cmap and other mindless bullsh*t "learning tools"

[Spates Catalog]

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Anyone have something like this?

Read weekly paper--> Make "concept map" using some idiotic learning software --> submit it to "turnitin" for grading.

It is the most convoluted and mindless homework format I have ever encountered.

First- what is wrong with paper/pencil? Second- why grade our notes and not just quizzes? The end justifies the means. Why should our personalized conceptual understanding itself be evaluated and not just our ability to apply that understanding (quizzes, tests) ? Most importantly- why the f*ck am I spending 3 hours re-positioning and connecting little boxes of text instead of studying material actually pertinent to medicine?!? 😕

Some profs are just too enamored of technology. And for no apparent reason- this is the same self-described "old" professor who claims to prefer the dictionary over google. But "o0o0o0h *LEARNING software.* Conceptual Mapping- fancy!11!!" 👍

So, yeah. By now I get that MS1s are sheep who will do whatever a prof tells them, but for the love of God, I wish they'd just Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Here ends the rant.

 

[KeyzerSoze]

Anyone have something like this?

Read weekly paper--> Make "concept map" using some idiotic learning software --> submit it to "turnitin" for grading.

It is the most convoluted and mindless homework format I have ever encountered.

First- what is wrong with paper/pencil? Second- why grade our notes and not just quizzes? The end justifies the means. Why should our personalized conceptual understanding itself be evaluated and not just our ability to apply that understanding (quizzes, tests) ? Most importantly- why the f*ck am I spending 3 hours re-positioning and connecting little boxes of text instead of studying material actually pertinent to medicine?!? 😕

Some profs are just too enamored of technology. And for no apparent reason- this is the same self-described "old" professor who claims to prefer the dictionary over google. But "o0o0o0h *LEARNING software.* Conceptual Mapping- fancy!11!!" 👍

So, yeah. By now I get that MS1s are sheep who will do whatever a prof tells them, but for the love of God, I wish they'd just Keep It Simple, Stupid.

Here ends the rant.

Amazing. Where do you go to school? I've never heard of anything like that.

 

[Perrotfish]

I have never heard of anythng like this.

 

[Spates Catalog]

also, these cmap things are anonymously peer-graded through turnitin, and apparently these grades are only intermittently checked up on for accuracy, fairness, etc. So, yea..

And half the tips for using it don't even work

This page pertains to tips regarding the Cmap program.
* Hold down the "Shift" key while drawing lines/arrows to eliminate the text box
between words.
* To draw brackets, simply type them in from the keyboard.
* To remove the blue background, choose "Select Concepts" from the edit menu (this
will select all the text in your diagram). Then, open the "Styles Toolbox" from the format
menu. Click on the object tab and change the color from blue to none.
* To remove the box outline around your text, choose "Select Concepts" from the edit
menu (this will select all the text boxes in your diagram). Then, open the "Styles
Toolbox" from the format menu. Click on the line tab and change the box color from
black to none.
* To change from a line to arrow (or vice versa), open the "Styles Toolbox" from the
format menu. Click on the line tab and change the arrowhead designation.
* To change from a straight line to a curved one, open the "Styles Toolbox" from the
format menu. Click on the line tab and change the shape designation.
* To change from a solid line to a dashed line, open the "Styles Toolbox" from the
format menu. Click on the line tab and change the style designation.
* To add arrows to your text (e.g., to designate increase or decrease), open the "Styles
Toolbox" from the format menu. Click on the font tab and select the mathematical
character set tab. Both Greek letters and arrows are available options.
* To make a grouping (designating a cluster of findings), draw two text boxes and
connect them via a line. Then, highlight both nodes (hold down the Ctrl key and select
both boxes), open the "Styles Toolbox" from the format menu and click on the line tab
and change the box color from black to none; next, click on the object tab and change the
background from blue to none; then, click on the font tab and change the text color from
black to none; finally, draw a new text box and drag it onto the line.
* To enlarge your cmap, select "Print Preview" from the file menu. Select the page
setup tab at the bottom and decrease the margins. Also, make sure that the orientation for
your diagram is in portrait mode to facilitate insertion into MS Word and readability for
others.
* To retrieve your cmap (to attach via e-mail or save to disk for further editing) choose
the "My Documents" folder, then select the "My Cmaps" folder to locate your cmap file.

program freezes occasionally too. and there are no keyboard shortcuts for formatting things (bolding text, etc...)

and ironically it isn't even directly compatible with turnitin.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] I am getting quite a few emails about interfacing with Turnitin, so here's a few clarifications as to how the program works:

1) There are two recommended routes to submitting your diagram and text (for this week, only 1 sentence):
* Option 1 is to convert both to .pdf format.
* Option 2 is to export your cmap file as an image file (.jpg format) and then insert it into your MS word document.

2) When you submit your hypothesis to Turnitin, please do not panic initially. The program needs to convert your image file and that takes a few moments. When you first upload your file, the program will show your line of text and typically a notation * [pic] * either at the bottom or the top depending on where your diagram is in the document (this signifies that a picture is present in the file). How you insert your picture in your MS Word document affects whether the [pic] icon appears on the preview screen after uploading it to Turnitin (i.e.,formally inserting the picture into Word versus simply copying and pasting it from the cmap program).

3) Once you successfully upload it, if you go back and check in a few minutes in your account, you should see the image then..

So we copy the the map to word or pdf and then upload it, which eliminates all of the supposedly advantageous features of cmap, like viewing and manipulating the relationships of the concepts and boxes and arrows and lines and brackets. It's basically just a flowchart now.

But yay for technology!!

 

[chooka]

I hear you Spates. It is a waste of time. I feel like I'll learn a lot in the class, but I don't want to spend too much time on something I feel is less important. Look at the bright side, we only need to make a map once every 2 or 3 weeks. But still, it blows.

 

[Antibodies]

I hear you Spates. It is a waste of time. I feel like I'll learn a lot in the class, but I don't want to spend too much time on something I feel is less important. Look at the bright side, we only need to make a map once every 2 or 3 weeks. But still, it blows.

Every 2-3 weeks? Yikes 🙁
I hate the pointless assignments that take away from actual studying.

 

[BigRedder]

As soon as I saw the title I knew you guys were talking about the Shan Man. The class is annoying as hell in the beginning, but you'll be better off in the long run for it. PM me if you have any questions.

 

[Quinone]

Hey OP, I feel your pain - PM me if you want some advice. I'll gladly tell you the same things I told my little sib last week. 🙂

Hang in there.

 

[Almostflipped]

The class isn't so bad once you get used to it. I thought the CMAP's ultimately helped me understand the connections between things a little better than just answering test questions (had to think more about what really led to what). Big thing is not to get caught up in too much detail. If you want some advice on it feel free to pm me, it's really not as big a deal as people make it out to be.

As for peer grading, I was worked up about that as well but they do look at it more frequently than you'd think.

 

[Mace1370]

Med school has the ability like no other to make sure the maximum amount of your time is used for something. Every school I've heard about has "that" class. Your's seems to involve cmap =/

 

[Nikki2002]

oooooooo you have an organ systems exam tomorrow?? well then it's time to spend hours on pbl!!! ha ha ha sucka!!!

 

[45408]

Concept maps are great in theory and horrible in practice.