First, let me fix a little bit your declaration:
List<Map<String, List<String>>> listOfMapOfList =
new HashList<Map<String, List<String>>>();
Please pay attention that I used concrete class (HashMap) only once. It is important to use interface where you can to be able to change the implementation later.
Now you want to add element to the list, don't you? But the element is a map, so you have to create it:
Map<String, List<String>> mapOfList = new HashMap<String, List<String>>();
Now you want to populate the map. Fortunately you can use utility that creates lists for you, otherwise you have to create list separately:
mapOfList.put("mykey", Arrays.asList("one", "two", "three"));
OK, now we are ready to add the map into the list:
listOfMapOfList.add(mapOfList);
BUT:
Stop creating complicated collections right now! Think about the future: you will probably have to change the internal map to something else or list to set etc. This will probably cause you to re-write significant parts of your code. Instead define class that contains you data and then add it to one-dimentional collection:
Let's call your class Student (just as example):
public Student {
private String firstName;
private String lastName;
private int studentId;
private Colectiuon<String> courseworks = Collections.emtpyList();
//constructors, getters, setters etc
}
Now you can define simple collection:
Collection<Student> students = new ArrayList<Student>();
If in future you want to put your students into map where key is the studentId, do it:
Map<Integer, Student> students = new HashMap<Integer, Student>();