Online Concept Mapping
Here is my concept map analysing concept maps in education. (click to enlarge)
Museum Box
References:
Here is my concept map analysing concept maps in education. (click to enlarge)
Bubbl.us transforms concept mapping to an online experience where students can create colourful and organised webs and collaborate easily to add various perspectives. Concept maps provide a graphical representation of knowledge, allowing relationships to be emphasised and prior knowledge to be built on. Cognitivism strongly emphasises the use of concept maps to link new knowledge to schemas (learnt knowledge) and organise information (Snowman, Dobozy, Scevak, Bryer, Bartlett, & Biehler, 2009) . This was evident in the creation of my concept map, where after writing down my prior knowledge, I could extend my thinking and develop new ideas, particularly in developing the teaching ideas.
The ability to collaborate online extends the possibilities of concept maps, enabling learners to share perspectives and actively develop the knowledge contained in the concept map. This allows eLearners to easily collaborate through asynchronous discussion, enabling them to participate in the same experiences as ‘face-to-face’ learners.
Concept maps can be used in a myriad of learning contexts to brainstorm ideas, problem-solve by brainstorming solutions, organise information and recognise relationships (Christodoulou, 2010) .
Online-concept mapping allows learners the flexibility to learn anytime, adding ideas over time and extending learning past the classroom walls.
Google Earth
Google Earth
Positives | Minus | Interesting |
Able to be used on computer whilst offline Create virtual tours Easily accessible and usable Various effects- 3D buildings, photographs, see space Caters for visual and kinaesthetic learners- by being interactive Essentially an interactive map Number of tools and layers makes it useful in a range of contexts Google monitors inappropriate photos | Large file that must be downloaded Some students may be overwhelmed by tools and layers available Privacy issues if students are marking their house or frequently visited places | Can develop students’ conceptions of the world - geographic knowledge of where countries are Create tours of places of interest Maths- can measure distances and use this for real life problem solving Geography- learn about latitude/longitude, topography Astronomy- view space, learn about constellations, learn about day and night (daylight button to make sun move across earth) Visit Mars and the moon History- historical slider to view various dates in history |
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Google Earth is essentially an interactive map which lets you ‘fly’ to anywhere on the globe, containing numerous effects such as viewing in 3-D, viewing space and seeing galaxies, showing terrain and latitude and longitude. The number of tools makes it useful for a range of learning contexts, including mathematics, science, history and geography. The ability to view and zoom into various places can develop students’ spatial awareness of Earth and assist them with becoming global learners who can conceptualise a global community. Google earth could easily be used as a resource which students can consult for various ‘Earth’ related questions such as asking where somewhere is, or mapping the students’ connections around the world using the pin feature.
Museum Box
Positives | Minus | Interesting |
Engaging Interface- interactive, good graphics Implements safe practices- by moderating boxes and access to images Enables students to add video, images, text and graphics | Difficult to use Could not upload photos or videos directly from url source- would be more beneficial to link to flickr or YouTube I had difficulty using some aspects and the program was quite slow (image dense) | Boxes for: History- for explorers, various items SOSE- Australia box with flag, history, common symbols Music- composers Famous people and events |
Museum Box allows the creation of miniature museums, whereby objects are placed in drawers containing boxes, where information is conveyed through videos, images, text and audio. The visual effects form an engaging space which is well suited to a history context and would be a fabulous tool to use within the classroom. However my experience with Museum Box was somewhat problematic, as I had issues with making an account and later publishing my Museum Box, as it is moderated and has limited sharing capabilities and thus I could not post an example here. Images and videos cannot be added from a url source, needing to be uploaded from a computer source. This enables a safer site by limiting student access to inappropriate material; however, it made it quite time-consuming and tedious to operate the site. There are many benefits of having a museum box tool, so I hope that they improve the site or a similar tool is created to extend the learning possibilities.
Click here to visit Museum Box. References:
Christodoulou, K. (2010). Collaborative On-line Concept Mapping. Retrieved December 6, 2011, from School of Computer Science: University of Manchester: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/resources/library/thesis_abstracts/BkgdReportsMSc10/Christodoulou-Klitos.pdf
Snowman, J., Dobozy, E., Scevak, J., Bryer, F., Bartlett, B., & Biehler, R. (2009). Psychology Applied to Teaching. Milton: John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.
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