Evaluating Interactive Concept Maps Produced from E-Portfolios

Natural Language Processing opens new ways to analyze digital works. We are interested in the assessment of e-portfolios which are digital learning logs. Through analysis techniques such as the recognition of topics of a paragraph it is is possible to visualize the topic coverage and content depth. Such visualizations can be useful in the e-portfolio creation and review processes. We have applied these technologies to develop interactive concept maps for exam-relevant e-portfolios and have used them in a real-life setting at university. The experiment has shown that the interactive concept maps have motivated the students and that they have the potential to be useful in the writing process if they are well integrated into the workflow.