This article explores how an integrated concept map of student engagement could improve its use in higher education (HE). In doing so it addresses three problems: (1) there is no consistently accepted understanding of student engagement; (2) no meta-theory integrates engagement's diverse and complex concepts, nor does the literature identify a…

Quality control and assurance plays a fundamental role within higher education contexts. One means by which quality control can be performed is by mapping the course learning outcomes (CLOs) to the program learning outcomes (PLO). This paper describes a system by which this mapping process can be automated and validated. The proposed AI-based…

In this article, I consider how cartographies have become a onto-methodological approach that seeks to produce, rather than represent, the world that they are enacting. Going beyond Alfred Korzybski's famous axiom that 'the map is not the territory,' my point is that the map can shake up the territory. This shift is discussed in relation to the…

This article describes the use of mapping strategies in an interdisciplinary course using "Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory" (Repko & Szostak, 2021). The use of interdisciplinary mapping took place in a 300-level undergraduate course and focused on maps presented in the textbook, including the system map (and systems…

Children begin to emulate writing and what they see around them at a very early age (Byington & Kim, 2017). The simple scribbles they begin to produce are representations of complex cognitive processes occurring. The constant cognitive scaffolding which medical students experience can be compared to the cognitive process children participate…

Contextual elements play an important role in entrepreneurial activities and learning processes. However, context is often taken for granted rather than being viewed as an asset, which may lead to missed opportunities, missed potential solutions and missed learning. Entrepreneurship education should therefore prepare and empower students to act…

Concept mapping, a tool originally developed to facilitate student learning by organizing and visualizing key concepts and their relationships, can also be used to represent the composition of the knowledge contained in a course. In this paper, the authors describe a specific application of concept mapping to help instructors and students…

The purpose of clinical courses in teacher education programs is to reflect on practice. Yet there is little research on how best to structure critical self-reflection with early childhood special education (ECSE) teacher candidates. Following a review of research promoting ECSE teacher candidate reflection and a discussion of critically…

Efforts to invest in students' networks--either to bolster support or expand professional opportunities--should start with a deep understanding of and appreciation for the networks of which they are already members. Recognizing and respecting students' inherent resources and cultural wealth is what this report refers to as an asset-based approach.…

The American Chemical Society, Division of Chemical Education, Examinations Institute has been developing content maps for the undergraduate program based on subdiscipline specifications since 2008. The Anchoring Concepts Content Maps (or ACCM) have been published in four subdisciplines (general, organic, physical, and inorganic chemistry) with…

Helping students to understand complex processes is one of the core challenges in teaching biology courses. Concept mapping is a flexible pedagogical method that enables students to learn the complexities of a given subject while at the same time being versatile enough that instructors can easily pivot between instructional modalities and/or…

This article explores the value of generative AI (genAI) tools for much-needed support for instructors in higher education in the realm of course design. Two authors detail their experiences partnering with two distinct tools, ChatGPT and Bard (now known as Gemini), for communication course development, emphasizing iterative collaboration with…

Network science is an emerging area of complexity science that uses mathematical techniques to study complex systems and could represent a new way of quantifying and investigating the internal structure of domain-specific knowledge as approximated by students' concept maps. Students enrolled in introductory psychology constructed concept maps to…

Like many higher education institutions, amplifying experiential learning (EL) is a priority for the University of Calgary. In order to capture the extent and complexity of EL that exists in an institution, it is crucial to have a common understanding of the concept. In 2018, the University of Calgary created the EL Working Group, tasked with…

Concept mapping is a form of visual organization that can be used to categorize and represent knowledge about a particular subject or related subjects and foster development of these critical skills. A strategy initiated in the late 1990s (Novak, 1998), concept mapping employs concepts and propositions as central elements in structuring knowledge…