These pathways can be used to control the sequence in which resources and content are viewed, and to control the level of complexity displayed on the map. Users can also create pathways through the resources on a map. VUE allows users to “search, browse, retrieve content from digital repositories, and upload resources into these systems” (Kumar 2006, chap. Map creation window, with many dialog windows open. I also recognize that this only begins to scratch the surface of VUE’s functionality. Being fairly new to concept mapping software in general, I was quite satisfied to be able to do this easily. If the user wants to define a presentation order, I believe a pathway can be used to accomplish this. This allows, or requires, the user to think through their presentation rather than simply following a default linear progression as often happens in the use of other presentation software. If the node has any links, these other nodes and resources can be reached directly from the presentation, or the user can return to the previous level. The first screen in the presentation is the map as a whole. I then ‘played’ the map as a presentation and discovered the richness of VUE as a presentation tool. In about fifteen minutes, I was able to make a simple map including nodes, links, and labels for each. These tools’ simple mode of presenting digital resources as a static selection of links organized hierarchically may serve to communicate the structure of a course of lecture at a very high level, but this approach does not support the type of meaningful exploration and content manipulation necessary to help students construct important connections between digital resources and the ideas they represent. lack both the flexibility and responsiveness required to support critical and creative thinking with digital resources (Kahle, 2003). The VUE designers seemed to feel the same way about existing concept-mapping software: The majority of conceptual learning seemed to occur while creating drafts of their concept maps, after which translating them to an electronic version was simply a technical task. They have always seemed cumbersome to create, relative to the educational value in creating them. I have used concept maps in my teaching, but have never used digital versions. I wanted to take a look at an example of concept-mapping software. It gave an error message after installing, but seems to be running fine. I unzipped the file, changed its permission to executable, and ran the installer. Installation: VUE installed easily on Ubuntu. Specifications: Platform independent requires a java runtime environment. Resources: VUE web site, Sourceforge page It is clear that this work is being actively pursued. Any potential weaknesses I can identify so far, such as the inability to upload directly to the web, are being addressed in the next release.Thus, the learning curve weakness becomes a strength. From initial use, however, the program seems to pull you in to deeper functionality. As with any software designed for flexible use, there is a learning curve in using the software to its full potential.A growing community exists around the VUE project, which is building a library of concept maps which can be downloaded.It is designed to organize resources from a variety of repositories – the user’s file system, the Fedora repository, and other digital archives. VUE is inclusive of many types of media. Development should continue steadily for the foreseeable future, and may be picked up by the OS community. A clear set of design principles guides its development. A strong, university-based design team leads the development of VUE.The program also functions as a nonlinear presentation tool. The program is designed to be a flexible learning environment which can manage text, links, images, and other multimedia files. Brief Description: VUE is a concept mapping program designed by a team at Tufts University.
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