Emmelien Merchie

Post-doctoral assistant at the research group 'Language, learning, innovation', within the Department of Educational Sciences, Ghent University.White Mind mapping text-based learning

 

Emmelien.Merchie@UGent.be   |  +32 (0) 9 331 03 17  |  +32 (0)9 264 86 64 (secretariat)   |   Office 120.103

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Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Gent

 

Emmelien Merchie

 

Text-based learning

Mind mapping

Late elementary education

 

 

 

My research activities focus on learning strategies that students can apply for effectively processing, acquiring, and learning text information. Working with mind maps is promising in supporting students in this domain.

Within my PhD research (2014) it was explored how elementary school students structure, process and learn text information after a large-scale intervention study wherein they worked with author-provided and student-generated mind maps or a combination of both. Also, specific learner characteristics were taken into account.

As a postdoctoral researcher, I investigated the effectiveness of professional development initiatives (project with Prof. Vanderlinde, Prof. Devos and dr. Tuytens). I also worked as a staff member at the Educational Quality Assurance Office (Ghent University).

My current postdoctoral research focusses on a) the development of validated measurement instruments to map and profile students’ text processing skills and knowledge acquisition, b) the (re-)design of educational materials wherein mind maps as worked-examples are included, c) the exploration and implementation of the innovative eye-tracking methodology to study cognitive processes when students read informative texts and mind maps for learning. I am also involved in other research projects focusing on measuring and stimulating reading comprehension in primary and secondary education. I am also a (co-)lecturer for the course ‘The teacher within school and society’ in the Specific Teacher Training Programme and ‘Integration Seminar’ in the Bachelor of Science in Educational Sciences (Ghent University).

 

Publications and conferences