...but does that mean I am a creative girl?! (anyone know that material girl song? that's what song I was imagining while writing that)
We are SO blessed to have sight. Sometimes I daydream, often while taking walks about how amazing our senses are. Once I lost my taste and smell from using zicam, dont buy that stuff. I prayed that if God gave me my senses back I would never use zicam again and I havent. While I really enjoy all five senses, we are going to think about one in particular for this post in light of creativity in visual design and learning.
Do you guys ever think about stuff like that?! We live in a beautiful world. Every day we wake up (if it is early enough haha) to splashes of pink, red, orange, yellow, and blue and see the world go to sleep in the same way. Grass turns green and soft, or brown and hard. The leaves on trees are either green or have eye catching warm colors on them, or they are absent. We can see different shapes and colors of clouds.
What do all those descriptions teach us? So much- about the weather, about the seasons, and about the temperature..
The majority of people were created to be highly visual individuals. We learn so much by our sight. Not all of us necessarily prefer to learn visually but as educators we need to be knowledgable about both how we learn, and how our audience learns.
What kind of learner are you?- Visual? Auditory? Kinesthetic?
We're going to focus on visual learners.
For one minute, reflect on how much you know from visual cues, images, pictures, etc. Ready, Set, Go!!!
What did you write down? We learn so much through our eyes.
- 80% of the brain is dedicated to visual processing.
- Visual processing is not new, its part of our history.
- Written language originated from drawing and sketching.
Now for a minute draw a couple things that you have learned visually? What did you draw?
In light of being an educator, designer, does one have to be a super creative person that knows exactly what colors and shapes will look good, for what purposes, etc?
I found this PPT and was definitely encouraged by it. Please go check it out.
We are a lot more creative and visual than we think out on a daily basis. Dont take your sight for granted. Be thankful for it!
I agree that of all the senses I would prefer to keep my sight. I enrolled in a communications seminar a few years ago and discovered that I was a 90% visual and 10% auditory learner. The implications of this information really struck me because I never understood how my recall for tests was excellent if I read the material but not so good if I only used verbal cues. I learned very early in my career to always have a pad with me to take notes if I met with top executives so that I could get it right the first time. Have you ever noticed how some folks are able to recall conversations word for word while others “paraphrase” what they thought was said? I would have to say they were auditory oriented. I really envy those folks but I’ve learned to write, tape or video those situations in order to have a level playing field if recall became necessary. This allows my to visually take in the non-verbal visual clues that are sometimes more important and telling then the verbal ones.
ReplyDeleteOne other aspect that grabs me is the use of humor and parallels to other situations that only visual representations can give to us. If you glance at the picture of the horse in our text (Malamed, p. 220), there is the analogy that a horse is similar to a race car. All the parts of a car are described internally for the horse to include shock absorbers. Now, I can go on for 5 pages trying to describe this really cool depiction while you attempt to envision my feeble attempt to enlighten you about this concept. Or, you can turn to page 220 and in 5 seconds grasp most of what this paragraph is about. The power of visualization at work!
This class has been difficult for me because I don't consider myself a creative individual and I am not a visual learner. I am more auditory and bodily/kinesthetic. It has been a big learning curve for me to think about the way I teach and create visuals to support learning from the framework of visual literacy. (Just ask Elaine, I'm basically visually illiterate)
ReplyDeleteI think it is important as future teachers and trainers to know yourself as learners and as John said, what is best for you to "get it right the first time". For me that entails a lot more auditory communication than visual communication.
That being said, we are moving into a technology-based work environment in a lot of ways. Visual literacy will be imperative to success in the workplace regardless of the type of work we are doing. Thinking and learning about visual literacy and visual learners has helped me understand how I myself learn and helped me to become a better teacher. :)
I like to think of myself as a creative individual, but I'm not as creative as I think. I would say I am more visually oriented, though I worked in radio for 8 years and have learned to be more auditory oriented. I think in education is important that we all work together, with our various learning styles, so that in our collaboration those that we are educating benefit. There are many changes coming in education, as we come to terms with how the internet will effect the post-industrial educational system and how creativity should play a role: Google blogger extraordinaire Jeff Jarvis on his blog BuzzMachine.com has this to say about the "Google-age", education, and creativity: "Why shouldn’t every university – every school – copy Google’s 20% rule, encouraging and enabling creation and experimentation, every student expected to make a book or an opera or an algorithm or a company. Rather than showing our diplomas, shouldn’t we show our portfolios of work as a far better expression of our thinking and capability? The school becomes not a factory but an incubator."
ReplyDeleteI really liked the Powerpoint that Sarah posted, especially the tips at the end for increasing creativity. I am fortunate, not only to have my senses of seeing and hearing, but also to have a job where I get to be creative everyday. I feel that some are blessed with more creative skills than others, but that isn't to say that people cannot learn to be creative. It definitely comes with practice, even for those that are "creative". Everyone of us is more creative than we think, not everything we create will be great, especially in the beginning, but with time it will start to show.
I am a strong visual learner, but prefer to have the hands on activity to go along with it. Creativly? what I "see" in my mind is never close to what appears on print, unless I spend hours thinking and playing with it. For example, the instructional poster we are doing. Sarah and I came up with the basic layout, but I knew what I wanted for the effect, and it took me hours of playing and fidgeting with the poster for the "ah ha - that's IT" to pop into my head. I hope as my practice time and experience increases, more of my visual creativity will be more fluent. I am in awe of people that can "throw together" a design or poster or what have you just by "playing" around. This past project I have learned to become more comfortable with Photoshop and have created some neat things while trying to get my poster to where I want it.
ReplyDeleteTo answer Sarah's question if I have ever thought about which sense I would "prefer" lose and the answer is yes, I have thought about it, but have never come to a decision. I too am truly blessed to have all of my senses.
This class has showed me that I am not creative at all! I get the work done but it’s not as pretty or as creative as others. I consider myself to be more of a kinesthetic and auditory learner. I have to say it’s hard for me to create posters and do the web activities we have for this class. I can’t think of “cool” ways to draw or “cool” ideas just don’t occur to me. The Power Point was interesting and even though most of the myths the presentation had apply to me, I still think they are true and not just a myth. I also agree that the visual sense is one of the most important senses we have. Due to the experiences that I’ve gone through, I couldn’t imagine not being able to see.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteIf you recall, I said at the beginning of class that I did not feel that I was a very creative person. After reading your post and viewing the links you provided, I felt quite a bit more confidence in my ability to be creative and to recognize things visually.
This class has been a tremendous help for me and it has brought me back to a place where I am able to see the beauty in the world around. I have fallen into that mind set that I had such a strong focus on everything I need to do and do not take the time to reflect on the beauty around us.
Thanks so much for sharing! Jackie