The aim of this workshop is to analyse and critique visual media as modes of production, representation and communication by considering how best to implement these within a teaching and learning context where intention to deploy visualisation is an educational stance.
Visual analysis and critique will be centred around three themes: picturing your discipline, picturing society and the environment, and visual research methods. The first theme encourages students to reflect on the use of visual information in their disciplines to promote understanding through content visualisation. The second theme focuses on fostering citizenship by considering the intersection between visual representation and the socio-cultural context of image proliferation. The final theme focuses on visual research methods for pedagogical research. Educators have a role to play in designing thoughtful interventions that recognise the explicit and implicit representation and communication that visual media produce.
Two methods will be demonstrated at this workshop:
1.Visual scaffolding for teaching and learning using Project MUSE (Harvard) gallery curators and educators collaborating to make thinking visible https://pz.harvard.edu/projects/project-muse. MUSE's developing learning tools and educational approaches feature three foci: a) Inquiry: posing open-ended questions without right or wrong answers; b) Access: appealing to a wide range of learners; and c) Reflection: providing opportunities for thinking about one's own thinking (metacognition).
2.Visual scaffolding for teaching and learning using Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) https://vtshome.org/: a problem-solving process assisting students to cultivate an ability to present their own ideas.
The workshop's stance is that educators can benefit from understanding how to decipher images in order to discern their meaning, contextual production and audience reception. These are analytical skills for learning transfer that will remain relevant in the context of education and Artificial Intelligence. Educators can benefit from understanding visual thinking strategies that make thinking visible.