According to cognitive psychologist David Ausubel, to learn meaningfully, individuals must relate new knowledge to relevant concepts that they already know (Ausubel 1968; Hassard 2003). Meaningful learning can be contrasted with rote learning, in which students incorporate new information into the knowledge structure without interaction. Rote learning occurs when a student simply memorizes information with no attempt or motivation to relate that information to prior knowledge. The new information is easily forgotten and not easily applied in problem-solving situations. Meaningful learning, in contrast, is personal, is idiosyncratic, and involves recognition of the links between concepts.

Mind mapping is a powerful learning tool that can facilitate meaningful learning. Mind maps were developed by Tony Buzan in the late 1960s as a way of encouraging students to take notes using only key words and images. The mind forms associations almost instantaneously, and the mind-map approach helps students quickly relate a central word or concept to other pieces of information (Buzan 2002). The construction of a traditional paper-and-pencil mind map is relatively easy. It begins when someone writes down a central idea and then thinks of related ideas that radiate out from the center. By writing only key ideas, and then looking for branches and connections between the ideas, students can map knowledge in a manner that will help them understand and retain new information. Mind maps are quick to make, and because of their visual quality, much easier than standard notes to remember and review. In a standard mind map, a central image represents the subject. The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as main branches, and minor themes are linked to the main themes. All of the branches connect, forming a nodal structure (Figure 1).

While many e-learning tools tend to merely replicate the static outlines and classical pedagogy of the traditional classroom, electronic mind maps (henceforth referred to as eMap) provide a pathway to truly revolutionize the presentation and comprehension of material. With its unique storage and organizational capacity, mind-mapping software not only provides a user-friendly e-learning structure, but also improves information management. In this article, I illustrate the particular benefits of using eMaps to organize and present an instruction module on multimedia software (Macromedia's Director MX 2004).

Mind-Mapping Software: Development and Features

MindManger, which Mindjet released in 1993, was one of the first professional mind-mapping softwareprograms developed for business and corporate training. MindManager is a visual tool for brainstorming and planning that enables users to create concise representations of ideas, knowledge, and information using the computer. The software has more than a million users worldwide in the business, training, and education sectors.

Among other successful software programs dedicated to mind map creation are Visual Mind, ConceptDraw MINDMAP, and VisiMap, all of which are geared mostly toward business users. Inspiration serves similar purposes but is designed for use in K-12 education.

e-Map programs use words, lines, logic, colors, images, and even sound to stimulate thinking processes. Computer-generated maps (see Director MX eMap) have several major advantages over their paper counterparts: A user can easily restructure an eMap, highlight specific features of it, add comments to the map, and export it to other computer programs and the Web. 

A word more on each of these features is merited. One can easily restructure an eMap in seconds, moving words and trees of words around without reconstructing the entire map. This makes the computer-generated eMap ideal for quickly creating new ideas and ordering them into a meaningful structure. A map's overall appearance is determined by the user's choice of format settings, which determine how the various map elements will look.

With style templates, the user can instantly highlight different features of a complex eMap. A user might decide to make all the major topics appear in bright red, for example, and all the subtopics appear in blue. Colored arrows, which are easy to draw and insert, can indicate connections between terms. A user might also choose to explain certain parts of a map by adding supplementary comments (Figure 2). With the symbol gallery, a user can even choose a set of images to consistently associate with different types or categories of information—a book icon to denote supplementary readings, for example, or a teaching icon to denote learning activities (Figure 3).

One of the best features of an eMap is its malleability within other computer programs. eMaps can instantly be exported to a plain text file, a Microsoft Word or rich text file, a Web page, or a PowerPoint presentation. Some mind-mapping software vendors offer software on both PC and Mac platforms (Table 1). A final advantage is that mind-mapping software produces professional-quality documents in relatively little time.

Using eMaps to design a course of instruction enables the instructor to customize and tailor the content to specific objectives, resources, and materials on one webpage. A computer-generated eMap clearly defines the course topic by positioning it in the center of the map, and visually organizes the scope and sequence of the course content links. A tremendous advantage of using this technique for delivering course content is that content eMaps can be integrated with any course management system, since they can be saved as an HTML document.

Director 2004 MX Instructional Module

The Director MX 2004 eMap module is an example of using an eMap to create a multimedia tutorial module for assembling a Director movie. The objective of the Director MX 2004 eMap is to provide information on the basics of the Director MX 2004 program, and the sequence of steps in designing a basic Director MX project.

This module was created by Mindjet’s MindManger software. The target audience this module was created for was a graduate Multimedia class. However, any eMap can be designed for any instructional population, including K-12, corporate training, undergraduate, graduate and adult learners.

eMap Formats

eMaps can be utilized in a variety of instructional formats. The most common formats are: using an eMap as a supplemental on-line guide to classroom instruction, independent on-line course or an eMap can be used in conjunction with oral presentations, to illustrate steps, or content information. eMaps can also be used as a stand alone eMap on any computer just using the program software, or can be saved as an HTML document and uploaded to any course management system (CMS) such as Blackboard, WebCT, TopClass, or eCollege.

eMap Advantages

Using eMaps for instruction is a tremendous global graphic organizer for arranging and sequencing multimedia content, as well as any other subject area. Foremost, students can see a whole instructional module, or course on one webpage. Students can access information either sequentially or randomly depending how the instructor designed the module or course of instruction.

In the Director MX example, I sequenced the steps in building a Director MX project by using both screen capture illustrations and recording short screen captured instructional movies. Using instructional movies is a great teaching technique especially when working with complex sequential skills in creating a multimedia project. Students can view the instructional movie at any time and as many times that they choose to.

According to Heinich, Molenda, Russell & Smaldino (2002), one of the advantages of instructional movies is skill learning: “Research indicates that mastery of physical skills requires repeated observations and practice. Through video, students can view a performance over and over again for emulation”. (p.197)

The Director MX example movies were recorded by using the software program Camtasia. Using Camtasia software allows the instructor to record, editing and publish screen videos to create software tutorials and demonstrations. The illustration steps were screen captured by the software program Creative Softworx.

I have used Director MX, and many other multimedia programs using the eMap instructional approach for both undergraduate and graduate students. The format I have had tremendous success with is using the eMap as a supplemental on-line guide to my classroom instruction using the CMS, Blackboard.

The feedback from my students is very positive, they find eMaps a great instructional format because they can view all the course links on one webpage and access easily any of the eMap course information links to study and/or review.

Conclusion

An eMap is an excellent digital learning tool for visual communication, organization, content sequencing, and navigation on one webpage. An eMap can be designed for any content area and can be used in a variety of instructional formats. Designing an eMap for a multimedia course using illustrations and movie tutorials along with exercise data files, provides the instructor with an innovative way to organize course content using one webpage and reform knowledge acquisition using the Web.

References

Ausubel, D. P., 1963. Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.

Buzan, T. 2002. Mind maps. Hammersmith, London: Thorsons.

Gunter, M. A, T. H. Estes, and J. Schwab. 2003. Instruction: A models approach. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Hassard, J. Backup of meaningful learning model.
http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/advorgbk02.htm (accessed August 10, 2004).

Heinich, R., Molenda, M., Russell, J.D., & Smaldino, S.E. (2002). Instructional mediaand technologies for learning, (7 th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Kemp, J., G. Morrison, and S. Ross. 1998. Designing effective instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Mathew, N., and M. Dohery-Poirier. 2000. Using the World Wide Web to enhance classroom instruction. First Monday 5 (3). http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_3/mathew/index.html (accessed May 5, 2004).