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Today in this webinar, you will learn about a variety of concept mapping tools available to you and your students and how concept mapping allows students to construct learning in a more engaging and meaningful manner.

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As you can see, I decided to create our agenda overview as a concept map. First I will give you a brief background of the development of a robust concept mapping program by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine cognition. Then we will look at Universal design for learning and concept mapping. We will look at concept mapping programs, an example of a web 2.0 concept mapping program – mindomo. And at the end, I will leave room for question and answers. Feel free to ask any questions during the presentation as well.

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The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is a research institute founded in 1990. The institute focuses on human-cognitive behavior and learning. One of the core developers of a program put forth by the Florida institute for human and machine Cognition is a concept mapping tool named Cmap Tools. This programwas designed with a pioneer in research on cognitive knowledge, Dr. Joseph Novak. Dr. Novak has researched and written numerous articles and books on concept maps as facilitative tools for schools and corporations. Cmap tools and other concept maps supports the constructivist approach to education where new learning is based upon prior knowledge. He believes concept mapping scaffolds learning and using a concept map is a creative activity, in which the learner must exert effort to clarify meanings by identifying important concepts, relationships, and structure within a specified domain of knowledge.If you want to spend some time learning more about the theory behind concept maps and how important they are to learning, I recommend you visit the IHMC website and read some papers by Dr. Joseph Novak. I’ve actually had the opportunity to work with Dr. Novak in secondary education a few years back.

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A quick overview of Universal Design for Learning: First we have recognition networks. Recognition networks provides multiple means of representation. It is the “what” of learning…what we see and recognize as facts. Our perception, comprehension, language and symbols.Next we have strategic networks. Strategic Networks provides multiple means of Action and expression: it is the “how” of learning. How we organize and express our ideas. It is a physical action, such as writing or solving an equation. Third, there areaffective networks. Affective Networks provides multiple means of engagement. It is a way to keep the students motivated, challenged, and interested.

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Universal course design responds to the learning needs of individual students, allowing instructors to effectively reach and actively engage all students, including those with disabilities.

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Here are some ideas on how instructors can use concept maps as an learning activity. You can see on the right, I have an example of how a student would use a concept map to outline his or her speech. You may not see the words because of the screen display but there is an introduction, position, proof, concession (and/or rebuttal) and conclusion. I believe every assignment could benefit from a mapping activity, such as those listed above.

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Now we will take a look at all of the available programs for instructors and students. Most of which are free…

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First we have programs that people would install on their computers.

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First we have programs that people would install on their computers.

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First we have programs that people would install on their computers.

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First we have programs that people would install on their computers.

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Next we have Web 2.0 programs. Web 2.0 programs sit on a server and are accessible through the internet. Some of the benefits to using these programs would be that there is nothing to install on your machine, all of these programs sit in what they call a “cloud” - so as long as your students have internet access, they can access their work. Each of these programs have a collaborative feature where - 2 or more people can work on a concept map remotely, synchronously and asynchronously. And I believe that these programs are so easy to use. Each of these programs have a limit to how many maps a student can create. But there are ways around that limitation.s

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Do any of you have an iPad? Because, there are already a bunch of apps available for the iPad. I really like the SimpleMindx app because it is free and easy to use.

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Any questions so far? Okay, I’m going to spend some time looking at one web 2.0 program in particular…Mindomo. Mindomo was created in 2002. One main advantage to Mindomo is the ability to export files in a wide variety of formats including PDFs and image files. Mindomo allows a free account the option to create only 3 mindmaps at a time. They will give an educator 50% off the premium account price, which is currently $65 – so it will cost $37.50 per year.

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Before you get started, you have to sign into mindomo. You can either create a username and password on their site, or use your google, yahoo or facebook account.

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One of the first things that you will do is create a new map.

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Next, you have the option to share and collaborate with others. You do this by clicking on the sharing tab in map properties.

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You can choose the permissions of your collaborators. So if students want their instructor to view only, they can choose “can view” from the permissions box. They will probably add members of their group as modifiers.

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I love this feature! A user can add contacts as a manual e-mail entry, gmail, yahoo….etc.

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Okay. So you’ve created a map. In this case, I’m creating a map of women in the 1900s. So I will type in women in the 1900s in the text box.

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I’d like to take that text box and make it a picture so I will choose insert from the menu bar a the top.

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I click on insert multimedia and choose image. Now you can see that I am able to see what a women in the 1900s looks like. This meets visual learning styles, as you can imagine.

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To add subtopics, click on the subtopic item at the top.

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Format options allow you to customize your map.

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Another very powerful feature is the chat function. Not only is the chat live, it stores an archive of a conversation for all the map users to look at a later date.

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Another very powerful feature is the chat function. Not only is the chat live, it stores an archive of a conversation for all the map users to look at a later date.

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Just to reiterate some of the benefits to students. First, concept mapping helps students flush out their thoughts and ideas for research topics. A majority of students are already used to using concept maps from k-12 education. Concept mapping assists with planning and organizing, editing and revision and is a powerful collaborative tool for group projects or for difficult topics.

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Equity and excellence in higher ed: universal course design

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