Efficient Online Collaborative Learning Through Concept Mapping with Kit-Build Concept Map

Abstract

A learning process can be facilitated by the interaction and participation of students in its activities. However, the barrier of direct learning activity due to the global pandemic COVID-19 situation significantly decreases students’ engagement and understanding of learning materials. The situation challenges educators to keep the pace of achieving the expected learning outcomes by creating effective distance learning environments and methods. Facilitating students with collaborative tasks is one known practical approach to enhance students’ learning outcomes due to its opportunity to allow students to exchange their perspectives and understanding. An online collaborative learning system of Kit-Build concept map has been designed and developed to remove the barrier of offline interaction among students with concept maps. An experiment was conducted to explore how the students would experience the collaboration while using the online collaborative Kit-Build concept system to learn and comprehend a reading material. The result suggested that students who use Kit-Build concept map could structure their knowledge and understand more efficiently. They also managed to have better strategies in composing concept maps collaboratively and understand the learning material more efficiently through discussion. The system and the Kit-Build concept map method could help students monitor and manage their collaborative work better than the traditional open-ended concept mapping strategy. Thus, using Kit-Build concept map to learn collaboratively with concept maps becomes the recommended strategy in distance learning.