Mind map – teacher's guide

1 What a mind map is

A mind map is a task type that you add to a course topic (like an essay or a video task). The student draws a concept map in their own editor and submits it to you. Because the map is saved as structured data – nodes and links – you see it neatly afterwards, together with statistics on its size and how it was built.

Topic→ 🧠 Mind map→ + Add mind map assignment→ The student draws and submits→ Grade the submissions

The topic’s task cards: 🧠 Mind map is the last one, its own magenta card showing the assignment name.

2 Creating a mind map assignment

Open the course for editing → Topics, choose the topic’s 🧠 Mind map card and press + Add mind map assignment. Fill in the fields and save the course.

The mind map assignment fields: title, instructions, grading, max points, deadline, time limit and lock, plus Unlock conditions, View submissions, remove and move.

Mind map assignment title – the name of the assignment (shown to the student).
Instructions for the student (optional) – what the map should contain. The field has a formatting bar: bold, lists, links and images are shown to the student formatted.
Grading – Points (default) or Approved / rejected. An approved-or-rejected assignment is graded with the result Approved, Needs revision or Rejected (section 5); it adds no points, but an approved assignment counts towards course progress.
Max points – the maximum points of a points assignment. In an approved-or-rejected assignment the field is hidden.
Deadline – the submission deadline.
Time limit (min) (optional) – if you set one, the student has limited time to make the map; empty means “no limit”.
🔒 Lock after deadline – prevents submissions after the deadline.
🔒 Unlock conditions – what the student has to do before the assignment opens.
📥 View submissions – opens the submissions of this assignment (section 4). 🗑 Remove mind map assignment removes the assignment and ↔ Move to another topic moves it together with its submissions.

Remember to save the course so that the assignment takes effect. Before saving, viewing submissions is not yet available.

3 The mind map in the student view

The student opens the assignment from the course topic, which opens the mind map editor. Below is a picture from the student app.

The student app’s mind map editor: the time limit (⏱) in the top bar, the dark drawing area with nodes and links, node text, colours, note to the teacher and stats on the right, Save draft and Submit to teacher at the bottom.

What the student can do:

Adding a node – the + Node button or a double-click on an empty spot.
Editing – a double-click on a node edits its text; the node colour is chosen from the palette in the right panel (8 colours).
Links – drag from a node’s green dot to another node.
Set as root / Delete – make the selected node the root of the map or delete it.
Dragging – nodes are moved by dragging.
Note to your teacher (optional) – the student can explain the map in words.
📋 Copy image – copies the map to the clipboard as an image.
Save draft saves unfinished work, Submit to teacher sends the map for grading (a confirmation is asked).

If you set a time limit, a timer (⏱) runs in the student’s top bar. When the time runs out, the map is submitted automatically.

4 Grading submissions

The assignment’s 📥 View submissions opens its submissions. You get the submissions of all courses from Add tools → 🧠 Mind maps: choose a course to see its submissions in a table. If the course has more than one mind map assignment, the table also has an Assignment column.

The submissions list: student, submission time, map size (nodes / links), status and points, and Open.

Grading a single submission

Open shows the map read-only (in the same dark style) together with its statistics and the cover note. In a points assignment you give points and feedback and either approve it or return it for revision. Grading an approved-or-rejected assignment is described in section 5.

An opened submission: statistics (nodes, connections, depth, process), the map, the cover note, points, feedback, and Approve and Return for revision.

Statistics – e.g. “8 nodes · 7 connections · depth 3 · process: 38 events, 24 min”.
Cover note – the student’s explanation in words, if they wrote one.
Points (the maximum is shown) and Feedback for the student (required if you return the work for revision).
✅ Approve – marks the submission as approved.
↩︎ Return for revision – returns the map to the student to complete. Write in the feedback what needs to be added; without feedback the app asks for it.
← Back to list goes back to the submissions list.

The status is shown in the list: ⏳ Submitted (waiting for grading), ✅ Approved, ↩︎ Needs revision (returned for revision) or ✕ Rejected.

5 Approved-or-rejected grading

When the assignment’s grading is Approved / rejected, an opened submission has no points field. Write feedback and choose the result: ✅ Approved · ↩︎ Needs revision · ✕ Rejected.

✅ Approved – the map is approved without points; feedback is optional. An approved assignment counts towards course progress.
↩︎ Needs revision – the map goes back to the student for revision, and they can submit it again. Feedback is required.
✕ Rejected – a final result: the student cannot submit the map again. Feedback is required – without it the app asks: “Write feedback before rejecting the work.” You confirm the rejection separately.

When a submission already has a result, Current result (e.g. Rejected) is shown above the feedback. You can change the result later by choosing another one.

Approved-or-rejected assignments are not included in the course point totals. Their Points column in the submissions list stays empty, and the status shows the result.