| Educational systems long have been accused of delivering curricula which is overly simplistic and one-dimensional. This criticism also has been level against the newly emerging field on online instruction. In many respects, this criticism is well earned. A contributing factor to this problem is the lack of viable instructional tools to facilitate cognitive comprehension. The desire to create such a tool was the genesis of this study. To that end, this study sought to conceptualize, develop, and assess a computer-based instructional tool that could facilitate comprehension of information presented from multiple perspectives. In particular, this study measured how users perceived and interpreted information presented in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional virtual reality based concept maps in order to determine the viability, strengths, limitations, of using three-dimensional concept mapping as an instructional tool.;The results showed strong support and preference for the three-dimensional concept mapping environment for viewing and comprehending complex, multiple-perspective information and resulted in five prominent conclusions emerging from this study. First, information interpretation is similar for both environments. Second, visualizing content from multiple perspectives is useful to learners. Third, appropriateness of map environment usage varies. Overly simple or overly complex conceptual structures/domains are not appropriate for illustration as conceptual maps. Fourth, the two mapping environments focus attention on different levels. Three-dimensional maps promote understanding of the "big picture" while two-dimensional maps are best suited for analyzing smaller subsets of concepts. Fifth, there were no meaningful interactions between learning styles and treatment environments. |
