Designing Courses on Napkins: Is there a better way?
By William "Bud" Deihl
I am currently an Educational Technology Consultant in the Center for Teaching Excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University. I help faculty find solutions to various problems as they plan, develop and deliver their courses. I have discovered that concept mapping is a powerful tool to inform these conversations and I am passionate about sharing this process with others.
Mixing Dinner and Course Design
I have long contended that anything of value in this world was probably designed on a napkin. When I think about how I’ve started the course design development process, I recall the countless times, while eating lunch, the muse would begin to dance. He (or she) usually speaks in terms of a catchy class title and moves into a statement about the class that provides glimpses of what a course might look like. At first, the course design picture seems clear and I begin to outline the structure and list the weekly topics. Of course I need to document these ideas and the medium that is most often at hand is a napkin. As ideas flow, changes abound. I scribble out ideas and move them somewhere else on the napkin. I begin to draw arrows to reorganize my thoughts and group related issues. When one napkin becomes full, I grab a few more and they begin to form a mosaic that outlines my class. Upon reflection this seems to be not only a picture of my own thought process, but a picture of other faculty as well.
From napkins to Post-it Notes
The creative process I have described is obviously messy and sooner or later, one or more of the napkins will get lost or destroyed. In an attempt to be a bit neater and provide a means to reorganize my thoughts, I advanced to the medium of Post-it® notes. These allow me to reposition ideas as I see relationships and themes developing. This tool is an improvement, but still a collection of parts and pieces that are hard to manage or file. Inevitably, the glue releases and the plan literally falls apart.
Reinventing "Concept Mapping"
One day I was sharing my ideas with a colleague and he taught me that what I have been doing is re-inventing a process called "concept mapping". Concept mapping was originally developed by Dr. Joseph Novak to document the way children learn science (Novak, J. and Canas, 2006). It was suggested that a computer with software such as Inspiration or CMAP may be a solution to my problem. This was the beginning of my interest in concept mapping and my awareness of how the computerized approach added value in ways I had never dreamed.
Computerized concept mapping enables the easy and quick documentation of ideas in the form of graphic images and titles. The design process becomes visual and is enhanced by descriptive text. Individual thoughts can be placed on the page as fast as you can type a word and hit enter; a process that at least one software company calls "rapid fire". As you begin to see relationships, you may connect the ideas with lines and arrows, and sometimes clarify a sequence of events or how ideas are interrelated and connected to multiple points. According to Novak, the important information in the concept map is the identification of a word that defines the relationship of one idea to another. Although these programs invite a visual approach, they generally will convert the map into a text outline with the click of a button. If you are like me, you will swear it is magic.
Opportunities Abound
Although I was originally planning the development of a class, and focused on the delivery of my content, I soon realized that concept mapping can also be used to guide discussion. The instructor can provide a skeleton map of main topics and a list of issues, parked along the side. Through engaged discussion, the group can jointly place concepts in the correct relationship with the key items on the skeleton map. If inappropriate connections are made, it offers an opportunity for the instructor to guide the group to rethink their decisions and change the concept map to a more appropriate picture.
Concept mapping can also be used to clarify ideas and unify the work of a collaborative team. My own experience in a group writing project required that we each contribute an idea for the creation of a joint paper. By reviewing each person’s proposed title and a description of their interests, I was able to translate this information into a concept map that helped the group see common areas of interest and a way to represent at least some unique contribution by each member. This in turn made it easier to propose a title for our joint project and it graphically presented a map for the next phases of our work. This map as are all concept maps was incomplete. Ideas change. In the truest sense of Constructivist principles, new information informs learners and in constructing their own knowledge, they must change the concept map to represent this new vision.
Example concept map for the development of a group writing project:
Going Beyond the Obvious
In addition to the visual concept map, the computerized version allows the connection of the graphic icons to other resources, such as Microsoft Word files, PowerPoint lectures, audio files, links to web sites and links to other sub-maps. Any idea in the map can be enhanced with these resources. To see an example of such a complex map, look at NASA’s concept map for the Mission to Mars (NASA).
Seeing the Trees and the Forrest
Concept mapping made me "see" my plan and the planning process in a whole new light. It made me realize that when I am designing a course, I am really trying to identify key concepts to be understood, problems and needs of a "learning community", and the desired outcomes for student learning. Once I see the individual concepts and their relationships, I can apply educational theories, provide content, resources and genuine learning experiences to meet the needs of this community.
Concept Maps Suggest Appropriate Technologies
Beyond the mapping of my own concepts, I often consult with faculty about their course development and technological training needs. They attend classes on Learning Management Systems (in my case, Blackboard), and products for developing digital content or synchronous communication with their students, and they invariably have a preconceived notion as to what functions they need to learn how to do. In other words, they are focused on the tools. Concept mapping has given me a way to change the conversation. It has allowed me to guide others toward asking the hard questions. "What are my educational goals for this class? "How will I know that my students have met these goals"? Once these questions are answered, the search for methods and appropriate technologies provide leverage to meet these goals can begin (Chickering, A. and Ehrmann, S., 1996).
Summary – Everything is Connected
I often think that I view the world a bit like Dr. John Nash (in a Beautiful Mind). Everything is connected. In a concept map, you can create a visual of those connections, helping others see your thought process and pattern.
Resources
Chickering, A. and Ehrmann, S. (1996), "Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever," AAHE Bulletin, October, pp. 3-6., found on February 8, 2007, at http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/seven.html
IHMC Cmap Tools, found on February 8, 2007, at http://cmapskm.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServlet?rid=1064009710027_1637638703_27098&partName=htmltext
Inspiration Software, Inc., found on February 8, 2007, at http://www.inspiration.com
Novak, J. & Canas, A. (2006). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct them – Technical report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01. Retrieved October 27, 2006, from http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf