Title: 1.8 Concept mapping with CMapTools
Course: Certificate in Online Education

What is Concept maps?

Concept Map Presentation

Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. Concept mapping may be an effective teaching tool to create:
- Course material to creatively engage your students.
- To help students to help finding linkages between course concepts or theories
- To assess students' learning or understanding of course material

A concept map include:

- Concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts.
- Links: linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts. We define concept as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objects, designated by a label.
- Propositions: contain two or more concepts connected using linking words or phrases to form a meaningful statement.

This is an example of a concept map that describes the structure of concept maps and illustrates the above characteristics.

Using CMapTools

The CmapTools (Cañas et al., 2004b) software (available for download at: http://cmap.ihmc.us) developed at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition brings together the strengths of concept mapping with the power of technology, particularly the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW).
The software not only makes it easy for users of all ages to construct and modify concept maps in a similar way that a word processor makes it easy to write text, it allows users to collaborate at a distance in the construction in their maps, publish their concept maps so anybody on the Internet can access them, link resources to their maps to further explain their contents, and search the WWW for information related to the map.

How does it work?

The CmapTools software allows the user to link resources (documents, photos, images, graphs, videos, charts, tables, texts, www-pages or other concept maps) located anywhere on the Internet or in personal files to concepts or linking words in a concept map through a simple drag-and-drop operation. Links to these resources are displayed as icons underneath the concepts, as shown in the picture.

(click on image for a larger view)

Clicking on one of these icons will display a list of links from which the user can select to open the linked resource.

Watch the following video to see how to create Concepts and Propositions
video.

How to create a concept map

- Write down the concept at the top of the page
- Identify new concepts related to the topic based on your prior knowledge
- Establish connections between concepts using verbs or prepositions to describe the associations
- Create new links to data, examples, graphs, images etc
- Use different colours, text and backgrounds to group and classify concepts

How to Use CmapTools

- Download the free software
The software was originally intended for educational institutions, but is free to everyone: http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/
- Follow the instructions to register (all items marked with an asterisk (*) are required information) and click "Submit"

Create a Concep Map

1. From the "Views - CmapTools" window:
Select File, then New Cmap. (The keyboard shortcut Ctrl+n may also be used.)
A new Cmap with the name "Untitled 1" will open.
When you open the program, you will see the opening screen displayed here in the screen shot. To get started, just double click to create a concept.
[CmapStart2.png]
Type in a label to replace the question marks. Left-click on a white portion of the Cmap outside of the shape to set the label. The shape has now become a new concept.
2. This is the beginning of your map. The bubble with the arrows is the currently active concept. Clicking on the arrow and dragging away from the central idea. A new concept will be created, along with a rectangle that connects the two concepts.
Type in a label for the rectangle, then left-click on a white portion of the Cmap to set the label. A linking phrase for the new proposition has now been created.
[CmapStart3.png]
3. Create new concepts and connect with relations by clicking on the arrow above what you want to connect and drag that arrow to the preposition.
[CmapStart4.png]
4. You can make formatting changes to any part of your map. If you want to change more than one part of it to look the same, as in bolding all of the prepositions, hold down the CTRL key while selecting the ones you want to bold.

Saving your work

- From an open Cmap, click on “File” in Tool Bar in the concept map window.
- Select “Save Cmap as” the first time you save your file. Make sure you know the location you are saving the file (most like in “MyCmaps” folder which is the default – but you can create a new folder). Insert a recognizable file name and insert other identifying information as needed.

Working with Resources

Watch the following video to see how to associate resources to Concepts and Propositions video.

Resources can be added to concepts on a Cmap by dragging them from the desktop or an open folder.

Once the resource is positioned above the concept and the mouse is released, the "Edit Resource Link" window will appear. If the resource is an image that you would like to set as the background for your Cmap, select the radio button labeled Set as Background. The Description and Keywords boxes allow you to add additional information about your resource. Click OK when you are finished editing the resource link.
A resource link group icon will appear attached to the concept. The resource link group icon appears with an image that is representative of the type of resources it links to.

Export Cmap as a Web Page

Cmaps that are saved on CmapServers, can be viewed as a web page on any web browser.
From an open Cmap Click File, then Export Cmap As, then Web Page...

You will now see the "Export Cmap as Web Page" window.
- The file name will default to the name of your Cmap.
- Choose the location on your computer to save the web page to.
- Click Save when ready.

Your Cmap has now been saved as a web page on your computer
in the location you specified. There will be three files in the location.
- The .html file with the name specified in the Save window.
- A .jpg file, this is the image of the Cmap.
- CmapToolsTrademark.gif, this is IHMC's trademark image.

Insert your Cmap in Moodle

- Compress as zip-file all the files generated when your Cmap was saved on your computer.
- Upload and unzip the files. This unpacks your archive into your files area.
- Create a link to the .html file

Click on the picture to see a concept map as web page

CmapTools Help

For more detailed instructions about CmapTools, download the CmapTools Help http://cmap.ihmc.us/Support/help/IHMCCmapTools-Help.pdf

How to assess a concept map?

A popular method is to assess the density and thoroughness of a concept map. The number of relevant concepts on a core concept demonstrates how that core concept is defined in students’ understanding.

Meanwhile, the complexity of the network on a concept map shows the level of students’ understanding.

Students who understand a core concept very well will develop a concept map with highly interconnected structure.

Generic Rubric Development for Concept Maps

Different rubrics has been developed to assess concept maps, like:

Rubrics to assess concept maps used by Dr. Raubenheimer at the North Carolina State University

Big Backyard Program with the Massachusetts State Life Science Framework

Hierarchy: layers of depth

- 0- Map shows no hierarchy: is web-like
- 1- Map shows some indication of broad concepts at the top and detail concepts toward the bottom
- 2- Map demonstrates hierarchy throughout
- 3 Map demonstrates the requested number of levels of hierarchy and they are clearly shown in the map
- 4 Map demonstrates more than the requested levels of hierarchy and they are clearly shown in the map

Concepts

Criterion is that the words are the requested concepts: such as “Concept map all the words in Bold in Chapter 5.” Or make a concept map of the vocabulary words from today’s outdoor activity.”
- 0- Words in ovals are not concepts
- 1- Words in ovals are appropriate concepts to the assignment
- 2- Words in ovals represent 75% or more of the requested concepts
- 3- Words in ovals represent all of the requested concepts
- 4- Words in ovals include 100% of the requested concepts and also appropriate concepts from the mapper’s own experience.

Linking Words

Linking words refer to the words on the lines that connect and describe the relationship between two concepts.
- 0- No linking words included on lines connecting concepts
- 1- Less than half of linking words; meaning is unclear or a misconception
- 2- Half to ¾ of linking words are clear and appropriate
- 3- All linking words are clear and appropriate
- 4- More than the required linking words are present and appropriate

Crosslinks

Crosslinks are connections between concepts in different parts of the map.
- 0-No links between concepts from different parts of the map
- 1-Line is drawn from one part of a map to another part, but linking word is inappropriate or a misconception
- 2-At least one clear crosslink with appropriate linking word is present
- 3-A least two clear crosslinks with appropriate linking words are present
- 4- At least two clear crosslinks with appropriate linking word are present and at least one of them is a truly powerful and creative, “out-of-the-box” connection derived from the mapper’s mind/experience

Attached Resources

Any digital resource can be added to a concept map. Such resources include MP3 tapes, photos, video clips, website addresses, detail concept maps, stories, data tables, laboratory experiments, problem-solving experiences; decision-making experiences.
- 0-no resources attached to map
- 1-one resource attached to one concept of the map
- 2-two or more resources of one type attached to the concept map
- 3-at least two resources of different types attached to two different concepts in the map
- 4-multiple resource types attached to multiple concepts in the map

References

References

- The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them, Joseph D. Novak & Alberto J. Cañas, Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola Fl, 32502, www.ihmc.us
- CmapTools Help, http://cmap.ihmc.us/Support/help/IHMCCmapTools-Help.pdf
- The CmapTools documentation, http://cmap.ihmc.us/Documentation/
- Rubrics to assess concept maps, Lexington Big Backyard Program’s life science objectives with the Massachusetts Frameworks.
- Rubrics to assess concept maps used by Dr. Raubenheimer at the North Carolina State University, http://www4.ncsu.edu/~cdrauben/concept%20maps/Concept%20Map%20Rubric.doc