Visual literacy is here and now. I suspect that it’s a combination of the present emphasis upon multi-media stimulation, and our ageless fascination with visual stimulus. Let’s face it. Regardless of whether or not one considers oneself to be a ‘visual’ learner, who isn’t inspired by a one-in-a-lifetime sunset on top of an isolated mountain range???
For now, let’s focus in on everyday lessons. When you seek to inspire students, how specifically do you use visual stimulii? Seriously, how much do you avail yourself of the eye candy of learning?? Brightly coloured whiteboard markers? Massive charts? Sharp punchy videos? A series of inspiring images?? And hopefully, with many of those images coming straight out of your own digital camera…ie the one that just travelled overseas; or into the depths of your own community.
I’m challenging myself to use more and more images in my lessons (with kids) and with my facilitations (with older kids ie YOU). And my blunt observation is: The more images (and the fewer words) that I use, the more engaged are the audience.
One day (and not too far away), I’m going to facilitate a classroom lesson that exclusively uses images. And around the same time, I’ll do the same with a conference keynote. That’s my challenge for the next few months. More visual. Less text.
And don’t get me ‘wrong’ here. I love language. Really does it for me. Makes me tingle, I assure you. I’m just very intrigued by what advances deep learning. And a distinct sign of the times is that it will occur more frequently when we employ the visual. So what could YOU do to enhance the visual literacy in your teachings??
Just to add a whiff of intrigue to the visual of life, let’s have a look at Harris Burdick. The illustration up above is one of his. The lead title is ‘The Seven Chairs.’ The sub-title is: ‘The fifth chair ended up in France.’ Magic. A delicious narrative behind it all, I can tell you. Thanks to Joan Dalton for putting me on to this. I can guarantee that these images will be used in my next writing lesson with ANY age group. I’ll simply adjust to suit the maturity.
You can find all of the images here. I’ve already profiled these images to people of all ages. And the responses are invariably very creative. So here’s the deep spirit stuff again. Some gifted individuals such as this guy just seem to align with something that draws out the best in the rest of us. Perhaps you’re one of them. In your very next lesson. Of life.
U-Learning twitterings
Just returned from one of the best conferences you’ll find anywhere on the planet. It’s called U-Learn, and it alternates each October between Christchurch and Auckland over in beautiful NZ. Enthusiastic attendees, quality presentations, top organisation….. and a sensational conference dinner. World class, I assure you.
So many great learnings on my part. People think that they learn from me when I’m presenting (well, hopefully they do, to some degree at least). Yet I find that I learn heaps as well. From questions in the groups; to the post-workshop discussions with attendees; to sitting on buses and talking with other facilitators (thank you Pete. Your mobile phone lessons sound superb).
Here are a couple of my observations / learnings:
* During one of the keynotes, I sat with Greg Gebhart, a very talented Aussie. Worth reading up on him, by the way, especially if you want some superb support on being netsafe. Greg intro-ed me to Twitter, and although I already knew about it, I hadn’t yet made the effort to use it. I’ve gotta tell ya….I was intrigued by the applications…. and unsettled by some of the downsides.
With Twitter, you send short sharp punchy text messages (to a max of 140 characters), and tell others what you are doing (or thinking) right at that time. I watched it being used by a portion of a crowd of 1700 people, during a keynote presentation. The twitters ranged from ‘This guy’s entertaining’, to ‘Clap, clap now!’. A form of non-verbal collective consciousness.
Somewhere in the near-future, I’m going to work out a way of utilizing Twitter, either in a presentation, or even with a class lesson. F’instance, I could ask for questions / comments / perspectives on what I had expounded, and flash them up on the screen. Would be interesting with a group of 14-year-olds, given their frequent non-capacity to ask questions in front of their peers.
Downsides? Too much of the twittering tends to become a little shallow in substance; and certainly does not add to the sum total of intellectual human capital. Given that, here are two further ideas in terms of this twitter process:
1. The first person who starts up a twitter needs to make a comment that is intellectual sound (especially if it’s a comment from a teacher!!). This may then set the pattern for all others who follow.
2. Does it really work best to continually twitter during a talk from someone? The Buddhist elders probably wouldn’t be impressed with the lack of attention being paid to the speaker. Instead, perhaps we could have a barrage of reflective comments right at the end, replete with ratings and constructive comments.
Now. Here’s my challenge for the far future (ie 3 to 5 years from now). Some US companies are presently in the early stages of developing a vast array of ‘neuro-devices’ ie technology that can enhance our thinking capacity. As a example, a form of Brain Cap already exists, and can be worn while playing a video game. As a user, you can train your brain to send signals that move the images on the computer screen.
Within 5 years (my prediction), we’ll be able to send rudimentary thoughts to other Brain Cap wearers (whew. Just imagine the privacy regulations we’ll need to implement).
However, link this in with Twitter, and what do we have?? An astonishing new process for teachers to receive continuous feedback from students on the effectiveness of their lesson. I think this is called ‘network-enabled telepathy’.
Perhaps this will eventually become the first form of tangible human collective consciousness, in which we can telepathically engage with any or all others who are wearing the Brain Caps. Now I’m getting deep!
Anyway, this is where my thinking goes, when I attend great conferences such as U-Learn. Just goes to show how important it is to continually stimulate your intellect (depending on where it goes!!?).