Topic Maps as Indexing Tools in the Educational Sphere: Theoretical Foundations, Review of Empirical Research and Future Challenges

A primerTopic maps separate the inter-related topics in a given body of knowledge from the actual resources that describe these topics.They provide context-based searches that can match context-specific search criteria entered by the user (Pepper, 2002;Garshol, 2004).As a search-and-retrieval technology, topic maps provide a method to code content in terms of topics, the relationships between these topics, and any additional informational resources associated with the target subject matter.This allows for greater flexibility in searching because the user not only gains access to information directly associated with a topic but also gets information regarding related topics.Results are returned not by keyword "hits" but rather by the concepts or ideas present in a corpus.A search will return fewer, more relevant "hits" matching the key word with the appropriate semantic context (Rath, 2000).Given their capability, topic maps can support learning within an online learning environment (OLE) in that content across functions can be integrated through search functionality triggered by a learner's query.Topic maps can help to provide the learner with a uniquely individualized tool that customizes how content is accessed and potentially organized.Pepper (2002) refers to the elements of a topic map using the acronym TAO -Topics, Associations, and Occurrences.Let us consider a simple example of a topic map created to describe the body of knowledge related to e-learning.Topics pertinent to the subject matter of e-learning could include, for example, software platforms, learning management systems, learning content management systems, learning objects, industry standards, and interoperability, among others.Associations draw out the relationships between topics.For example, consider the following statement where the underlined portion details an association linking the topic "Interoperability Standards" to the topic "Metadata Schemes": "Interoperability standards are used in evaluating Metadata Schemes"; note also that this association is bi-directional, and hence, logically leads to the following statement: "Metadata Schemes are evaluated by Interoperability Standards".Occurrences point the user to resources that provide information about the topics themselves.An occurrence dedicated to the topic "Metadata Schemes" could be a pointer to an online article comparing the various metadata standards used in the industry.Topic maps also allow multiple naming conventions, which allow topics to be described in a variety of languages or by different titles according to user preference.Topic maps permit the assignment of metadata to information resources, similar to resources that possess XML tagging.Topics within a topic map can also be assigned a scope within which they are considered valid, thereby avoiding problems arising from the use of a topic in multiple contexts.Arguably, the quality of the search results obtained through using a topic map depends largely on the topic map developer's ability to extract stakeholders' representations of the domain of knowledge being mapped.Proponents of the cognitive information processing (CIP) theory, proposed by Waugh and Norman (1965) and Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968), have explored the role of representations of ill-structured problems (Reitman, 1965) in various contexts (Voss, 1998;Voss & Post, 1988).Research has also shown that differences in problem solving ability between novices and experts can be partially attributed to their different problem representations (e.g., Voss et al., 1998;Torney-Purta, 1992).Taking this research into account, our development of topic maps is grounded in one or more expert's cognitive representations of the domain, and an analysis of the tasks to be performed by end-users who will be navigating the domain using the topic map.

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