Mindtools

Mindtools Elaborated

Jonassen distinguished mindtools, or cognitive tools, from traditional computer learning applications. Using mindtools means that learners work with the technology to represent their knowledge, rather than learning from the technology, as is the case with traditional tutorial or drill and practice applications. Jonassen characterizes mindtools as tools and environments developed to function as problem-solving and reasoning companions, designed especially to support and facilitate critical thinking and higher order learning. Examples include databases, expert systems, micro-worlds, and spreadsheets.

Since Jonassen’s first book on mindtools was published, the concept has been widely propagated and adopted in both K–12 and higher education settings. The book itself is now in its third edition and has been translated into several languages including Mandarin Chinese and Korean.

Mindtools can be used by learners of all ages. Its use to create computer-based concept maps is one mindtool application that is particularly flexible in this respect as both young children and adult learners are able to represent what they know in these interconnected systems of nodes with labeled links between nodes. Although some commonly used mindtools such as spreadsheets or systems modeling software may be more applicable for older learners, mindtools have a wide reach in terms of learning applications.

Mindtools Characterized

Even though the mindtools concept is relatively dated by technology standards, it continues to have an enduring impact on the field. The following [Page 510]characteristics of mindtools are crucial to their continued influence:

Mindtools are ubiquitous. They are not quite everywhere, but they are readily available and easy to find. Mindtools such as spreadsheets, concept maps, or semantic networks are available from many different sources and in many different forms (e.g., resident on your own computer, installed on a school district network, or in the Internet cloud). With the growth of the Internet and suites of online tools such as those offered by Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others, this is even truer today than it was when Jonassen first introduced the mindtools concept. However, although mindtools are widely available, learners must know how to use them effectively. For example, a concept-mapping tool becomes a mindtool when it is used in a student-focused way in which students create their own concept maps, rather than simply using those provided by a teacher.

Mindtools are discipline-free. Because the learner provides the content for the mindtool, that content could be biology, art history, mathematics, or practically anything. At the root of the mindtools concept is the notion that students are in effect teaching the technology what they know. Thus, by their very nature, mindtools can be applied in almost any discipline. Both students studying English literature and those studying earth science can effectively construct linked concept maps that represent their growing knowledge of a field of study.

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