Brief description

A component of this module involves environmental legislation. Due to rapidly increasing national and EU legislation instruments, the subject does not lend itself to linear learning or note-taking as there are links between legislation instruments that need to be understood at a concept level before the detail of each section could be comprehended. The content is voluminous in nature. Mind maps are a note-taking system where the student can organise information in a visual format. The students were allowed to work in groups of 3-4 with free selection. The students had to apportion the workload, discuss the legislation and complete the mindmaps. The mindmap software Coggle was used (www.coggle.it), as it was free, and easily accessible. Hyperlinks, images and links between branches could be included. From an assessment point of view, it allows comments, grades, timelines and author identification.

How does this align to the Curriculum Shaper?

A new, active learning, approach to student-generated subject notes A alternative way to synthesise large amounts of information into key themes and making connections between environmental-related instruments A simple method to create meaningful learning and use the student-created output as a long-term reference.

Future directions

Develop for other modules such as reaction kinetics. By having students produce mind maps, the students learn to create a framework for their knowledge so that they can make sense of the concepts and see the relationships between them. Academics can see if the student understands the topic and the connections between the information in the module.

One piece of advice

The students enjoyed the collaborative nature of the system and with mobile technology and social media, the work could be done anywhere, and each member could work on their section in tandem. However, it is important to emphasize the purpose is to understand concepts and not allow students to “cut and paste” details from notes.