British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 42 No 5 2011 778–789
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01102.x
A concept map approach to developing collaborative Mindtools
for context-aware ubiquitous learning _1102 778..789
Gwo-Jen Hwang, Yen-Ru Shi and Hui-Chun Chu
Gwo-Jen Hwang is a Professor in the Graduate Institute of Digital Learning and Education, National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology. Yen-Ru Shi is a graduate student in the Department of Information and
Learning Technology, National University of Tainan, Taiwan. Hui-Chu Chu is an Assistant Professor in the Depart-
ment of Computer Science and Information Management, Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan. Address for corre-
spondence: Prof. Gwo-Jen Hwang, #43, Sec.4, Keelung Rd., Taipei, 106, Taiwan. E-mail:gjhwang.academic@
gmail.com
Abstract
Recent advances in mobile and wireless communication technologies have enabled
various new learning approaches which situate students in environments that combine
real-world and digital-world learning resources; moreover, students are allowed to share
knowledge or experiences with others during the learning process. Although such an
approach seems to be promising and innovative, researchers have indicated several
problems when applying it to practical applications, in particular, the lack of proper
strategies or tools to assist the students to learn collaboratively in such a learning sce-
nario with abundant content. Students might feel interested when using the mobile
devices to learn; however, without proper assistance or guidance, their learning achieve-
ments are usually disappointing. To cope with this problem, this study proposes a
concept map-oriented Mindtool for collaborative ubiquitous learning. Experimental
results from a natural science course in an elementary school show that this approach
not only enhances learning motivation but also improves the learning achievements of
the students.
Introduction
Owing to the advance and popularity of computer and network technologies, computer
technology-enhanced learning has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years (Ge &
Land, 2004; Liaw, Huang & Chen, 2007; Williams van Rooij, 2009). Although several studies
have demonstrated the benefits of learning with computers (eg, Pena-Shaffa & Nichollsb, 2004;
Tsai & Tsai, 2003), educators have emphasised the importance and necessity of ‘authentic activi-
ties’ in which students can work with problems from the real world (Brown, Collins & Duguid,
1989; Chu, Hwang & Tsai, 2010; Minami, Morikawa & Aoyama, 2004; Wenger, 1997). That is,
it is important to place students in a series of designed lessons that combine both real and virtual
learning environments (Hwang, Tsai & Yang, 2008).
Recent advances in wireless communication and mobile technologies have provided an opportu-
nity to accomplish this objective. With the help of these new technologies, individual students are
able to learn in real situations with support from the computer system and to share knowledge or
experiences with others by using a mobile device with the wireless communication facility. More-
over, via the sensing technology, the learning system is able to detect and record the learning
behaviours of the students in both the real world and the digital world. Such a new technology-
© 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2010 Becta. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford
OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
, Collaborative mindtools for ubiquitous learning 779
enhanced learning approach has been called context-aware ubiquitous learning (u-learning), and it
not only supports learners with an alternative way to deal with problems in the real world but also
enables the learning system to interact with the learners more interactively (Chu, Hwang & Tsai,
2010; Hwang, Kuo, Yin & Chuang, 2010; Hwang, Tsai & Yang, 2008; Ogata & Yano, 2004; Yang,
Okamoto & Tseng, 2008).
On the other hand, Vygotsky (1978) indicated that knowledge can be constructed through social
interactions among peers. Interactions with peers face to face in the real world enable students to
reflect upon different past experiences and thoughts. Vygotsky further emphasised that cognition
originates from social activities, so learning is not only learners’ reception and adaptation of new
knowledge but a process of merging into a knowledge community (Jonassen, Davidson, Collins,
Campbell & Haag, 1995; Vrasidas, 2000; Vygotsky, 1978). Norman (1993) further indicated that
thinking can be divided into two categories; that is, experiential thinking and reflective thinking.
Experiential thinking refers to a learning process of decisions or personal experiences, while
reflective thinking shows deeper reflection that happens when students add novel descriptions,
revise old ones and compare the two to construct their knowledge. According to Burleson (2005),
awareness and reflection can help develop students’ meta-cognition to enhance their learning
and creativity abilities. Therefore, it is important to enable students to construct knowledge and
to experience reflective thinking through interaction with peers.
Although mobile and ubiquitous learning seems to be a promising learning approach to support
situated learning with peer communications, without proper support, these new learning sce-
narios might be too complex for the students, and the learning achievements could be disappoint-
ing. Educators have indicated that ‘technologies should not support learning by attempting to
instruct the learners, but rather should be used as knowledge construction tools that students
learn with, not from’ (Jonassen, Carr & Yueh, 1998, p. 1). Among the existing technologies,
computers have been recognised to be the most effective tool for supporting learning and instruc-
tion, such that the learners function as designers, and the computers function as Mindtools for
interpreting and organising their personal knowledge (Jonassen, 1999; Jonassen et al, 1998;
Kommers, Jonassen & Mayes, 1992). Therefore, it has become an important and challenging
issue to develop collaborative Mindtools to assist learners to interpret and organise their personal
knowledge in a context-aware u-learning environment.
To cope with this problem, this study presents a collaborative Mindtool for mobile and ubiquitous
learning based on the concept map approach. Moreover, a learning activity has been conducted
to evaluate the effectiveness of the innovative approach. Experimental results show that the
learning achievements of the students who learn with the collaborative Mindtool achieve signifi-
cantly better results than those who participate in tour-based mobile learning or the traditional
concept map approach.
Literature review
Despite the fact that computer technology-enhanced learning has been widely discussed and
employed in past decades, educators have emphasised the necessity and importance of ‘authentic
activities’ in which students can work with problems from the real world (Herrington & Oliver,
2000; Hwang, Tsai & Yang, 2008; Lave, 1991). Researchers have also indicated several critical
tasks involved in instructional design for situated learning (Chu, Hwang & Tsai, 2010; Hwang,
Tsai & Yang; 2008; Young, 1993) such as the provision of the necessary ‘scaffolding’ for novices
to operate within the complex real-world context (Bruner, 1986; Hwang, Yang, Tsai, & Yang,
2009; Vygotsky, 1978; Williams van Rooij, 2009), the provision of supports to enable teachers to
interact knowledgeably and collaboratively with individual students or cooperating groups of
students, and the provision of facilities for preparing situated learning activities to assist the
© 2010 The Authors. British Journal of Educational Technology © 2010 Becta.
