Making learning visible: the role of concept mapping in higher education

TLDR

The authors discuss the broader implications of concept mapping for university‑level teaching. The article develops concept mapping as a tool to enhance teaching quality in higher education. Concept mapping transforms abstract knowledge into visual representations that can be compared and measured, and is used to identify prior knowledge, present new material, share expert knowledge, and document knowledge change. Concept mapping significantly improves teaching quality while allowing teachers to retain their existing methods.

Abstract

This article develops the concept‐mapping method as a tool for enhancing teaching quality in higher education. In particular, it describes how concept mapping can be used to transform abstract knowledge and understanding into concrete visual representations that are amenable to comparison and measurement. The article describes four important uses of the method: the identification of prior knowledge (and prior‐knowledge structure) among students; the presentation of new material in ways that facilitate meaningful learning; the sharing of 'expert' knowledge and understanding among teachers and learners; and the documentation of knowledge change to show integration of student prior knowledge and teaching. The authors discuss the implications of their approach in the broader context of university level teaching. It is not suggested that university teachers should abandon any of their tried and tested methods of teaching, but it is shown how the quality of what they do can be significantly enhanced by the use of concept mapping.