As an assignment for CEP 930, Educational Inquiry, our professor, Dr. Mark Reckase, gave us the task of creating a concept map that outlined our initial thoughts regarding our research interest areas. To be honest, when I first started working on this assignment, I was a bit grumpy, but as I fiddled away, engaged in conversation with my husband and gave myself the time to really think through everything, I actually grew to enjoy the process. I wasn’t certain I would have a use for the map after it was complete, thinking that the real value in a map is the knowledge gained from the process of creating it, however I was wrong. On two occasions I have used the map to explain my research area to professors I had arranged to interview. It truly helped me paint a more definite picture for them as I explained my thinking. Both Dr. Patrick Dixon and Dr. Ken Frank were kind enough to meet with me and talk about social networks, technology and the impact that it could/should/can/will have on teaching and learning.
This map was created with VUE, Visual Understanding Environment, a software from an open source project at Tufts University. I’ve just started tinkering around with it during the last few months, but like what I have learned so far. It is a flexible tool for both mapping and presentations. If you are interested in learning more, check out this introduction!
