Day Three of Class

Today in class we focused a lot on the idea of brainstorming. After being asked what brainstorming means a lot of us came up with very literal answers such as, planning out ideas, and creating many ideas in a limited time. The professor broke down the word brainstorm and asked us to define a storm using an adjective. We came up with answers like chaotic, temporary, and crazy. The professor then explained that his definition of a brainstorm was an explosion of ideas. I thought this was an interesting way of thinking of a brainstorm. When you brainstorm often times many ideas come to head depending on the topic. Although not all of the ideas work, you still consider them because brainstorming is the beginning stage when creating an idea. It serves as a way to generate many ideas. After reviewing brainstorming we began discussing mind mapping.

Most of the class was unaware of what this techinque was. The professor went over a few slides that explained, "a mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea." After reading this I had a better understanding of what a mind map was but still needed a clearer visualization of what this sort of thing looks like. The professor showed several examples of mind maps to give us a better understanding of what it was. Then, he asked us to create a mind map and base it on any topic we wanted. I had trouble thinking of a catchy idea; however, I came up with the title, "Going on a Blind Date". I created my mind map around this idea and came up with many things to consider when going on a blind date such as what to wear, what to order, what to do if your not attracted to your date, and etc. I thought this exercise was interesting because we could incorporate pictures and create the map however we chose, there were no limitations. Mind mapping is a good way of looking at different angles of a topic, and really exploring the many ideas that come with one phrase/topic.

(An example of a mind map shown in class)

After mind mapping, we sat in a big circle and went around the room finishing the sentence, "what if..." There were many interesting things said like, what if I didn't have to work, what if time wasn't linear, and what if my parents never met. We than began exploring the philosophical idea of time and how time really is an idea. The professor explained that everything is created from an idea. Things didn't just happen, there was someone that had an idea and made simple and complex things come to life like the cell phone and even electricity. He explained that everything starts with an idea and is then created. I enjoyed this part of the class because it really got us to open up our minds and think outside of the box. 

For homework the professor asked us to create another mind map instead this time make it very creative, and colorful. I look forward to creating this mind map because it allows me to brainstorm in a new effective way.