[Community] review of depmap interface

[Ms. Meena Kharatmal]

Hello,

I have reviewed the depmap interface from an educationist point of
view. Below are my comments:


the top search bar, sitemap, accessibility, contact are not dynamic. I
think the image has superseded over it, therefore even upon clicking
any search, it reloads the homepage.

to begin with, one proceeds from view or edit menu. at this place, it
will be useful if a small how-to is given to understand what is a
concept and what is an activity. one thing is not clear to me, is
whether there is any difference between activity and a process. is
process a concept or an activity. so this subtle distinctions can be
clarified by a small guide below the  search , which is anyways blank.

next when I search for any concept/activity even without selecting any
in the circle, I get the search result. if anyways the search result
appears, then the use of selecting whether it is a concept/activity
can be ignored. but we may not want to do that.

when  I was adding, there is confusions, about what is depends on and
what is required for and what is the central concept. this can be
resolved by small examples.

it would be useful while I am in the edit interface if I can go back
to the search. just as there is home tag, there can be a search tag.

now while adding one cannot add the relations, because if the depends
on and required for are not existing, then it does not make sense to
give the forms. the small window that is opened for creating the maps,
can also provide with add interface.

now I see that the main concept that is being focussed on is at the
middle level, which means that it can have upper level and a lower
level. This categorization reminds me of the Markman's idea of
children's understanding based on the basic-level categorization which
follows with general level and then with specific level. Even Ausuble
mentions about learning at super-ordinate and sub-ordinate level.

now if this is the design i.e. the main concept is at the basic level,
then it will be helpful is this idea is implemented in the design of
the interface. this is just a suggestion. because this will be very
useful to understand what the main or basic level concept depends on
i.e. at the upper level or general level and  for what it is required
for i.e. at the lower level or specific level.

after creating a repository of just the concepts, then I would think
of assigning depends on or required for. this method is better, also
it will be useful if there is a tagging system like for instance, if I
want to create a conceptual dependency of standard 8 on a chapter of
cell structure and function, I can assign the relations alongwith tag
or an attribute that this conceptual dependency map or domain is of
grade 8 level or belongs to grade 8 chapter.

this will also be useful for the teacher to search to see what is the
conceptual dependency that is required for the domain at grade
8. therefore accordingly search for tag can be provided.

I was viewing for an exisiting concept, and in the graphical
representation it shows some level of mappings i.e. 4-5 level above
the main concept and 2-3 level below the main concept. This is I think
being managed arbitrarily. Also at some level those concepts appear
which have no relation with the basic level concept such as nuclues,
and length of scale. this is the reason I mentioned that it is
computing arbitrarily.  in this case, if appropriate checks are
provided or tagged then this itself can be used to provide with
refined or constrained checks for search results. alternatively user
can also decide whether one wants to see the dependency upto 3 levels
or 4 levels.


I think the arrow directions can be changed. to explain let us take
the main or the basic level concept and the arrow for depends on
should point away from it and the arrow for required for should point
towards it. the existing directions of arrows are confusing.

These are my few comments upon reviewing the interface.

Hoping for discussion.

Meena.
-- 
  ....................................................................
    Meena Kharatmal
    Blogpage --> http://okeanos.wordpress.com
    Homepage --> http://www.hbcse.tifr.res.in/~meena
    Wikipedia ---> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refined_concept_map
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