Aligning information mapping techniques: concepts to content across multiple academic courses and years for lifelong learning

D2L, a leading provider of academic and enterprise learning solutions has identified a need to enhance theirlearning platform (Brightspace) to allow learners to independently organize and represent their acquiredknowledge, thus helping them retrieve, order and use what they have learned. D2L lacks the in-house capabilityto pursue and evaluate this project and requires the assistance of an expert in this kind of hypertext-basedlearning support scaffolding environment.Given the amount, complexity and mutability of information, there are many ways to structure informationto build knowledge. Learners maintain knowledge in their minds but cannot recall it all. Externalrepresentations of knowledge, especially in networked forms, can help learners to better retrieve, order and usethe knowledge they have developed. A dynamic information mapping computer application is a modern way toprovide such an external representation. Rather than someone else's notes and thoughts, the dynamicinformation mapping application provides a supportive environment for the learner to create their own notesand record their own associations. A glossary is an example of an information map that can suit this purpose byproviding a way to connect concepts (knowledge) to content (the material presented to students in a learningmanagement system or textbook etc). At a bare minimum a glossary is a simple list of definitions of technicalterms. However, Blustein & Noor showed how a dynamic knowledge tool based on the familiar model of aglossary can provide a scaffold to help learners create and record knowledge.D2L has success with Brightspace. This project has the potential to complement and extend their popularlearning management system by proving a novel way to building knowledge and a reason for clients to use theproduct after they graduate. D2L recognizes the opportunity to incorporate such a tool into an existinge-education system with the potential to become a backbone of evolving learners' knowledge and to validatethe hypothesis.