131 SPEC Kit 351: Affordable Course Content and Open Educational Resources
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
Adaptive Map
http://adaptivemap.ma.psu.edu/about.html
Engineering Statics
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About the Adaptive Map Tool:
The Adaptive Map tool aims to enhance learning by providing advance organizers, in the form of expert generated concept maps, to the
user. This is realized through the concept map based navigation system that is central to the design of the Adaptive Map software. By
providing an advance organizer (a high level, easy to understand, overview of the information) the tool subtly encourages the user to keep
the big picture in mind, helping users connect new information to previously learned topics.
Because concept maps can become overwhelming when they become too large, the interactive navigation system is also designed to
adapt the visuals to the user's current focus. This ensures that the user gets a relevant overview of the information they are currently
examining, but that they not visually overwhelmed with irrelevant details.
The tool has been tested in the classroom and was shown to be more effective than a traditional paper textbook in two respects. First, as
predicted with the design, the tool encourages users to spend more time attending to an overview of the information, helping students build
a skeleton they can fit details into later. Second, the tool encouraged users to step back and review topics from previous sections that were
relevant to the topics they were learning. This combination of behaviors in the users leads to greater measures of conceptual
understanding, with little to no extra effort on the part of the learner.
Adaptive Map Developers:
Project Lead: Dr. Jacob Moore
Dr. Moore is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State Mont Alto. His research interests include engineering
education focused on digital textbook design, and additive manufacturing technologies. As the project lead, Dr. Moore oversees all
development and evaluation activities and is currently the primary content developer.
Lead Software Developer: Shawn Shroyer
Shawn Shroyer is currently a senior in the Information Sciences and Technology program at Penn State Mont Alto. As the lead software
developer, Shawn is the primary software developer for the Adaptive Map Project.
Past Contributors:
We would also like to acknowledge past software developers, Nathanael Bice, Lauren Gibboney, Joseph Luke, James McIntyre, John
Nein, Tucker Noia, Michel Pascale, and Joshua Rush, as well as the content experts we have consulted with, Dr. Robert Scott Pierce and
Christopher Venters.
Research Publications:
Moore, J. Pascale, M., Williams, C. North, C. (2013) Translating Educational Theory Into Educational Software: A Case Study of the
Adaptive Map Project Proceedings of the 2013 ASEE Annual Conference Atlanta, GA, ASEE.
Moore, J. Pierce, R. S., Williams, C. (2012) Towards an "Adaptive Concept Map": Creating an Expert-Generated Concept Map of an
Engineering Statics Curriculum Proceedings of the 2012 ASEE Annual Conference San Antonio, TX, ASEE.
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