Using Concept Maps to Evaluate Student

Abstract

Measures of student learning are the only authentic indicators of the quality of teaching with technology. The paper will look at a number of frameworks for evaluating e-learning. It will outline some of the implications for using these frameworks to evaluate student learning and will describe the advantages of using concept mapping to measure the quality of e-learning. It will present a study where medical students interacted with e-learning materials designed to teach Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Their understanding of MRI was measured before and after the course by the use of concept mapping. The results show that many of the student misconceptions were addressed in the course of their learning, but also, that many of the key concepts introduced in the teaching were simply ignored (or sometimes learnt by rote) by the students. These must be acknowledged in the design of electronic teaching materials.