Abstract:

Discussions within the Higher Education (HE) about the effectiveness of the HE sector in developing skills and improving students’ labour market potential have been highlighted as a threat to university growth. For example, some literature argues that the HE curriculum has remained static whilst the workplace has moved on and students’ attitudes towards learning are changing. Another strand of literature argues that high stake assessments have led to teaching pedagogies which focus on memorising and rehearsal using practice tests, rather than motivating and inspiring learners through engaging with real life-experiences. To address this gap, methodologies like problem-based learning (PBL) and phenomenon-based learning (PhBL) have been proposed as methods of motivating students through engaging with real-life phenomena.

Using a case study at an English post-1992 university, this research uses academics’ reflections on how foundation year (a year prior to starting a bachelor’s degree) students used mind maps to conceptualise a wider problem under investigation leading to the identification of the problem that each individual student wanted to investigate. The investigation would be using self-guided learning principles inherent to PBL and PhBL. Students’ primary data was captured in the form of a reflective journal and a series of mind maps. The academics involved had a professional discussion about the students’ use of mind maps in writing the introduction and related research chapters of a report and this was captured as primary data. Themes were extracted from this professional discussion and were considered for their pedagogical implication.

The result revealed a rich insight into the students’ use of mind maps to shape and manage their report chapters. Analysis of the student data suggests that the students’ experience of mind maps was diverse and dependent on the content added. It also suggests that the mind map was used as a visualisation tool for the planning and monitoring of the report chapters. The academics’ perception of the students’ use of mind maps suggests that they acted as living documents which evolved with continuing exploration of related research. However, there was a point at which the mind map became a management tool for the writing of the report. This represented a shift in the students’ readiness to move from research, thinking, and conceptualising into writing. The outcomes of this research are discussed and will be of interest to academics and universities seeking to use PBL and PhBL methodologies within their classrooms.

Keywords:

Foundation year, self-guided learning, mind maps, problem-based learning, phenomenon-based learning.