Where Learning Meets Design: Taking Control Of The Visual Classroom

Mercer Hall & Patricia Russac

Buckley Country Day School

Where Learning Meets Design: Taking Control Of The Visual

Classroom

NAIS Annual Conference March 3, 2017mhall@buckleycountryday.com prussac@buckleycountryday.com

Co-founders of The American Society For Innovation Design In EducationtheASIDEblog.blogspot.com @theASIDEblog

All of the resources, videos, and links for

today’s presentation can be found at:

visualclassroom.strikingly.com

© ASIDE 2017

The contemporary world is flooded with visual interfaces

Sources: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/files/2013/01/social-world.png http://www.digithun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/the-world-of-social-media-2011-to-2012-1.jpg http://dcustom.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/d-custom-friday-five-visual-world.jpg

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Learning lives in a world of pictures

Source: Xenia Danos, “Graphicacy And Culture”

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How many of our courses incorporate – or require – visual content?

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Targeted instruction in visual content is essential

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The brain is predisposed to visual inputs

Source: Ethos3; http://www.ethos3.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/VISUAL-INFOGRAPHIC-2.jpg

© ASIDE 2017

Visuals increase the level of engagement

Source: SyneCore Tech, Jordan Bruhn, https://visual.ly/importance-visual-content

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Students can learn via linear or visual means

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The power of visualizations & visual tools

Source: Column Five Media

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Pictographs developed from communication

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Modern life communicates in icons

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Language has returned to symbolic texts

Shakespeare, The Bible

Sumer, Cuneiform iPhones, Emoji

600 B.C. 2017 A.D.

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Do our current cultural symbols make intuitive sense?

Or do they have to be taught?

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Does the use of visuals decrease over time?

Source: Tommy McCall, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZvsZtUfQQs

Level Of Education

Use

Of G

raph

ics

Grade School College

Low

High

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To communicate is to engage the student

Source: ASIDE 2012; Tommy McCall, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZvsZtUfQQs

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Graphicacy deals with visual language

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Graphicacy is about understanding & inventing

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Graphicacy marries visual decoding & encoding

GraphicacyVisual Literacy

Decodingseeing, identifying, and

deconstructing for meaning

Visual ThinkingEncoding

putting ideas together to create a visual representation

DesignLearning

Communication

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“What Is Graphicacy?”

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Design helps internalize inputs & stimuli

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Mental connections increase retention

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Visual content follows an ARC

Source: Column Five

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“Reading” an image follows discrete, analytical steps

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For example, political cartoons require analysis

Source: Wikimedia Commons

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A “circle” is translated via equations & letters

Source: Xenia Danos, “Graphicacy And Culture”

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What makes a good visualization?

Source: David McCandless, Knowledge Is Beautiful; http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/what-makes-a-good-data-visualization/

© ASIDE 2017

PowerPoint is a means, not an end

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Design taps into the visual cortex:66% of stimuli reaching the brain are visual

(Zaltman 1996)50% of the brain is devoted to processing

visual images (Bates & Cleese 2001)80% of learning is visually based (American

Optometric Assoc. 1991)Source: Sebastian Gutierrez, Introduction To Data Visualization, General Assembly, 2014

© ASIDE 2017

Design taps into the visual cortex

of stimuli reaching the brain are visual (Zaltman 1996)

of the brain is devoted

to processing visual images (Bates & Cleese 2001)

of learning is visually

based

(Amer. Optometric Assoc. 1991)

Source: Sebastian Gutierrez, Introduction To Data Visualization, General Assembly, 2014

66%

50%

80%

© ASIDE 2017

Do you like this table design?

Source: https://speakerdeck.com/cherdarchuk/clear-off-the-table

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Or do you prefer this table?

Source: https://speakerdeck.com/cherdarchuk/clear-off-the-table

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Each application relies on meaning & relationships

Source: ASIDE 2014

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The benefits of design solve problems

Source: Wells Riley

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Simple tools & techniques can aid understanding

Source: http://splitcomplementary.blogspot.com/2012/08/new-and-improved-elements-and.html

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Essential questions in creating materials

✍ Prior knowledge required?✍ Frequency of usage?

Purpose

Audience

Format

Source: Sebastian Gutierrez, Introduction To Data Visualization, General Assembly, 2014

✍ Overall goal of the material?✍ Desired takeaways?

✍ Print or electronic?✍ Color or B&W?✍ Guided or unguided?

© ASIDE 2017Source: Canva, “Quick Tips For Great Design,” https://designschool.canva.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/10/Tips-and-Tricks-for-Great-Design.pdf

Emphasis Font Hue

Layout Balance

Every handout makes a design choice

© ASIDE 2017

Example: This Infographic Captures The 5 Tips

Source: http://file.designdb.com/editor/53/30867220120430130513.jpg

© ASIDE 2017

ContextFraming

Information

Visual RelationshipsPerspectiveQuestioning

Problem-solving

Example: Sketchnotes

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Sketchnotes

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Student Examples: Landmark Blueprints

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Student Examples: Nifty Notes

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Student Examples: Community Maps

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Student Examples: Kenya Infographics

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Student Examples: Magazine Covers

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Student Examples: Neolithic D-TEAMS

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Student Examples: Immigration Data Graphs

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Student Examples: Election Radar Graphs

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Student Examples: Explainer Videos

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Thinking like a designer can change the way people learn

All educators make visual choices – in each lesson, handout, test, slide, or room layout

The world of information is increasingly optical in its media, inputs, and registries

Visual literacy leads to visual thinking, which creates a bridge from decoding to encoding

Instruction can employ visual techniques, just as learning can benefit from visual skills

Questions or Ideas? Please contact us:

mhall@buckleycountryday.comTwitter: @BCDS_History_78

prussac@buckleycountryday.comTwitter: @BCDS_History_56