ISLT

9485 Designing Online Courses

Scott Vonder Bruegge
Assignment 2
Concept Map for an Absorb Learning Activity

Essential Question:

What is the power of photojournalism?

What I want my students to know and be able to do:

The goal of this activity is to have students map their understanding of photojournalism as a
powerful communication medium. In order to understand the power the first step is to
understand the medium. This first step will include an absorb activity consisting of reading
and presentation and video.

Assignment:

For this assignment you will completing what is called an absorb learning activity in which
you will take in information related to photojournalism through various mediums. You will
be reading the introduction chapter of the AP Guide to Photojournalism, watching a video of
an interview with a leading photojournalist and viewing the presentation slides from a
lecture on photojournalism. You will create a concept map of 30-40 nodes that detail your
learning from these sources. Please color code each node according to the source material
(separate colors for the nodes directly pertaining to each source.) Please label all the links
using terminology found on pages 7-8 of this document.

Task 1 View the source material

Go through the presentation
http://www.slideshare.net/alexandracopley/photojournalism-and-documentary-
photography

Watch the youtube video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nBbzFl1XoE

Read chapter 1 (Introduction) of The AP Guide to Photojournalism


Task 2 Create a concept map using the VUE software.

If you do not have the VUE software on your computer, you may download it here:
http://vue.tufts.edu/.

Help for using the software can be found here: http://vue.tufts.edu/help/index.cfm.

Rationale for completing this Absorb Activity:

Photojournalism is about story. Stories need to be told. Snapshots and selfies dont
tell the stories of our world the way photojournalism does. In order to better tell
those stories it is essential to not only understand the power of image but also how
to harness that power so that what you say through that image is something
significant. Putting a camera in front of your face merely means you are a
photographer, but learning the power of photojournalism means you can be a
storyteller. This activity will help you define what you know and are learning about

this medium. The process of completing this map will help your learning stick so
that you can take more than snapshots.

Best practices to achieve the highest learning:

During this activity you should try and put into play several best practices.
1. View each source asset once without doing anything.
2. Begin by creating your map with a central node that branches into the three
source assets.
3. From there, build out your nodes as you revisit each source. Build your map
while you absorb the material, stopping often to create a node and link.
4. Once youve created your initial map, walk yourself through the paths youve
created taking notice of how all the ideas are connected and interconnected.
5. It will be helpful to have another classmate peer review your work prior to
submission.

An example of a concept map is given below. In it, the student has mapped out what they have
learned about the nature of Absorb Learning tasks. As youll see, the basic concept centers the map
with nodes about the different types of tasks branching out. Those nodes are then expanded upon. If
it is helpful to think in terms of an outline that may be helpful. This however is an outline that is not
bound by a linear process but can demonstrate the interconnectedness of the ideas.

4. Construct links and link concepts. H aving id entified the concepts in a d om ain
that should go into the sem antic net, the learner begins the m ore d ifficult and
challenging part of the process: linking the concept nod es. H aving to d escribe
precisely the relationship betw een tw o id eas is m uch m ore d ifficult and engaging
than it initially appears. Why? The process of articulating those links requires
learners to search through the range of possible relationships in ord er to d efine
the relationship that exists in the context in w hich they are stud ying. Wh at d oes
that m ean? Concepts can (and typically d o) relate to each other in d ifferent w ays,
d epend ing on the context in w hich they are being used . For exam ple, thinking
about the concept speed in the context of physics class im plies a d ifferent set
of relationships than if you w ere stud ying the concept in the context of a d rug
ed ucation class. This variability is w hat contributes to the com plexity of internal
know led ge representations. Because concepts m ay be related to each other in
several w ays, it m ay be necessary to link the sam e tw o concepts w ith m ore than
one relationship. Table 9.1 presents a fairly com prehensive list of link types that
m ay be used to connect nod es.
Sym m etric Links
is op p osite of
has sibling
is op p osite of

has synonym
is near to
is sim ilar to

is sam e as
is ind ep end ent of
is equ al to

is equ al to
is op p osed to
is sam e as

Asym m etric Links

Inclu sion Relations (Typ ically the m ost com m on)
has p art/ is p art of
contains/ is contained in
com p osed of/ is p art in
inclu d es/ is inclu d ed in
has exam p le/ is exam p le of
has instance/ is instance of
Characteristic Relations (N ext m ost com m on)
has characteristic/ is characteristic of has attribu te/ is attribu te of
has p rop erty/ is p rop erty of
has typ e/ is typ e of
has kind / is kind of
d efines/ is d efined by
d escribes/ is d escribed by
m od els/ is m od eled by
d enotes/ is d enoted by
Im p lies/ is im p lied by
has ad vantage/ is ad vantage of
has d isad vantage/ is d isad vantage of
has fu nction/ is fu nction of
has size/ is size of
is above/ is below
is higher than/ is low er than
Action Relations
cau ses/ is cau sed by
solves/ is solu tion for
d ecreases/ is d ecreased by
d estroys/ is d estroyed by
influ ences/ is influ enced by

u ses/ is u sed by
exp loits/ is exp loited by
increases/ is increased by
im p ed es/ is im p ed ed by
d eterm ines/ d eterm ined by

Jonassen, D.H . (2005) Modeling with Technology: Mindtools for Conceptual Change
(3rd Edition) Prentice Hall.

enables/ enabled by
acts on/ is acted on by
converted from / converted to
em p loys/ is em p loyed by
generates/ is generated by
originates from / origin of
requ ires/ is requ ired by
send s to/ receives from
Process Relations
has object/ is object of
has resu lt/ resu lts from
has p rocess/ is p rocess in
has inp u t/ is inp u t to
d ep end s on/ has d ep end ent
Tem p oral Relations
has step / is step in
p reced es/ follow s

absorbs/ absorbed by
consu m es/ consu m ed by
d esigns/ d esigned by
evolves into/ evolved from
m od ifies/ m od ified by
p rovid es/ p rovid ed by
regu lates/ is regu lated by

has ou tp u t/ is ou tp u t of
has su b-p rocess/ is su bp rocess of
organizes/ is organized by
p rop oses/ is p rop osed by
conclu d es/ conclu d ed by

has stage/ is stage in

Figu re 9.3. Possible links betw een nod es (list ad ap ted from Fisher, 1988).

What characterizes a good link? First, preciseness and succinctness, but, m ore
im portantly, d escriptiveness. Try to avoid using links such as is connected to,
is related to, or involves. They d o not tell anything m eaningful about the
relationship. Be sure not only to link new concepts that are ad d ed to the net, but
also to interlink existing concepts as m uch as possible. Attem pt to pair each
concept w ith every other concept in the net and d ecid e if there is a m eaningful
relationship betw een them . If there is, create a link betw een them . The m ore
interconnected your net is, the m ore m eaningful your und erstand ing of the
content d om ain w ill be.
5. Continue to expand the net. The linking process continues am ong all or m ost
of the nod es in the net. While the linking is going on, new nod es or concepts are
being ad d ed to the net in ord er to explain som e of the existing concepts. Those
concepts are linked , and ad d itional concepts are ad d ed to explain them . This
process of augm entation continues in a cycle until the build er feels that the
d om ain is explained w ell enough. Interestingly, this process m irrors to som e
d egree the natural pattern of know led ge acquisition. It is theoretically (although
not practically) possible for learners to build nets consisting of all of the concepts
they know in w hich those concepts are linked together. What is also interesting
and rew ard ing to stud ents follow ing the build ing of a large net is the realization
of just how m uch they really know .

Jonassen, D.H . (2005) Modeling with Technology: Mindtools for Conceptual Change
(3rd Edition) Prentice Hall.

Description of learners and setting and sample map:

This activity was developed to be used by my own journalism students. I have never done
this type of assignment with them and my hope is that they gain a deeper level of
understanding of what photojournalism is beyond what I teach myself. Two of the courses I
teach are Yearbook and Newspaper and in each I require the staff members to be
responsible for their own photography. This activity would be one of the first things I use as
I teach the students the fundamentals of journalism. There are three sources included
because each source has a unique approach to the topic of what photojournalism is. The
reading is primarily a story of the type of communication photojournalism is. The
presentation details base knowledge. The video is one experts take on the topic based on
their experience. Because photojournalism is such a nuanced concept I found that these
three sources contributed significant knowledge to the topic that was not contained in each
single source in their entireties.

I have indicated several symmetric links in this map because there is significant overlap of
ideas. For instance, the idea of timely and relevant reporting is common to each geographical
center. The author has made it a point to differentiate photojournalism based on its impact
to a region yet the basics are the same. The video portion also has a symmetric link that
demonstrates the juxtaposition that the interviewee explained between decisive moment
and abandoned moment.

Total propositions 70
Total link labels 70 link labels written on the links, with only 15 unique labels employed.
Total nodes 41
1.71:1 Integration ratio