Principal Investigator:
Alberto J. Cañas
Research Categories:
Knowledge Modeling and Sharing
Computer-Mediated Learning

Project Description:
Through a number of grants, IHMC researchers have developed a software toolkit that enables and encourages collaboration and sharing in the construction and use of knowledge models based on concept maps. Concept maps have been shown to be useful at all ages and for all domains, and CmapTools is simple enough to use for children to grasp it fast, but at the same time powerful enough to be used in a professional environment. Users from over 150 countries, from elementary school children to scientists and professionals, are constructing, navigating, sharing and criticizing knowledge models represented as concept maps.

In addition to being easy to use, the tools also provide a research platform for investigating how concept maps can make a difference in a variety of applications from meaningful learning to corporate memory and how technology can support those applications.

The toolkit is platform independent and network enabled, allowing the users to build, and collaborate with colleagues anywhere on the network during the construction of concept maps. Users can distribute their models on Places (servers) throughout Internet, allowing sharing, collaboration, and exploration of others' models.

A variety of collaboration mechanisms have been incorporated into the software, ranging from automatic initiation of synchronous collaboration between users editing the same concept map on a server to discussion threads, annotations and collaboration at the knowledge level using Knowledge Soups.

Concept maps are indexed, and index servers allow for easy searching for relevant concept maps. A web search mechanism finds web pages that are relevant to a concept map by taking advantage of the topology and semantics of the concept map both for query regeneration and to filter the results.

The patented use of icons to facilitate the linkage of other concept maps and resources (such as videos, images, texts, web pages, or any other types of documents) to concepts in a map enable the use of concept maps as a means to organize information, from multimedia projects developed by schoolchildren to large collections of expert-developed concept maps used to navigate through large collections of documents and media and develop websites. The automatic generation of web-based "pages" when concept maps are saved on a server allows for the easy dissemination and access of these knowledge models

A flexible modular architecture based on an even-driven "core" allows the constant development and evaluation of new modules to the toolkit, providing also a rich platform for research on the use of concept mapping tools. Among the modules being developed are "suggester" modules that aid the user in the construction of new concept maps by recommending new concepts, propositions, resources, media, and advice on the construction of better maps; a presentation module to piece-wise display the a concept map; a recorder module to record and playback the steps in the construction of a map; a map comparison algorithm; use of WordNet to disambiguate the sense of words used in a map; and enhancement of modules already in the toolkit.

Key Personnel:
Joseph Novak
Greg Hill
Roger Carff
James Lott
Tom Eskridge
Mario Arroyo
Rodrigo Carvajal
Larry Bunch
Marco Arguedas
Adrian Granados
Marco Carvalho
Niranjan Suri
Jerod Durbin
Robert Hoffman

Collaborators:
University of North Florida, EAFIT University, Colombia: Claudia Zea, Juan Guillermo Lalinde
Indiana University: David Leake, Ana Gabriela Maguitman, Thomas Reichherzer, Alejandro Valerio, Sofia Brenes
US Navy NETPDIC: Ed Dotson
Istituto Tecnico Industriale Eustachio Divini, San Severino, Italy: Alfredo Tifi
Scuola Elementare Marconi,Bernalda,Italy: Antonietta Lombardi
Universidade Federal Do Rio Grande Do Sul, Brasil: Italo Modesto Dutra

Sponsors:
US Navy
DOD
Proyecto Conéctate al Conocimiento, Panama
The Florida Institute of Education at the University of North Florida sponsored the development of the Mathematical Character set functionality in CmapTools