International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM) – eISSN: 1865-7923 – Vol. 15, No. 05, 2021 Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i05.18703 Evrialiani Rosba Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Padang, Indonesia Siti Zubaidah (), Susriyati Mahanal, Sulisetijono Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia siti.zubaidah.fmipa@um.ac.id Abstract—This study's objective was to investigate the Digital Mind Map (DMM) Assisted Group Investigation GIGI effect on students’ creativity. It employed a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design and involved 75 students from IKIP Budi Utomo Malang, Indonesia, in the academic year of 2019/2020. Pretest and posttest were conducted to collect data on students’ cre- ativity. A rubric accompanied the tests to evaluate the keywords, material ap- propriateness, organization and layout, completeness of the material, creativity, image symbols, curved lines, and color used in the DMM. Assumption tests, in- cluding normality and homogeneity tests of variance, were conducted before running the ANCOVA. The analysis result showed that the DMM-GI learning model affected students’ creativity (p˂0.005). LSD test indicated a significant difference between DMM-GI and DMM-conventional learning in improving students’ creativity. Therefore, it can be said that the DMM-GI learning model can be used to enhance students’ creativity. Keywords—Students’ creativity; group investigation; digital mind map 1 Introduction Creativity is the capability to generate new products and ideas to solve problems [1] or to enrich existing knowledge [2]. Creativity makes learning more meaningful [3] since it triggers the interaction between students’ abilities and experience to pro- duce a useful product [4]. Enhancing students’ creativity is one of the essential goals of education at universities and colleges [5]. It is seen as an urgent need because crea- tivity makes students engaged more actively in learning [6]. A creative learning envi- ronment will enable students to express their ideas freely and think creatively [7]. Research shows that Indonesian students have low creativity [8, 9, 10] due to the learning process that cannot accommodate students’ creativity. It is also demonstrated that the teachers have not optimized pedagogical strategies in the classroom [11]. Implementing a less innovative instructional strategy has resulted in students’ low awareness of creativity development [12]. 4 http://www.i-jim.org https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i05.18703 mailto:siti.zubaidah.fmipa@um.ac.id Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity Therefore, to enhance students’ creativity, changes need to be made. It is crucial to conduct active learning processes that will help students construct their knowledge [13], engage students actively in classroom discussions [14], and establish a student- student collaboration that indirectly affects students’ creativity [15]. One of the active learning models that can be used to enhance students’ creativity is Group Investiga- tion. Group Investigation GIGI is a learning model where students are organized and as- signed into small groups to investigate [16]. Group Investigation emphasizes data collection by student individuals, data interpretation through group discussion, and students’ contribution to the assigned group [17]. Group Investigation can promote student initiatives, creativity, and active learning [18]. Through group discussion in GI, students are encouraged to express unique ideas [19] and create a pleasing learn- ing atmosphere [20]. Many researchers have reported the benefits and shortcomings of implementing GI Damini [21] and Hosseini [17] explain that GI is unlikely efficient since it is impossi- ble to perform all GI learning steps in one meeting. For example, the evaluation stage is one of the learning steps that is mostly skipped during GI implementation. The evaluation stage aims to examine the achievement of the learning goals. If the teacher cannot carry out the assessment, students’ learning outcomes cannot be identified, and thus learning cannot be adequately improved. Hargreaves [22] agrees that evaluation is important to monitor students’ learning progress and provide a follow-up for im- provement. One way to conduct an evaluation is to ask students to conclude. William [23] ex- plains that evaluation can be done through observation, interview, test, and conclusion drawing. Conclusion drawing is an activity that is conducted at the end of the lesson. At this moment, the learning topic is broken down into points [24]. Alternatively, evaluation can be performed by using technology assistance. Past studies have proved that digital tools such as smartphones and tablets help educational practitioners con- duct an assessment and significantly influence the learning process [25-27]. Obvious- ly, the application of technology in learning is essential, such as for evaluation. Digital mind maps (DMM), which are also known as electronic mind maps [28], are compressed in a computer file [29]. Digital mind maps serve as a tool that can stimulate students’ creativity and collaboration and improve students’ confidence in contributing ideas in the classroom [30]. Providing a stimulus in the form of a visual element makes it easy to analyze, understand, and memorize a digital mind map. The relationship between information obtained from solving linear text problems can be seen clearly [31]. DMM will make students think quickly and remember a concept through predetermined keywords [32]. DMM offers efficient and dynamic mind maps because DMM is not limited to physical learning spaces. Through DMM, students are equipped to develop and organize ideas using higher-order thinking skills; this can ultimately increase their understanding of a concept [33]. Digital Mind Maps also can be used in Group Investigation as an evaluation tool. The instructional model resulted from this combination is called Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation (DMM-GI). The DMM-GI model can improve students’ creativity because it encourages students to be creative, especially in developing ideas through DMM development [34]. Students can insert various concepts and images in their DMM. The activity to connect the images to the concepts when drawing a digital iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 05, 2021 5 Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity mind map is a creative activity that requires thinking instead of remembering [35]. A digital mind map can be saved as a file that the students can share and with the teach- er to collaborate [36] efficiently. Hence, the current study aimed to investigate the Digital Mind Map (DMM) Assisted Group Investigation GIGI effect on students’ creativity based on the information above. 2 Literature Review 2.1 Creativity Creativity is a thought process that helps individuals build their knowledge and solve challenging tasks in a better way [37]. Bloom places creativity in the highest dimension of cognitive processing [38]. Creativity is often defined in three ways: creativity as the final product, creativity as a creative process, and creativity as part of the social system [39]. Creativity allows humans to access the most critical skills to innovate based on prior knowledge [40]. Past studies have confirmed the important role of creativity in students’ success [41] and produce new ideas [42]. Creative peo- ple create and innovate in various fields [43]. Thus, creativity determines someone’s success in the future [44]. The uppermost definition of creativity is the ability to create new products and new ideas [1]. Indicators of creativity used in this study referred to the creativity indicators developed by Trefinger, Young, Selbi, dan Shepardson [45], namely fluency, flexibil- ity, originality, and elaboration. Fluency is being fluent in generating ideas, sugges- tions, and thinking relevant answers within a particular time. Flexibility refers to the capability of generating various thoughts or ideas from different points of view. Orig- inality refers to the ability to create unique ideas, suggestions, answers that no one else has thought of. Elaboration is to generate more complex ideas, suggestions, and answers. 2.2 Group Investigation GIGI Group Investigation GIGI is a cooperative learning model that motivates students to communicate well and cooperate [46] as well as carry out investigations in groups to raise, analyze and solve problems [47]. GI makes students responsible for their learning activity [48]. Research shows that GI provides learning experiences through creativity in group presentations using visual media that are more interesting and less tedious [49]. Therefore, this type of learning is more effective than conventional learning. Group Investigation can facilitate students' ability to exchange materials, knowledge, ideas, and backgrounds and share what is relevant for investigating [16]. Learning in GI consists of six stages, namely; 1) choosing a topic, 2) planning a task, 3) conducting an investigation, 4) preparing a report investigation, 5) present the in- vestigation report, and 6) evaluating [50]. GI has three main advantages, namely, inquiry, knowledge, and group dynamics [51]. 6 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity 2.3 Digital Mind Map (DMM) Digital Mind Map (DMM) is a Mind Map (MM) designed with a computer pro- gram or smartphone application or via a website [52]. Some experts explain that DMM is an electronic mind map with the same results and concept of the creation process [29], [53]. DMM essentially refers to the theory proposed by Buzan [54], mentioning that DMM consists of five components, including the center, branches, keyword, image, and color. DMM can be arranged with colors, numbers, fonts, im- ages, or videos in a non-linear format using a computer application [36]. Available applications such as Coggle, Freemind, Mindjet, MindNode, XMind, SpiderScribe.net, iMindMap, MindMeister, and Popplet are useful to assist in creating, organizing, and storing DMM [55]. Also, DMM accommodates the ar- rangement and visualization of thought processes. DMM can act as a tool to stimulate activity, creativity, and collaboration between students and increase their confidence in contributing ideas in the classroom [56]. The utilization of digital technology in the learning process can improve student skills and knowledge. Similarly, Al-Haj Bedar & Al-Shboul [57] state that digital technology in the classroom helps students focus on the learning process. Al-Jarf's [58] reports that computerized mind maps can encourage creativity because they allow students to be more adept at generating and forming ideas that are complex to write about. Apart from that, DMM can also be used as an evaluation tool [59]. DMM can be used to assess students’ creative thinking [60]. The relationship between indicators of creativ- ity and mind map’s essential parts can be seen in Table 1. Table 1. The Relationship between Indicators of Creativity and Mind Map Components Indicators of creativity Mind Map Components Fluency Branch Flexibility Branch, keyword Originality Mind map center, branch, picture, color Elaboration Mind map center, branch, picture, color Source: Susiana [61]. The mind maps generated by the participants were evaluated using a rubric of mind map creativity developed and modified from Monet & Connor [62]. The relationship between indicators of the rubric and mind map components can be seen in Table 2. Table 2. The Relationship between Indicators of Creativity Rubric and Mind Map Components Indicators of the Rubric Mind Map Components Keywords Keywords Material Appropriateness Branch, keyword Organization and Layout Mind map center, branch, picture, keyword Material Completeness Mind map center, keyword, branch, picture Creativity Mind map center, keyword, branch, picture, color Symbols, Images, and Curved Lines Picture, branch Color Mind map center, branches, and links iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 05, 2021 7 Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity 2.4 Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation (DMM-GI) Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation is a GI-based learning model in which implementation is assisted by digital technology in DMM. This constructivist learning model aims to improve students' ability to develop knowledge and independ- ence to generate creativity and find steps to solve a problem, both individually and in groups. Constructivist learning directs students to organize themselves and take an active role in education by setting goals, monitoring, and evaluating their progress [63]. The constructivist-based DMM-GI model can help students develop knowledge, solve problems individually and in groups, assess learning progress, and train stu- dents' independent learning, leading to creativity. The DMM-GI model consists of six stages, namely: 1) choosing a topic, 2) plan- ning a task, 3) carrying out an investigation, 4) preparing a report investigation, 5) present the investigation report, and 6) evaluating using DMM. The DMM-GI model is expected to enhance students' creativity in developing ideas and making learning more fun and interesting. 3 Methods 3.1 Design of the study The present study used a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design. The pretest and posttest were administered to two treatment groups (experimental and control). The experimental group was treated using the DMM-GI model, and the con- trol group performed learning using DMM-assisted conventional learning. The re- search design is presented in Table 3. Table 3. The Research Design Group Pretest Treatment Post-test DMM-GI O1 X1 O2 DMM-Conventional O3 X2 O4 Note: O1= pretest score of the experimental group O2= posttest score of the experimental group X1= Digital Mind Maps Assisted Group Investigation Learning X2= Digital Mind Maps Assisted Conventional Learning O3= pretest score of the control group O4= posttest score of the control group 3.2 Participants of the study This study was conducted in the odd semester of 2019/2020. The study participants consisted of 75 Biology students enrolled in the Vascular Plant Botany course in IKIP Budi Utomo Malang, Indonesia. The participants' Grade Point Average (GPA) was analyzed using a t-test to determine the sample's homogeneity in academic ability. The t-test result showed no significant difference between the two classes, where class A (34 students) obtained an average score of 3.39, and class B (41 students) obtained 8 http://www.i-jim.org Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity an average score of 3.46. The experimental and control groups were selected random- ly from the two classes. Digital Mind Maps assisted Group Investigation (DMM-GI) was implemented in the experimental group, while Digital Mind Maps assisted con- ventional (DMM-Conventional) was applied in the control group. 3.3 Research procedures The initial stage of this study was the pretest administration. On the test, the stu- dents were asked to create digital mind maps based on the following topics: Pteri- dophyta, Gymnospermae, and Angiospermae. The purpose of conducting the pretest was to determine the students’ initial creativity before being involved in the experi- ment. The DMM-GI model was applied in the experimental group, and the DMM- Conventional model was implemented in the control group for 12 meetings. The learning steps carried out in the two classes are shown in Table 4. The final stage of the study was to conduct the posttest. On the posttest, the participants were asked to create digital mind maps based on the topics that had been learned. The students had to save the maps in pdf format and send them to the teacher via e-mail for evaluation. Table 4. Stages of Learning in DMM and DMM-Conventional Classes DMM-GI DMM-Conventional Stages of Learn- ing Learning Activities Stages of Learning Learning Activities Organizing students into groups The students are divided heterogeneously into 5-6 based on their academic ability. Encouraging students to learn Encouraging students to learn the materials being discussed. Selecting topics and planning tasks Each group selects a topic, then students in the group form a plan for investigation ac- cording to their roles. Delivering the materials The lecturer delivers the materials. Conducting an investigation Every group member investigates by seeking information, analyzing data, drawing conclu- sions, exchanging ideas, discussing, and clarifying. Assigning students into groups The students are divided into a group of 5-6. Preparing a report Group members select essential concepts that need to be reported, compile a report, prepare a presentation, share the presentation assign- ments. Group discussion The students discuss in groups and do the task assigned by the lectur- er. Presenting the report Group members present in turn according to the tasks assigned to them and answer ques- tions from other groups. Presenting the discussion result One particular group is asked to present the discussion result; those who are not given a chance to present have to provide feedback to the presenters in comments, sugges- tions, or questions. iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 05, 2021 9 Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity Evaluating Each group evaluates the materials studied, creates digital mind maps based on the evalu- ation results, saves them in pdf format, and then sends them to the lecturer via e-mail. Conducting an evaluation The lecturer asks the students to conclude the discussion, transfer it into DMM, save the DMM in pdf format, and then send them to the lecturer via e-mail. 3.4 The instrument of the study The rubric used to assess the students’ creativity was adopted from Monet & Con- nor [62]. The rubric was used to assess the keywords, material appropriateness, organ- ization and layout, completeness of the material, creativity, image symbols, curved lines, and color used in the students’ DMM (Table 5). The rubric used a score range of 0-4 for each of the indicators evaluated, where 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = fair, 1 = bad, 0 = very bad. Before use, the rubric underwent expert validation, where experts were invited to evaluate the rubric. The evaluation criteria for rubric validity ranged from 0 ≤ X ≤ 0.50 for highly invalid, 0.50 ≤ X ≤1.50 = invalid; 1.50 0.05). 3. After the data were proven normal and homogeneous, ANCOVA was run to inves- tigate the instructional models' effect on student’s creativity. An LSD test followed this process. 4 Results and Discussion The ANCOVA analysis results on the students’ DMM creativity can be seen in Ta- ble 6. iJIM ‒ Vol. 15, No. 05, 2021 11 Paper—Digital Mind Map Assisted Group Investigation Learning for College Students’ Creativity Table 6. The Results of the ANCOVA Analysis Source Type III Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Corrected Model 1346.682a 2 673.341 22.979 .000 Intercept 1872.650 1 1872.650 63.908 .000 Pre-Creativity 446.730 1 446.730 15.245 .000 Model 272.436 1 272.436 9.297 .003 Error 2109.780 72 29.303 Total 451989.796 75 Corrected Total 3456.463 74 a. R Squared = .390 (Adjusted R Squared = .373) Table 6 shows an F-calculated of 9.297 with a significance level of 0.003 (