Write-and-learn: Promoting meaningful learning through concept map-based formative feedback on writing assignments

A primary goal of higher education is to promote meaningful learning: the delivery of core academic content to students in innovative ways that allow them to learn and then apply what they have learned. As a pedagogical strategy, Writing-to-Learn (WTL) intends to use writing to improve students' understanding of course content and concepts. To improve students' meaningful learning of conceptual knowledge in WTL activities, the project proposes to develop the Write-and-Learn system to generate automated formative feedback by taking advantage of the concept maps constructed from instructors' lecture notes and individual students' writing assignments. The proposed research aims to provide insights into how to apply concept maps into WTL activities to generate effective formative feedback on the acquisition and development of conceptual knowledge, and explore how and to what extent concept map-based formative feedback can be utilized to scaffold and promote meaningful learning in WTL activities.