An Accessible and User-Friendly Argument Mapping App (guest post)

“Argument mapping is about twice as efficient at bettering pupil crucial pondering as different strategies,” writes Jonathan Surovell (Texas State College). Nevertheless, “there are obstacles stopping philosophy lecturers from adopting it.”

Within the following visitor publish, Dr. Surovell discusses argument mapping and its advantages, and introduces us a brand new app for educating and studying it, Argumentation.io, that’s user-friendly and meets accessibility requirements.

The extra we find out about educating argument mapping (typically often called argument diagramming or argument visualization), the extra outstanding its advantages to college students appear to be. Sadly, there are obstacles stopping philosophy lecturers from adopting it. Considered one of these obstacles is that, up till now, it’s been nearly not possible to show argument mapping persistently with college accessibility requirements. Over the previous couple of years, my workforce and I’ve developed a brand new web-based app, Argumentation.io, that, we imagine, will remedy this drawback whereas making argument mapping extra intuitive and efficient for all college students. We’ll quickly bundle the app with different supplies that can make it simpler for instructors to start out educating a totally accessible argument mapping course.

Argument Mapping

An argument map is a diagrammatic illustration of an argument during which statements go in packing containers and logical relationships are conveyed by the shapes and colours of those packing containers and features connecting them. Argument maps enable for the simultaneous presentation of causes for and objections to a given declare, and so can perspicaciously convey a number of sides of a problem. Right here’s an instance:

Here’s a link to this example at argumentation.io.

Argument mapping is usually taught in introductory philosophy programs that embody a crucial pondering part. I exploit it for the primary 5 or 6 weeks of my “Philosophy and Vital Considering” and “Ethics and Society” programs at Texas State College. My college students and I then map the philosophical articles we spend the remainder of the semester studying. Argument mapping can be taught in pure crucial pondering programs and in varied programs outdoors of philosophy.

Argument mapping is about twice as efficient at bettering pupil crucial pondering as different strategies:

Its impact is statistically “giant,” whereas different educating strategies’ results are “small” to simply barely “average.”

Eftekhari and colleages (2016) discovered that programs that use a computer-based argument mapping app are simpler than these during which college students map with pencil and paper. Dwyer and colleagues (2012) discovered that argument mapping retains its efficacy in on-line programs.

Argument mapping programs might also result in:

Why is argument mapping so efficient? Some hypotheses:

Argumentation.io

Regardless of these spectacular advantages, argument mapping isn’t broadly utilized in greater schooling. Why? Presumably, lack of expertise performs a task.

There are two different doubtless components. One is accessibility. Most schools and universities require their programs to be accessible to college students with disabilities. In reality, Section 508 of the American Rehabilitation Act legally requires most universities to make their courses accessible. However as a result of argument maps are diagrammatic, and never purely text-based, a blind individual can’t create an argument in a phrase processor (or with a pencil and paper), nor are present argument mapping apps accessible to the blind.

Argumentation.io solves this drawback. All of the capabilities in our app are display screen reader and key command suitable—even drag and drop enhancing. Instructors can use the app as their commonplace argument mapping app, for functions of instruction and demonstration, with out worrying about violating a pupil’s civil rights.

One other novel function of Argumentation.io is its use of inference packing containers: every time a consumer provides a purpose or objection to their map, a field representing the inference is mechanically positioned between the explanation/objection and the declare it helps/opposes. On this map, field 2.1 is the inference field:

Example with ‘modus ponens’ in the inference box (box 2.1).

The inference field helps college students find out about inference by offering a extra intuitive illustration of inferences and arguments for or in opposition to them. Conceptually, an inference is a connection between premises and a conclusion; an objection to an inference is an objection to a connection between premises and a conclusion. And in Argumentation.io, that is additionally what inferences and inference objections are spatially and diagrammatically. Here’s an example from Rachels’ “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism”:

Example of an inference objection.

One other benefit of the inference field is that it will increase the consumer’s capacity to edit their maps: they will drag and drop onto the inference field to show an argument for or in opposition to an inference they usually can drag and drop onto (the highest of) a bunch field to show a declare right into a co-premise.

Lastly, we’ve made Argumentation.io as easy, user-friendly, and self-explanatory as potential. We’ve stored the buttons on the primary management panel to what’s important for argument mapping and have given the buttons self-explanatory, color-coded icons:

As a busy instructor, I understand how necessary it’s to reduce my college students’ technological difficulties. It retains them happier and extra targeted on target content material and it reduces the time I spend explaining expertise and answering questions on it. I used Argumentation.io for my Spring 2023 programs and had my lowest fee of pupil technological issues since I began educating argument mapping.

At current, the app has the core options which can be important to educating argument mapping. We’ll preserve including new options over time.

Within the coming weeks, we’ll launch a six-chapter argument mapping textbook (co-written on my own and Zachary Poston), a educating quickstart information on all facets of educating argument mapping accessibly, and PowerPoint slides. We’ll bundle the textbook with the app. Collectively, these supplies will assist instructors arrange and run a totally accessible argument mapping course.

Customers can create maps in our app totally free. We additionally supply subscriptions, which give customers the choices to save lots of their maps in Argumentation.io, share them by means of hyperlinks, or use the save as pdf or png capabilities. A subscription may even give the consumer entry to the textbook, as soon as we launch it. A person subscription prices $5 monthly or $25 for six months. Universities and schools can join institutional subscriptions. These give everybody on the establishment a subscription.

Promotion Code and Contact

Each day Nous readers can get pleasure from a free one-month subscription to Argumentation.io. To take action, create an account by clicking the Most important Menu button (the button within the higher left-hand nook with the three horizontal strains), then clicking Login, then getting into your e mail and password, then clicking ‘Create New Account.’ When you’re logged in, open the primary menu once more, choose Subscribe, choose Month-to-month, and use the promotion code ARG1 at checkout. Instructors who use Argumentation.io for his or her programs can proceed to subscribe totally free.

If you happen to’d prefer to study extra about Argumentation.io or methods to incorporate argument mapping into your course, I’d be completely satisfied to speak with you about it, over e mail or in Zoom. You’ll be able to attain me at [email protected].

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