Using Concept Maps as Reflective Activity

The dynamic relationship between student learning, pedagogy and context necessitate innovative strategies in teaching and learning. These strategies suggest an integrative approach to ensure quality teaching and learning. Innovative strategies refer to strategies that meet needs in a more effective manner by approaching practices differently or developing new strategies. The outcome of innovative strategies is to achieve ‘growth’ in the teaching and learning process.

Concept mapping provides a visual presentation of meaningful relationships between concepts in the form of propositions (two or more topics linked by verbs that describe the relationship between them). It creates an avenue for expression in a creative manner and represents a person’s own interpretation of ideas in a diagrammatic form, allowing the person to organise information based on knowledge, insight, understanding and experiences within a given context.

Concept mapping was used as a reflective activity in a specific case study on postgraduate group supervision. The findings provided significant insights into the use of concept maps as learning tools and reflective activities in that it allowed for critical reflection and assisted in addressing identity issues and hidden assumptions.