Kitipoom Vipahasna

Computer-support collaborative learning using mind maps and linked open data - Pathum Thani, Thailand : Asian Institute of Technology, 2019 - 95 leaves : ill. + 1 online resource - Dissertation ; no. ICT-19-01 . - Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertations ; no. ICT-19-01 .

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Communications Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019

In conventional collaborative learning, a small group of students share intellectual effort to pursue a consensual resolution. Traditional communication by means of, for instance verbal or written discourse is a typical tool that helps group members exchange ideas and concepts. However, this tool is not sufficiently effective to foster student attempts to form a consensus. Moreover, referential information is needed as evidence to support their understanding and interpretation of certain concepts during group discussions. To address these problems, I propose a new approach to comparing and merging mind maps produced individually by students in a group. The proposed system integrates Linked Open Data (LOD) standard web technologies to facilitate consensus-building processes. It also employs the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to uniformly represent mind maps, which enables computability and sharing of mind maps. For example, merging a set of given mind maps, a mechanism required in the formation of a group mind map, can be carried out by combining RDF graphs, each of which corresponding to one of the given mind map. A prototype is developed and evaluated in a group of 24 students using 3 criteria; system usability, student satisfaction and learning outcome. The results show that the proposed system outperforms the traditional method significantly, as it improves students performance in discovering new knowledge, creativity, group collaboration, and consensus reaching.


Group work in education
Internet in education
Mine maps