Educational Concept Maps: a Knowledge-Based Aid for Instructional Design

This paper discusses a knowledge-based model for the design and development of units of learning and teaching aids. The idea behind this model originates from both the analysis of the open issues in instructional authoring systems, and the lack of a well-defined process able to merge pedagogical strategies with systems for the knowledge organization of the domain. In particular, it is presented the Educational Concept Map (ECM): a, pedagogically founded (derived from instructional design theories), abstract annotation system that was developed with the aim of guaranteeing the reusability of both teaching materials and knowledge structures. By means of ECMs, it is possible to design lessons and/or learning paths from an ontological structure characterized by the integration of hierarchical and associative relationships among the educational objectives. The paper also discusses how the ECMs can be implemented by means of the ISO/IEC 13250 Topic Maps standard. Based on the same model, it is also considered the possibility of visualizing, through a graphical model, and navigate, through an ontological browser, the knowledge structure and the relevant resources associated to them.