
Systems in which there are many inter-relating partsfor example, an investigation into matters of health, or economics or politics.
...Effective decision-management involves using appropriate mental faculties and modelling technologies, with respect to the kind of system within which the decision is being made...
The following is an example of Concept Sorting / Graphic Facilitation which was then converted into the form of a Concept Map-type poster by a company called Idiagram. (Again, we have reduced the size of the presentation, the original was much clearer).
became
The following is another example of Concept Sorting / Graphic Facilitation which was then converted into the form of a Concept Map-type poster by a company called Idiagram. (Again, we have reduced the size of the presentation, the original was much clearer).
became
Mind Maps
The main difference between a Concept Map and a Buzan-style Mind Map is in the aesthetics of the design. Mind maps have an artistic feel that is entirely purposeful. Each map emanates organically from the central core and, like the branches on a tree, each theme leads to sub themes and on out to notes and to details. The result is a design that is streamlined - and which most people find aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Over the last few years, we have observed many students who successfully use mind maps to plan essays, outline reports and revise for exams. In this time, we have seen a number of pieces of student work that look incredibly impressive, to the extent that you feel like framing the diagrams and placing them on the wall as a piece of art. This is especially true of work by students with a gift for art, and who use cartoons and icons as well as key words and phrases on the mind maps that they draw. However, talking to groups of students, we found a number cited three main difficulties that irritated them when drawing mind maps. Firstly, words are written at angles to the page, making it difficult to read some of the ideas, without rotating the page. Secondly, there is only a short space in which to write, and so ideas have to be expressed as key words, rather than as sentences or paragraphs. Third, some people find that they are unsure which parts of a map to look at first. Having discussed the issues raised, we conclude that none of these criticisms is particularly damming, they are simply suggestive of the fact that individuals all differ in the way that they understand any form of knowledge representation. Hence the reason why we show two different approaches to presenting knowledge, so that you can experiment and find out which would best suit your needs and interests.
An example of a mind map from the web site teachingexpertise.com.
A gallery of a few more mind maps.

from a book by Tony Buzan.
from a web site encouraging mind mapping.
from someone summarising a course in ISO900
from the web site of a school in the UK
Getting Started. The following is the advice that we found ourselves giving to students on several modules in which one of the assignments required each student to read a book-length script and to summarise each chapter in the form of a poster. 1. Speed Reading and Photoreading While it is beyond the remit of this text to explain the processes involved in speed reading or the even more powerful process, Photoreading, everyone is encouraged to seek out advice and training in either or both skills. Ten years teaching has indicated time and again that students who learn to read easily not only gain knowledge and confidence in their field of study, but also learn ways in which to express themselves more elegantly and eloquently. This is why study in Higher Education is called reading for a degree. If you find reading difficult, for reasons other than dyslexia or other cognitive limitation, you need to practice. Ideally, you will practise on subject-related reading matter, but failing that even works of fiction or popular science are a great way to limber up. Like training your muscles to run a marathon, training the mind to read and to absorb what has been read takes time and is made easier by a regular schedule of training. So if you want to succeed in a profession that has an intellectual component attached to it, begin reading now, and gain training and advice related to speed reading and photoreading at the earliest opportunity. 2. Overall Layout There are many ways to begin to draw a good Mind Map or Concept Map. However, the following are four standard ways to organise your thoughts that you may find easy to work with until you have the experience and expertise to devise more sophisticated layouts of your own.
1. Start in middle and work out to the edges.
2. Start at top left and work down to bottom right.
3. Generate some kind of timeline.
Some Examples: 1. Start in middle and work out to the edges. (See the pages that follow)
Two examples of our own, which starts in the middle and then works outwards. (see our ArtGallery on circle-of-excellence.com for the full size images).
+
Lack of investiment in public transport More expensive fares
V.Green Pollution
Ca
cle
Green
rs
Private
Trans port
Public
Cy
ins Tra Bu se
Look for other faults
Transport
Is a kind of
s
Green
Car wont start
Is there petrol in the tank? a.k.a. Take car to garage
Flow diagrams
Assessment continua
Has
Affects the economy
Colour
Has
Car
Has
4 wheels
Less buses & trains
state diagrams
Busin es s need s
Construction business Ha u lie rs
+
Trains Buses Public Cycle Private Cars Pollution
"Green"
Co
er nsum
need
People use more private transport
Buzan maps
Good air quality
Semantic nets
Is a kind of
An engine
Has
Venn diagrams
"Green"
Concept maps
Causal maps
Parts
Is a kind of
Is a kind of
Trans port
Carb
Plug
Pump
Force field diagrams
Informal
Trains
Formal
Buses Public Trans port Private
Thinking With Hexagons

"Green"
Spatial
Cycle Cars Polltion
"Green" Trains
Ways In Which To Represent Ideas...
Tables & Glossaries
Templates
Web diagrams
Buses
Public Trans port Private Cars Pollution Cycle "V.Green"
Concept sorting
Vee-diagrams
Searching for insight...
Thinking Techniques
Causal chains Time-lines
FiFo: Information in Information Out CAF: Consider All Factors ...by exploring the nature of a problem... OPV: Other peoples views APC: Alternatives, Possibilities, Choices
Everyone has their reasons...
Bstm: Brainstorm PO: Possibilities ...by generating a seed solution... RndG: Random Generator 1plus1: One Plus One is Three
Pulling a rabbit out of the proverbial hat...
Problem solving
Avoiding conflict
Bho: Best Home ISOL: Ideal Solution Lchk: Logic Check ...by focusing on reason... MaT: Matrices
Thinking in clearly defined steps...
Defining aims
Available Techniques...
Developing Plans of action
...through awareness of others... OPV: Other Peoples Views

ADI: Agree Disagree, Interesting EBS: Examine Both Sides
Getting serious
...by looking for 'meaning...

VLW: Value laden Words LChk: Logic Check
Always check the sub-text...
PerS: Personal Style Sout Spell Out ...by assessing feelings... EWO: Easy Way Out LazM: Laziness Method
Looking for a happy outcome...
PMI: Positive, Minus, Interesting WiF: What If? BaS: Balaams Ass CaS: Consequences and Sequel ...by peering into the future...
Covering your bases...
...by focusing on goals...

GSet: Goal Setting
...by focusing on needs...

MEnd: Means End analysis
...using sophisticated protocol to better understand complex issues... 6Hat: DeBono Six Hat Thinking
ICol: Idon Colour Thinking SSM: Soft System Methodology SPn: Scenario Planning Obj: Object Technology
Utilising colour and creativity...
Working out how.... ...You will get there from here...
Neural Systems
Expert Systems
Information Systems Communication Systems Databases Spreadsheets
Bespoke Educational Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Knowledge Media
Office Basics
Presentational Slide Shows
Word Processors
Bespoke Simulations
Software Technologies
Visualisation/ Simulation Planning Applications.
Electronic Publishing
Aids To Thinking
Thought Mapping Desktop Publishing
Design & Publishing
Animation
Paint Packages
Idea generation and sorting
Draw Packages
Examples of starting in the centre and working outwards, drawn by other people.
One final example of starting in the centre and working outwards, drawn by other people.
Some Examples: 2. Start at top left and work down to bottom right. (See the pages that follow)
Two examples of our own, which (effectively) start at top left and work down to bottom right. (See our ArtGallery on circle-of-excellence.com for the full size images).
Accelerated Learning
Core Needs
The Mind is highly associative, the more associations that are made, the easier it is to recall something. Everything is remembered. For most people the problem is one of recall, not encoding. The more you can discern patterns within a subject, the easier the subject will be to remember.
Be Motivated Be Alert
Use goal-setting to explore how the knowledge you are learning will benefit you...
If it wont, ask yourself why you are studying... It is helpful to be clear with respect that which you want to achieve...
Alternate solo thinking and study with group discussion. Alternate serious thinking with work-related play. Alternate intellectual work with physical activity.
More than 20-40 minutes concentration and your ability to learn begins to dip...
Check out light and sound machines..
Using your new knowledge in your work. Being imaginative and developing personal examples and analogies.
Certain background colours affect learning. Certain types of music induce better synchronisation between brain hemispheres. Also note hemi-synch technologies.
Environmental Factors
Visual materials, such as pictures, posters and handouts, help promote subliminal learning.
Using your new knowledge in conversation and discussion.
Memory & Recall Understanding

Apply your lessons!
Be aware of the dominant sense modalities through which your learners are processing your lessons. Also be aware that the more intelligences you can engage, the deeper new ideas will be processed. Use Key-Letters from the subject to create memorable words or phrases. Colour-Pegs can be used to help colour-code, and thus catalogue, information.
ABC
Kinds of Mnemonics Review Protocol
Drawing illustrative diagrams and cartoons.
Collating and synthesising ideas in the form of thought maps.
Use Rhythm and Rhyme to help remember lists of facts.
Review using as many as possible of the 8-Intelligences : - mathematical - musical - verbal - visual - natural - emotional - interpersonal - kinesthetic
Keep reviewing material, each time chunking it into larger pieces, and each time scanning faster using speed reading, or keyword maps. Check for understanding to ensure that students have understood the lessons you have taught.
Extreme and absurd images help fix ideas in the mind.
Create Minds-Eye Movies in which different aspects of a scene help encode different things to be remembered. Employ Minds-Eye Visualisation. Such Mental Rehearsal is the ultimate virtual reality simulator. It is very powerfully linked to physical performance and to the emotions.
NLP in Presentations
The role of the presenter
Be prepared by stepping into some form of image of excellence and power so that your non-verbal communication radiates excellence and power. People come to a talk in a particular state, the presenter needs to 'pace' or 'match' them, then 'take them on' to a more appropriate state where learning can take place... ...often people are hesitant, but we want them to be wantonly motivated, so... ...we select a set of naturally linked emotions, personal stories, and situations with which the audience can identify to take them from hesitation through to motivation... ...for example: hesitation to frustration to curiosity to desire to wanton motivation... The task of a presenter is to build relationship between an audience, the subject matter and any supporting materials.
The most basic stories have a beginning, a middle As someone tells a story, and an end. they re-access the emotions Stories can also associated with the story: communicate content The most basic tool in the orators toolkit the natural human response in the form of analogy, is the use of personal stories of the audience is to follow. metaphor or parable. and emotional anecdotes. Stories should focus upon communicating the emotion of the event, and should vividly appeal to all modes of thought: visual, auditory and kinesthetic.
In the modern world, detail is best transmitted using distance learning materials, such as books, images, video or audio.
Stories Stepping stones
A whole range of gestures, intonations, Comedians use catch-phrases images and language patterns can be used to anchor laughter, so that each time to anchor an emotional state the phrase is used, people begin to laugh... and to help reclaim those states at a later date.
Anchoring Embedding
Stagecraft
The more embedded the message, the deeper it will go into the sub-conscious, and the more profound the emotional states that will be accessed and used by the sub-conscious to integrate the presentation into the listener's life.
Begin telling stories. As states are accessed, anchor those states and move on to a different story. After about three stories, the conscious mind will begin to reach its limitations, so any message will slip directly into the sub-conscious. Now finish all the stories and fire all the associated anchors. The brain will begin to integrate everything, as the anchors act like a fast rewind through the presentation.
Learn basic skills of voice and body work, to create and maintain a presence. For example: speak slowly and clearly, with a low-toned voice for power and authority. Be rooted with a three-dimensional stance, keep the mic still and in the sweet-spot. Be aware of the audience, and remember to smile and relax...
Meta-Model of language Relax and Enjoy!
Use the meta-model of language to help slip people into a relaxed state of mind, which is receptive to the presentation being communicated.
Good presenters nest stories and states, within yet more stories and states. This is bread and butter to good story-tellers, sales people, teachers and comedians.
Use images and relaxed states to enhance insight and to promote memory.
Learning through doing

Get people doing exercises which simulate practising real life skills related to the presentation.
Check that learning and understanding has actually taken place!
Feedback Inoculation & Future Pacing
Learning through imagining

Only doing is doing, but imagination can be used in many ways to promote insight and understanding. Importantly, it keeps people away from abstract theorising.
Make sure you are able to ascertain the degree to which you have succeeded which means knowing what you want to achieve and also means defining how your results can be measured... A classic NLP question to ask is: How (in terms of observable behaviour) would you know whether the learner has learned that which you are teaching...
Once people are 'with you', and agree with your message', you need to ensure that they do not revert to their previous views...
An example of starting on one side of the page and working across the page, drawn by other people.
Some Examples: 3. Generate some kind of timeline. (See the pages that follow)
Two examples of our own, which are variations on the theme of a timeline. (See our ArtGallery on circle-of-excellence.com for the full size images).
Explore issues and define problems

Identify needs Brainstorm everything that comes to mind, when you think about the problem to hand What if?
Mission-Statement Define aims - identify boundaries - clarify focus - set anchors
Generate solutions, explore opportunities

Ideal solution In an ideal world, where you could have anything you desired, what would be the solution to your problem? Best Home Forget about other peoples thoughts on what is best for you, what kind of solution to this problem would best suit you (in your reality)
Think logically Think creatively
Generate
Introducing Systems Analysis
Think about what might happen in the future, and use those thoughts to generate a better understanding of the problem - and hopefully a more refined definition of that problem Explore options Having clarified the nature of the problem, use concept sorting to help you generate, sort, and refine possible solutions Matrices Lay your options in front of you, now is the time to use a matrix to choose between them: to narrow down the options to a single strategic goal
Possibilities Think of some wild off-the-wall solutions, and see if they fit, or whether they lead to any more practical ideas
Having defined your strategy (what you want to achieve) you need some detail if you are to develop an effective plan
Focus
Understanding technology well enough to develop solutions

Elaborate
Conceptual Model Just exactly how are you going to get from here to there: Inputs = system as it is Outputs = system as we would like it Black-Box diagram (inputs and outputs) Processes diagram (How inputs become outputs)
Final plan The main processes identified need to be elaborated into a detailed plan, telling you who will do what, when, where and how...
Communication Think about how to tell others about the result of your thinking...
What needs to be done to design a good system
Mission-Statement Define aims - identify boundaries - clarify focus - set anchors

"Green"
Tools you might like to consider in your work

Transport
Is a kind of
Concept Sorts Background research Do background research related to potential users. This involves checking out reading materials and looking at similar systems, which people may have previously developed.
Trains Trans port Private Cars Pollution Cycle
Concept Maps
Trains Buses Public Cycle Private Cars Pollution
Carb
Is a kind of
Identify User Needs
Buses
"Green"
Colour
Has
Public
Car
Has
Has
4 wheels
Trans port
Semantic nets
An engine
Has
If possible, talk to some potential users What is it that users would like to achieve? and, How would they like your system to help them achieve it?
"V.Green"
Parts
Is a kind of
Is a kind of
Plug
Pump
+
Lack of investiment in public transport More expensive fares
Introducing Knowledge Engineering
Sketch some thoughts in the form of an outline design What are the main modules and screens that will make up the desired system? How will the modules and screens relate and interact with one another? Outline the kinds of knowledge and expertise you require In order to flesh out your system design: What kinds of knowledge and expertise do you need to acquire? and, How will you acquire it?
+
Less buses & trains
Look for other faults
People use more private transport
Car wont start
Is there petrol in the tank?
Flow diagrams
a.k.a. state diagrams
Take car to garage
Causal Maps
Good air quality
Acquire Knowledge
Process-based Knowledge and Expertise What kinds of inputs does an expert require to be able to provide appropriate outputs? and, What kinds of reasoning processes and Declarative Knowledge and Expertise rules does the expert utilise Develop visual representations which help you to convert inputs to outputs? understand the experts perception of the subject matter. The difference between novice and expert knowledge is often in the deep-level patterns and associations that the expert can see, but which the novice does not.
Designing the outline for an Expert (or other intelligent) System

Re-design the main modules What are the main modules and screens going to look like? and, How exactly are the modules and screens going to relate to one another?
Outline Design
Detail The main modules need to be elaborated to an appropriate level of detail - in terms of input, rule-base, reasoning processes, and output to be provided...
The big-picture In a commercial environment, you would now re-interview both users and experts, generate and test a proto-type, and outline how the system would be maintained, as expertise changes and the system needs updating.
An example of a time line that we downloaded from the web.
Another example of a time line that we downloaded from the web.
3. Level of detail Begin with the focus for the poster then present key themes, break those themes into sub themes then add illustrative details. Now, this is where the processes involved in authoring a Mind Map or Concept Map poster definitely enter into the realm of design and are more of an art than a science. Try to keep the number of words to a minimum, but at the same time realise that your reader is not psychic, therefore you have to provide enough words for them to be able to understand what you are saying. One trick to consider, if you are not sure if you have used an appropriate level of detail is to add insets (as described below). Now, for those struggling to get startedbefore you complain, feel confused, or give upremember that the intellectual challenge you have been set here is exactly the same as the challenge you will find in many professions. You are practising the ability to review a large amount of information, identify key ideas, identify key patterns, make sense of those ideas and patterns, and relate those ideas and patterns to the needs of a specific audience or readership. All drawing a Mind Map or Concept Map does is to strip away the degree to which you can waffle or hide a lack of understanding. The first few times you are asked to draw such a diagram may feel daunting, but after half a dozen many aspects of study, decision making and communicating your ideas to others will become much easier. Persevereit will be worth it in the end :)
Sometimes you want to keep a map relatively clean and clear, rather than filling it with too much detail.
Two more simple posters that demonstrate the author of the poster understands the field they are summarising, even though they have not placed much detail on the printed page.
Other times, you need to depict more detail to make your point.
Some of our work that contains differing levels of detail. (As ever, the full size posters can be downloaded from the ArtGallery on our circle-of-excellence.com web site).
Knowledge Elicitation
From Experts Planning An Interview
Venue Time
Use an appropriate venue, in a place where neither interviewer nor interviewee are likely to be interrupted. Select a time which reflects pressures on both interviewer and interviewee, so neither feel harassed.
Room Layout
Room layout should be conducive to encouraging collaborative work.
Recording Approach
Recording devices should be unobtrusive and, ethically, the interviewee should assent to the interview being recorded.. The kind of interview employed should reflect the kind of skill being analysed.
Unobtrusively watch the interviewee to look for rules that they take for granted and of which they are not aware.
Conducting An Interview
Observe Open Qs Read Chat Teach-Back
Give the interviewee latitude in the way the interview develops.
Analytical Technologies
Genetic Algorithms
Both techniques automate the simulation of human expertise...
Background search of literature, to make sure you are well briefed.
Closed Qs
Be very focussed and specific with regard the information and knowledge you are seeking.
Make sure that you understand Informal orientation and getting to know well enough to be able to teach what you have learned to others. the interviewee.
DIRO Data-In, Rules-Out

Computers monitor human experts, then try to mimic their performance.
Thought Maps Electronic Aids and Diagrams Things To watch

Agreement
Use audio and video recorders to record what happens. Visual representations help both interviewer and interviewee clarify their thinking.
Repertory Grid
Experts highlight relationships between elements, then special software converts these relationships into a rule-set.
Non-Verbal Communication
Keep track of any subliminal cues...
Make sure that by the end of the interview the main points and any agreed actions are noted in writing...
Techniques by which to capture and construct a system based upon human expertise...
More examples of our work that contain differing levels of detail. (As ever, the full size posters can be downloaded from the ArtGallery on our circle-of-excellence.com web )
4. Use of Insets If you find you have a lot of detail to put onto your poster, or if you need to elaborate on parts of your poster, employ insets. Use of insets makes it easier to keep the text on the main part of your poster clean, clear and concise. Now, with the design of a poster that uses insets in mind, there are two main kinds of insets that you might like to consider. They can be used separately or together, as needed.
1. Insets placed around the edges
The central part of the poster. Keep this clean, clear, concise and to the point. If you have more detail than you can comfortably fit onto the central part of your poster, use insets, as we saw on the sample posters we looked at in Week Two.
(Here we see insets arranged around the edge of the poster, but they can be placed in other places as well).
2. Key point insets

Here we see an inset for each of the four themes, the job of each inset being to explain each theme in more detail.
Two examples of a poster with only a few key points, but with detailed insets next to many of those points. You can either read the headings at a distance or step closer if you want to read the detail.
An example of a poster using insets, drawn by others and accessed from the web. The top part of the poster depicts relationships between different parts of an ecosystem, whilst the bottom part of the poster expands on some of the more important points.
Here we see a graphical depiction with the detail (in the main) arranged around the outer edge of the poster.
Here we see a number of small graphical representations, with some explanatory text pulling the constituent parts of the poster together.
5. Focus: think about your anticipated audience/readership It is much easier to draw a Mind Map or Concept Map, or indeed any poster, if you have a specific focus in mind, which means you need to understand and to have decided to whom you are addressing your work. : 1. Ideally, relate what you have read to a specific profession - or, even better, address your work to a specific individual whom you can visualise and whose likes, dislikes and interests you understand. Now begin in the centre of your poster with the name of your profession. For example, imagine that you are drawing a poster that relates the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to the profession w e might write AI in Education in the centre of our (as yet) blank workspace. A good way to proceed would then be to think of the needs of the profession as they relate to what you have read. The needs would be the main themes. For example, in teaching there are obvious needs, such as lesson preparation; lesson delivery; classroom discipline; administration and the like. Third, begin to think of general technologies that are relevant to the needs that you have identified. These become your sub themes. For example, under the theme of administration we might note AI technologies, like biometrics, which enable students to place their thumb on a fingerprint reader as a way to register that they are present. We might think of a database programmed to alert teachers to patterns of absence or when a student begins to get better or worse grades than usual. If it is appropriate, it is some of these sub themes that would make a good subject for an insert or two. For example, review a practical biometrics product that is being used in classrooms, describe how to code a database to seek out patterns and email teachers if any important patterns are noted, and so forth. But of course, there are other ways that you can focus a Mind Map or Concept Map 2. Making your poster into a general overview. Design your poster as a general overview of a piece of text that you have read, in which you demonstrate you have identified the key themes. Then use insets to show that you understand what you have read and that you can relate what you have read to the real world. In terms of student work which we have seen, and which have impressed us, students have tended to go in one or two general directions. Some students have focused in upon the content of what they have read, others have focussed upon the application of what they have read. Either approach can be very effective, depending on the intended readership of the final poster. Again, we will use examples related to AI. Some students read a review of the history of AI and used insets to describe some key points in the history of AI in detail. Other students read the same text and thought about how key research, such as research into games theory in the 1950s, might apply to modern computer games. Thus they said little about the detail of what they read but provided clear evidence which indicated they had understood the script that they had perused.
Obviously a design aesthetic that is appropriate for one group might not be appropriate for another. Look at other magazines and posters aimed at your intended readership in order to gain inspiration.
6. Aesthetics If you are a Marjon student, then you have access to our two PowerPoint presentations covering a number of design issues related to layout, aesthetics and brand image. These are both relevant to any first attempt to draw a Mind Map or Concept Map poster, but even if our presentations are not available to you, the web is full of advice on design that can be applied to the production of posters. In addition, you will almost certainly have access to newspapers, magazines, other educational posters and a variety of media, which all contain designs about which you need to develop an opinion. What works? What does not? Begin to devise your own criteria for good design and design that is less than effective. In terms of the advice that we find ourselves giving on a repeated basis: (i) consider the need to balance space with the need to provide detail, (ii) consider the appropriate use of fonts and colour (and avoid garish approaches to the use of WordArt), and (iii) be thoughtful in your use of graphics. To be more specific:With regard space, look at some posters and they contain so much information that they look a mess and are difficult to engage with. While other posters have so little in them that you wonder what the point was in producing them. Which leads to issues of font and colour, because often people who make an illconsidered use of space also make an ill-considered use of font and colour. Dark fonts on dark backgrounds are usually a mistake, as are light fonts on a light background. Make appropriate use of a few select fonts and ensure you understand the different applications of serif and sans serif fonts. (If you do not, then spend some time finding out in Google). Most professions now expect people to be able to communicate in a variety of media and there really is no excuse for not knowing these kinds of basic design principles, if you want to impress your clients and / or your employers. Hence another reason that the kind of Mind Mapping and Concept Mapping exercise, on which you are now engaged, is a good idea. With regard to an appropriate use of graphics, ensure that you are in control of graphic editors and that you understand how to make an appropriate use of a variety of graphical formats. In particular, remember that: Distorted graphics look awful, so if you need to fit a graphic into a specific space and resizing doesnt quite work, use (or learn to use) the crop facility to make it fit. Blurred graphics and graphics full of jaggies look awful, so plan to get graphics that are of an appropriate size, or use vectored art that can be re-sized without problems (and if you dont understand the difference between bitmaps and vectored artwork, then look it up in Google!). Seek to make graphics complimentary with one another. Use an appropriate graphics editor to edit bitmaps, so that different pictures look as if they belong together. Use colourising, re-colouring, grey scaling, or any other effect that is appropriate, to make graphics work well together, aesthetically. Explore the use of transparency so that imported bitmaps are not always square. Remember that if you have a square image and you want part of that image to be transparent, this is easy to achieve. For example, if you are using Publisher, all you need to do is to select the image and ensure that you can see the drawing toolbar. On the toolbar, there is a tool that looks like a wand. If you select the wand and click on a part of your image, the colour you click will become transparent. The only complication here is that on some images a block of colour which looks like a single colour may not be. If this is the case, use a paint package to ensure that the parts of your image you want to be transparent are coloured in a lurid colour that is seen nowhere else in your picture. This makes it easy to use the wand when your picture is pasted into Publisher. 7. Tools of the trade If you go to the page on our website circle-of-excellence.com, which contains articles like the one you are now reading, you will find another document in which are detailed a large number of free and low cost software programs (called Software To Make You Think). You can currently download all the software you need to complete some amazing design work, and all of it for free if you know where to look. Read our document on the subject and you can save yourself hundreds of pounds (and even more dollars). Alternately, we often suggest to students with an artistic flair that they complete some, or all, of their poster by hand and then digitise their artwork using a scanner or a high definition digital camera. The results can be impressive, so if you have a gift for drawing it is an option you may wish to explore.
The GIMP paint package is free on the web and often gets many good reviews.
Screenshots from the free vector draw package InkScape, which is a viable replacement for Adobe Illustrator and CorelDraw.
The commercial software company Serif have an interesting marketing policy. They make old versions of their software available for free, users only pay to upgrade to the current version. Serif: Desktop Publishing with PagePlus (from freeserfisoftware.com)
Serif: Paint with PhotoPlus. (from freeserfisoftware.com)
Serif: Vectored graphics with DrawPlus. (An interesting feature is that the program claims to interpret free form lines drawn with a pen input). (from freeserfisoftware.com)
Summary and Conclusions If you can learn to draw competent Concept Maps or Mind Maps, and combine that skill with some of the additional design expertise needed to represent information in the form of an educational poster, you will find that the intellectual skills that you acquire and practise will stand you in good stead in almost any profession in which there is a need to study quickly, teach, make decisions, design solutions or communicate to other people. You will find that your mind begins to see patterns within the text that you read, the problems you face and the challenges you are set. Psychologists note that it is the ability to note patterns and to act appropriately in response to said patterns that distinguishes experts from those who are not. Hence if you wish to practise skills that will help you become expert in any chosen field of study or profession, practising the skills associated with Concept Sorting, drawing Concept Maps and Mind Maps, and acquiring an eye for design represents a good suite of skills with which to engage. Some web links you might like to visit Our own circle-of-excellence.com web site (ArtGallery and free Concept Mapping software). Dublin City University advice on poster design. MindMapping.co.uk for training in Mind Mapping MindJet, developers of the popular Mind Manager software for drawing Mind Maps. Stanford University advice on poster design. Swarthmore College advice on designing scientific posters. Washington University advice on designing posters.
In a few years time, drawing posters will be a lot easier, when interactive screen technologies, like Wacom Cintiq, become less expensive. People able to think and to draw and to represent ideas graphically, now, will obviously have an advantage over those who cannot, as new interactive screen technologies become more readily available.
Appendix A: Making PDF Posters using a PDF printer This set of instructions tells you how you can use the PDF printer PDF995 which will work on most computers. If the process works for you, then obtaining a PDF document is as easy as pressing the button to send a document to your printer. For that is what a PDF-printer is, a virtual replacement for your printer that creates electronic documents instead of spreading ink on dead trees. The obvious advantage to the use of a PDF printer being that PDF documents look like their printed counter-parts, they can be easily distributed via email, CD-ROM or web pages, and they are not restricted by the size of paper that you can fit into a printer. From our perspective, this makes PDF printers ideal, because few students have access to a low cost A1 or A2 sized printer and few teachers have access to the office space required to store several hundred posters. So what is PDF995? PDF995 is a commercial product that can be downloaded for free from PDF995 dot com. What is attractive about the program, when compared with other PDF printers, is that it can be used for as long as you like, for free, as long as you do not mind a pop up advertisement at the end of each print cycle. (Other programs tend to stamp a watermark on their free demonstration, whereas PDF995 does not). If the popup advert annoys you, then pay PDF995 developers the $9 that they request to make the advertisement to go away. This is an exceptionally good deal, when one thinks that the full Acrobat editor, from Adobe, normally costs several hundreds of pounds. So we hope that many of you will elect to pay the developers of PDF995 their dues.
(If you are confident with computers, you can use the free pdf printer, PDFcreator, which is available from sourceforge.net, or the free PDF printer, PrimoPDF, from PrimoPDF.com. Both printers are very serviceableso it is wise for you to download them and experiment with the output that you can achieve from the computer(s) on which you work. The advice or using both is essentially the same as the advice provided for using PDF995, though some of the details will be altered. If this sounds to challenging for you to contemplate, then keep with PDF995 and consider paying them $9 so you can have access to their quick response technical support).
Now. For the details on how to use Publisher with PDF995
Step 1. Go to PDF995.com and download the two PDF print driver set up files. (As shown in the screenshot below). Note: You can download more install files if you want to, but for the sake of these instructions you only need the core two files.
Nowassuming that you have PDF995 installed, follow the instructions provided, in the order stated because the order is very important Step 2. Ensure that Publisher is NOT running.
Step 3. PDF995 creates a virtual printer and it is this virtual printer that is used to make PDF files from any Windows application from which you can print. Thus the first task is to go to your Windows Printer and Faxes window and select PDF995 as your default printer. You then need to right click and request Printer Preferences.
Step 4. Click the button to go to the Advanced Options window.
Step 5. Select the page size that you want. We suggest something around A2 would be a good size for a poster, but feel free to go to A1 if you would like.
Step 6. Now you can start Publisher and create a new document, or open an existing document.
Step 7. Go to the Page Set-up dialog in Publisher.
Step 8. Under the Layout Tab. check that the dialog reads Full Page as your option for the kind of document that you want.
Step 9. Under the Printer and Paper tab check that paper size is right. In this example we need to select A2 from the drop down list. (Note that the list is derived from the Printer and this is why it is essential for the size of the printer page to be selected in the printer BEFORE opening Publisher).
Step 10. Now everything should work fine. When you ask to print your document, the result should be a PDF document with the right page size for the poster you are outputting.
Appendix B: Judging The Worth Of A Concept Map or Mind Map Poster When judging the worth of a Concept Map or Mind Map poster, I would allocate marks on the following criteria. I would then note down a more detailed set of observations on the worth of the artefacts submitted. This may seem like a lot of work but I use my marking machine, MarkThis, in conjunction with drop down lists in an Excel Spreadsheet and so it involves very little typing but allows me to provide detailed feedback to students on how well they have done so that they can improve in the future. Apparent evidence for a breadth of the background research/reading. Is there an appropriate breadth to the detail provided on the poster? Are key ideas explained in sufficient detail, through use of appropriate inset panels? Apparent evidence for an understanding of the background research/reading. Given the audience for which the poster has been preparedhave appropriate details been included? Given the audience for which the poster has been preparedhave inappropriate details been excluded? Is there a clear and easy-to-follow structure evident within the poster? Overall, does the content of the poster appear to be well selected, as opposed to relatively ad hoc and random? Apparent evidence for critical thinking within the design of the poster. Does the poster have a focus title? Is the poster directed at a clear readership? Does the body of the poster appear to relate to the title? Does the body of the poster appear to relate to the readership? Apparent evidence for professionalism with regard to the final product? To what degree does the design adhere to aesthetic principles that someone at this level of work should already understand? To what degree does the design adhere to new aesthetic principles explained in class or in available instructional materials? To what degree does the design of the poster indicate competence with an appropriate array of hardware/software? To what degree does the design demonstrate creativity beyond that normally found at this level of work? How would you feel if you had been asked to pay for this poster?
The following are comments which can be made to help students do better in the future, and can be easily customised, then copied and pasted into feedback reports: Make sureyou are more realistic about your abilities. My records suggest that you appeared to feel over-confident that you could already do the work set, and that as a result you did not engage as fully as you might with the assignment set. You need to be more realistic about the skills, knowledge and expertise that you possess. If you really did have the skills, knowledge and expertise that you believed that you possessed, this would have been an easy exercise to do well and a difficult exercise to do badly. In the future, dont assume until AFTER you complete an assignment and AFTER you have obtained a good mark for that assignment that the work set is simple. Sometime work that looks simple can be deceptively difficult and challenging. You only find the challenges once you get started and get to grips with the subtleties of the exercise(s) that have been given to you to complete. Make sureyou understand what to do. When planning your work, did you do as suggested and refer to article entitled Drawing The Perfect Poster, available from the web site circle-ofexcellence.com? And did you also do as suggested and revisit old notes and advice related to design and to the use of design-related hardware and software? There are aspects of your work that cause me to believe that you skipped a detailed look at the advice provided in Drawing The Perfect Poster. If this is so, please understand that trying to complete an assignment without properly understanding what you are attempting to achieve is not a recipe for success. It is like trying to play a sport without understanding the rules. You will quickly become penalised. On the other hand, if I am wrong and you did read the article thoroughly, then perhaps you did not understand it as well as you needed to. If this is the case, then revisit the article and make positive plans to do whatever you need to practise those aspects of my advice on which you are not confident. And if you really do not understadn what those aspects are, then take a printout copy of the article to a tutor and ask for some advice. Make sureyou properly engage with the course. Records suggest thatYou missed one or more of the mandatory classroom sessions. You opted not to make full use of available tutorial sessions. You failed to hand in all the requested work in progress (so that you might receive formative feedback). You appeared ill-prepared when you were asked to participate in class. In the light of these comments, if you want to do better in the future, you need to take your engagement with the module much more seriously. If there are good reasons for not being able to engage, then let your tutors know. We may be able to assist you more than you anticipate. Or at the very least we may be able to point you towards college services that may be of benefit to you. On the other hand, if there is no good reason for the issues raised above, then you need to rethink why you are at college and why you elected to take this module and what you want to achieve. Again, you might want to talk to a member of staff to help you focus and do better in the future. Make sureyou put in an appropriate amount of time. It would have been good to see more effort evident in your work. From my previous experience of students undertaking this kind of exercise, my guess is that you needed to do more preparation work, before beginning to draw your mind map / concept map poster. If this is to so, then ensure that you get to grips with time management for future assignments. Remember that this work is supposed to represent 100 hours of effort. However, if you feel that this criticism is unfair and that the problem is that you do not understand what you are trying to achieve, then ensure you make the most of tutorial opportunities and classroom Q&A sessions with your tutor. By chatting more fully with your tutor(s) you will be able to identify ways that you can improve the quality of the work that you submit, and that as a result your marks will improve.
Make sureyou understand before you try to explain. It would have been good to have seen more breadth to this work. Consider widening the scope of future posters. The focus for your work is too narrow and this has made it difficult for me to ascertain how much understanding you have gained with respect the wider field within which your work is centred. Remember that I can only give marks for the evidence provided to me. On the one hand, if your understadning is a little vague, you probably need to undertake a wider breadth of preparatory work as a part of future assignments that you are asked to complete. On the other hand, if you feel you have indeed got a wider understanding of the field, then you need to think how you can do more demonstrate thatand thus gain the marks for which you are entitled. Refer back to the advice given to you in the article Drawing The Perfect Poster, available for the circle-of-excellence.com web site. Make sureyou are acquainted with all the relevant details. It would be good to see more depth to this work. Think about adding in more examples of key ideas, splitting key themes down into their main components, and/or adding (more) explanatory inset panels. This means undertaking more preparatory work and planning before you get started on drawing your posters. Remember that this work is supposed to represent 100 hours input of time. It is not possible to represent and explain ideas well until you are sure that you understand them well yourself. Once you understand what you are seeking to communicate, it is normally pretty easy to decide how to select the right key themes, and to then select the right sub themes and details and insets to explain those key themes. Or possibly, you feel that you did put in 100 hours, in which case you need to think about how to better focus your efforts. There is a whole field in business, called the 80:20 rule and also plenty of information on goals setting, all of which might help you do better in the future. So take some time in Google or in the library to find out more about efficient time management. Make sureyou know your readership. You appear to need to give more thought to the ideas and issues that you include on your poster. With regard the title and the intended readership for your work, the content appears to be a little ad hoc and random. Note that I use the word appears. You, yourself, presumably feel that you have been clear, in your own mind. However, from my own perspective as a reader of your work, I found the presentation confusing. Rethink how you go about representing your ideas in the future and consider getting feedback from your tutor and from colleagues n this class before submitting wok in the future. Make sureyou explain your thoughts clearly and coherently. You may believe that you have a clear mental model of the information that you are communicating in your poster. Undoubtedly it is a mental model which makes sense to you in your minds eye. However, the way you have presented your model on paper leaves room for a degree of improvement. In future, spend more time thinking about how to use a mix of key words, spatial positioning, graphics, small notes and insets to make it easier for your readership to understand what you are trying to communicate. Refer back to the advice given to you in the article Drawing The Perfect Poster, available for the circle-of-excellence.com web site. Make sureyou undertake sufficient editing. Re-editing some of the text that you use to explain ideas (and relationships) on your poster would make it easier for a reader to understand what you are trying to communicate. When you look at your poster, your own mind probably fills in the missing blanks that are required to make your poster easy to understand. However, the problem is that, as a reader, I am finding it more difficult than I should to decode your meaning, even where I am familiar with the information on which your work is based. Remember, your readers are not psychic. Preparing any work in Higher Education involves more than completing a first draft. Work needs to be edited several times if it is to have value to other people. Id suggest that you have not explored the tasks associated with editing your work as extensively as you might. Or, if I am wrong, and you have undertaken a half dozen re-edits, you need to consider speaking a tutor with regard re-thinking how you focus your time and effort during the editing process. You should also take the time to refer again to article entitled Drawing The Perfect Poster, available from the web site circle-of-excellence.com. Editing is important if you are to obtain a professional standard of work. In general, the more editing that you do, the higher the standard you will achieve.
Make sureyou properly focus your work. Take more time to think about the title that you have given to your work. Irrespective of the merits of the main body of your poster, it is not well focussed in terms of the content, when the content is compared to the title provided. The whole point of a title is to sum up the content in terms that you intended readership can understand. As it stands your title does not do this as well as it might. Which brings us to your readership. Mentally place yourself in the shoes of your readers. What would they most like to learn? Use that as your starting point. If you find you really cant think what your readers would be interested in, then you need to find out more about them. Talk to some people who are representative of your readers. Do some research about your readers needs and interests using books or the internet. Be proactive! And if you still cant think how to make your work relevant, consider whether the readership you have selected is an appropriate one for you! But whatever you do, ensure that your title (along with a suitable sub title) makes it clear what the cont of the poster isand to whom that content is aimed. Make sureyou have a grasp of basic design principles. You need to spend some time reviewing and reflecting upon key principles in design aesthetics. The best way to do this is to review the theory and then spend some time drawing. Just as you can only learn to swim by actually getting in the water and practising any instruction you have been given, so you can only improve your abilities in design through practise. At this point in your educational career, I would have expected you to have more expertise in terms of design. You may not anticipate a career in design, but everyone who professionally uses technology should be aware and skilled in the basics. As yet, you are not demonstrating that kind of competency. Like any skill, if you put in the time, you can become better. Thus, remember hat each assignment is rated as 100 hour worth of work, and make sure that some more of your future hours are spent updating your design skills. This will enable you to provide more professionalism in the future work that you submit. Make sureyou are confident and competent with basic design technologies. You need to take more time reviewing and practising with a wider range of hardware and software related to graphic design. While this assignment has not been an exercise in using a lot of different kinds of hardware and software, I dont get the sense that you are completely comfortable with the tools available to you. It would therefore be in your interests to spend some more time practising with design technologies that are available to you. (A list of which I have provided in an article entitled Software To Mark Your Think, available from the circle-of-excellence.com web site). Like any practical skill, gaining mastery of presentational technologies only comes by setting yourself challenges and then taking the time to rise to those challenges. By doing this you will improve the quality of your work. You will gain more control over layout and aesthetics. You will also find new and added options in terms of design effects that you can apply to your posters. This will bring you into line with the competence and expertise that is to be expected of someone studying at this level of education. Or even better, you will become inspired and go beyond the compete of your colleagues and peers. Make sureyou have plans to extend your abilities. Congratulations. Overall, the standard of your work is well above average. But it is not yet totally perfect. There are still be ways that you can improve. Some of these will be subtle enhancements to what you have already achieved, which would be difficult to articulate in a text-based feedback sheet, such as this. Normally, there are always subtle aspects of design, planning, expression and execution of your design that can be improved. In addition, other improvements will involve you using what you have achieved as a base, and extending your abilities beyond the scope of the current exercise. Think about the profession into which you hope to enter (or at the very least a profession that interests you). Set yourself a challenge that goes beyond what you have achieved, which will stand you in good stead if you ever go for an interview for a job related to that profession. Ultimately, seek for professional standards in all that you do. And seek to extend your repertoire of professional skills, as much as you are able. If you want suggestions for add-on challenges that will help you achieve a higher standard, feel free to askI can always think of add-on tasks that will be relevant to your interests:)
About the author
My name is Dr Peter EH Smee; and, I am a Learning and Development Consultant, specialised in the user experience design and delivery of new programmes of study and new educational technologies. Within this role, my key skills relate to: accelerated learning, innovation facilitation, leadership development, and the UI/UX design, programming and testing of innovative educational technologies; in support of: classroom teaching, systems modelling, knowledge representation, collaborative planning and digital communication. To date, I have acquired twenty years of award winning and award nominated success; connected with: (i) the client-centred scripting and presentation of face-to-face trainings; (ii) the coaching and mentoring of professional skills; (iii) the instructional design and authoring of blended learning solutions; (iv) the user centred design and programming of new systems modelling technologies; and, (v) the usability testing of new e-learning software. My most recent work experience includes:
One year, as a Commercial Trainer, conceiving and delivering workshops in business analysis and systems modelling; One year, as an Innovations Facilitator, facilitating team meetings in support of business analysis and systems modelling; Two years, as a Senior University Lecturer, conceiving and delivering courses related to presentation skills; Two years, as a Senior University Lecturer, conceiving and delivering courses in the design of educational technologies; Two years, as a Senior University Lecturer, conceiving and delivering courses in systems modelling and business analysis; Two years, as a Senior University Lecturer, conceiving and delivering courses in meeting facilitation and project planning; Two years, as a UI/UX Designer, conceiving and authoring nlp-based neuromarketing software; Two years, as a UI/UX Designer, conceiving and authoring resources in support of creativity and innovation facilitation; Two years, as a UI/UX Designer, conceiving and authoring resources to facilitate discussion and collaborative planning; Seven years, as a UI/UX Designer, researching innovations in accelerated learning and new mind technologies.
My background being: a Doctorate in the design of Educational Technologies; a Masters Degree in the design of Intelligent Computer Systems; a first degree in Sport Science and Dance, specialising in Performance Psychology; professional level certifications in: NLP, DHE, ETF, Psych-K, Reiki and Ericksonian Hypnosis; and orientation trainings in: Photoreading, Brain Entrainment, Biophysical Effect, Remote Viewing, Systematic Kinesiology, Bodynamics and Somatic Experiencing. In terms of what I might do for you: 1. Personal Coaching and Consultancy... I can provide you with personalised coaching, consultancy or mentoring, in my office in Basel, in Switzerland, or via Skype, over the web. For example, I can: (i) provide one-to-one mentoring on aspects of accelerated learning, creative thinking and leadership development; (ii) coach and choreograph public presentations; (iii) tutor research and report writing skills; (iv) advise on the structuring of an integrated long term programme of personal health and personal development; (v) deliver counselling related to stress, bullying, phobias, addictions or trauma; and (vi) contribute to the user experience design of new programmes of study and educational technologies. 2. Training Workshops... I am working with Anthony McCarthy, the Director of the Cross Border Banking Consultancy, based in Zurich, in order to deliver trainings in business analysis and systems modelling; for individuals and groups, working within Finance. Tony is a Senior Business Analyst, with over fifteen years of experience, heading up major international banking projects. Our training thus combines his experience as a commercial Business and Process Analyst, with my experience as a Learning and Development Consultant; the result being a view of business analysis and systems modelling that is unique. If you are interested, visit the BATTT.ch website, in order to find out more.

Drawing The Perfect Poster

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Drawing The Perfect Poster:

S t at e-of -mi nd: Thinking Like An IT Pr of essional

Lear ni ng St r at egi es Pl anni ng Ski l l s

Mi nd mappi ng and st or yboar di ng

Mappi ng t he way ahead

S t r uct ur i ng a dat abase

How t o dr i ve t he sof t war e

Desi gn S ki l l s: Aesthetics... Layout... Reader s needs...

New Media Of Communication Micro-Worlds Using Simulations Virtual Reality

Modelling Tools Developing Concepts Programming Tools

Computer - Aided Learning

Human-Computer Interface Devices

Technology makes it possible to see things that an unaided eye cannot.

Mouth Written Media

Muscles Hands Organs Limbs

Positioned Anchors for success Away!

Cooking with words

NLP in F2F communication

Audio Constructed Kinesthetic Awareness

Power Centres Pacing

Focusing on The Part

Development of the Left Brain is essential to the acquisition of an analytical mind...

Using Your Brain

Focusing on The Whole

Over-riding Positive Quality A childlike ability to appreciating the Now.

Over-riding Negative Quality: A tendency to childish tantrums and fixations.

Systems which are inherently unpredictable...

A gallery of a few more mind maps.

from a web site encouraging mind mapping.

from someone summarising a course in ISO900

from the web site of a school in the UK

2. Start at top left and work down to bottom right.

3. Generate some kind of timeline.

Look for other faults

Car wont start

Is there petrol in the tank? a.k.a. Take car to garage

Affects the economy

Less buses & trains

People use more private transport

Force field diagrams

Buses Public Trans port Private

Thinking With Hexagons

Cycle Cars Polltion

Ways In Which To Represent Ideas...

Tables & Glossaries

Public Trans port Private Cars Pollution Cycle "V.Green"

Searching for insight...

Causal chains Time-lines

Everyone has their reasons...

...through awareness of others... OPV: Other Peoples Views

...by looking for 'meaning...

Always check the sub-text...

Looking for a happy outcome...

...by focusing on goals...

...by focusing on needs...

Working out how.... ...You will get there from here...

Information Systems Communication Systems Databases Spreadsheets

Bespoke Educational Systems

Visualisation/ Simulation Planning Applications.

Design & Publishing

Idea generation and sorting

Check out light and sound machines..