Connecting, Collaborating, Continuing to Learn » PLE http://hickstro.org/cccl Exploring teacher education in digital environments Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:18:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Visual Understanding http://hickstro.org/cccl/2009/11/05/visual-understanding/ http://hickstro.org/cccl/2009/11/05/visual-understanding/#comments Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:01:47 +0000 Sara Beachamp-Hicks http://hickstro.org/cccl/?p=212 Visualizing My Initial ThoughtsAs 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!

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