Getting the Big Picture: Visual Advance Organizers in Computer Science Course Presentation

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Coffey, J. (2006). Getting the Big Picture: Visual Advance Organizers in Computer Science Course Presentation. In E. Pearson & P. Bohman (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 (pp. 1785-1791). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.
Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org/p/23248.

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Conference Information

World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (EDMEDIA) 2006
June 2006
ISBN 1-880094-60-6
  Elaine Pearson & Paul Bohman
AACE

More Information on EDMEDIA
Table of Contents

Author

John Coffey, Dept. of Computer Science and Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, USA

Abstract

The impetus for this work is the potential utility of visual advance organizers such as Concept Maps to foster global, conceptual understanding of the central concepts and their interrelationships in a University-level Computer Science course. A recurring problem in technical courses is that students learn many details but fail to understand the "big picture" that ties everything together. This article contains a description of a method of creating visual models of knowledge that are used to convey the overall organization of the content of a course of study. A Knowledge Model based upon Concept Maps and pertaining to Data Structures, a central course in most Computer Science curricula was created and used as an advance organizer in an offering of the course. Additionally, students were required to make their own Concept Maps pertaining to course content. This article describes the results of the pilot study including the results of a survey that provided feedback from students regarding the utility of the Knowledge Model.

Keywords

• Students
• Computer Sciences
• Sciences
• Cognition
• Computers

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