The Role of a Computerised Concept Mapping Tool in the Context of the Australian PhD Candidature

This paper presents a human-computer interaction study aimed at understanding the roles and consequences of a computerised concept mapping tool in the context of the Australian PhD candidature. Unlike most educational technology research, it is situated in a non-formal learning context, and it addresses technology use in terms of the learner’s agency. The study presented is longitudinal and exploratory in nature. It involved participants, who are PhD candidates from the University of Melbourne, reflecting on the conceptual structure of their research using three different approaches: thinking aloud, writing using Microsoft Word and mapping using CmapTools. This paper reports on the preliminary findings of this study. The findings are presented in terms of three emerging themes relating to thinking styles, maintaining perspective of the coherence of ideas, and explicitness and tangibility of cognitive strategies and processes.

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