Concept mapping with multimedia on the Web

Concept maps[TM] have been used in the educational community for decades. A concept map is a visual representation of a person's knowledge of a domain. Many authors have reported on computer-based implementations of interactive concept map-building tools. However, existing concept map tools are rooted in a propositional, primarily textual, knowledge representation scheme. Further, existing computer-based versions do not fully capitalize on the potential functionality offered by the computational medium. We describe an extension to computer-based concept mapping tools that provides representational capabilities that allow students to express their knowledge more fully by incorporating dynamic media--sound, video, and animated images. Our concept map tool is also accessible via any standard web browser. CONCEPT MAPPING TOOLS A concept map[TM] is a visual representation of knowledge of a domain. A concept map consists of nodes representing concepts, objects, or actions, connected by directional links that define the relationships between and among nodes. Graphically, a node is represented by a rectangle or oval (for example) containing a textual name, and relationship links appear as textually labeled lines with an arrowhead at one or both ends. Together, nodes and links define propositions, assertions that can be about a topic, domain, or thing. For example, an arrow labeled "have," beginning at a node labeled "birds" and ending at a "wings" node represents the proposition "birds have wings" and might be a portion of a concept map concerning birds (Figure 1). Representing knowledge in this fashion is similar to semantic network knowledge representation scheme from the experimental psychology and AT communities (Quillian, 1968). Concept maps have been used in educational settings since the early 1970s as both pedagogical and evaluation tools in virtually every subject area: reading and story comprehension, science, engineering, math word problems, social studies, decision making, etc. (Fisher, Faletti, Patterson, Thorton, Lipson, & Spring, 1990; Bromley, 1996; Novak, 1998; Chase & Jensen, 1999) Conceptual maps: permit students to demonstrate their knowledge of a domain, perhaps for teacher assessment; encourage students to reflect upon their knowledge while reifying that knowledge graphically, activities which should lead to self-clarification and elaboration of students' knowledge; may act as tools to aid study and comprehension of a domain or story; support the generation and organization of thoughts and ideas in preparation for prose composition; and are used as instructional materials whereby teacher-prepared maps present new materials to learners, showing the concepts and relationships among concepts of a domain that are new to the students. Empirical reports have shown that concept mapping activities engender informal student-student collaboration where students discuss and share ideas, support or contradict others' arguments, and justify their own or others' beliefs (Bromley, 1996). This sort of collaborative activity helps the participants to co-construct evolving understanding of the subject matter, ultimately resulting in advancing individual learning and understanding (Coleman, 1995). There is considerable anecdotal and experimental evidence that the use of graphical knowledge visualization tools, such as concept maps, help to improve student comprehension and enhance learning. Fischer, et al., (1990) and others report that maps constructed by "experts" to present new information to learners, to illustrate how an expert organizes concepts of a domain, result in apparent pedagogical success. And Dunston (1992) and Moore and Readance (1984) have shown that concept maps are effective when students create their own maps to reflect on and demon strate their own knowledge. In educational environments, the use of concept maps has evolved from paper-and-pencil to computer-based tools. …