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During the session we present a scenario-based approach to incorporating concept mapping into an online graduate course on cognition and instruction through the use of CMapTools. At the end of the presentation, attendees will know how to use the CMapTools concept mapping software and how to integrate it into course curriculum. Attendees will also have gained knowledge of the considerations and implications for leveraging students’ use of concept mapping technology to deepen their conceptual understandings and metacognition.

Concept mapping has been used extensively in primary, secondary, and postsecondary education as a graphic tool and process for organizing, representing and constructing knowledge (Novak & Cañas, 2006). It provides a vehicle for the learner to make explicit connections between new information and his or her prior knowledge and experience in a process that promotes deeper cognitive processing. In the project presented in this session, concept mapping also illuminated how teachers make conceptual connections between what they are learning about cognition and what guides their classroom practice. The aim of the project was to understand how teachers structured their knowledge through concept mapping and examine the underlying cognitive processes.

The context of the project was an online graduate course on cognition and instruction that focuses on the application of cognitive learning theory and research. Using a scenario-based approach, the course was structured around a hypothetical classroom with a teacher and four diverse students who presented various teaching and learning challenges. For example, one of the hypothetical students had deficits in reading comprehension and metacognition, and one has Asperger’s syndrome. Students in the course used the theoretical concepts, principles, and research-based strategies they were learning about to help the teacher in the scenario design and plan for the students. During the first 2 weeks of the course, students were introduced to the practice of concept mapping and the use of graphic tools for constructing and depicting knowledge. Students were also provided with detailed instructions for downloading, installing, and using CMapTools (concept mapping software created by the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (http://www.ihmc.us). Students then completed four concept mapping assignments where they explicated the relationships among concepts, principles, and strategies that would help the hypothetical teacher design effective learning environments each hypothetical learner. They were asked to include specific concepts from the module for each learner in their maps and some of those concepts were required to be used across the four learners.

Although students worked independently to construct their maps, they were actively engaged in sharing their work products through CMapTools. The software enabled students to save their concept maps on a public drive, and students were encouraged to review each other’s maps and reflect upon their work. The goal of this exchange was to promote social learning and help students examine various ways of conceptualizing learning theory. Through the use of the recorder feature in CMapTools and asynchronous discussions in Blackboard, we sought to understand the processes that students used to construct their concept maps. Our analysis focused on the concepts that students added to their maps, the source of the concepts, the order in which concepts were added, and the progression through which the map developed. We were particularly interested in how students included key concepts from the course modules in their maps and what it suggested about their understanding of these concepts. Through this analysis, we could see how the challenges posed by particular hypothetical learners elaborated the students’ understandings of important learning concepts.

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