Towards a new open educational resource model using OKMindmap

Abstract

Mindmap is a useful teaching and learning tool. They could enable the skills of communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity which are identified as super skills being required for success in the 21st century. This paper suggests using OKMindmap to create a new open educational resource (OER) model called Big Book as an innovative educational method. The book was intended as an online collaborative learning environment where multiple sources of information such as video clips, images, sounds, texts and hyperlinks could be added as nodes of OKMindmap. It was trialled with the tenth graders at High school Teacher Practice of Can Tho University for one year. The results of the trial were positive. The students were interested in this new mode of learning since they could create their own Big Book by gathering information available on the web or design their own study plan which can be easily shared. The findings point to the feasibility of creating a Big Book for Vietnamese learners as the design of the Big Book was made easier and more affordable than ever in the age of technology.