Plot the beginning of the first class

How would our conversations in universities change if we used images to communicate more? What insights would we gain? Can we – I – get over the barrier of an internal voice which says, ‘I can’t draw’? These are all questions which I brought to the visualising learning journeys Humanities summer training day, led by Marcus de Vale.  

The workshop began by introducing the basics of drawing shapes, containers, and connectors, including icons that might be particularly useful when we visualise learning journeys. We looked at different ways of using drawing, for example, collaboratively with other educators or students as part of a design process or using visualisation to communicate anticipated learning journeys to students on a course unit or programme, or even as part of a review or evaluation.  

One idea that felt particularly productive to me was learning the difference between plot and storyline. Marcus described how we might default to thinking about the plot of a learning journey – so more like the events along the way, the activities, and anchor points. To develop this, he asked us to draw a storyboard with the plot of a learning journey. Since I am in the process of designing the revised Humanities New Academics Programme (HNAP), I drew a plot for the first session. In this, I drew icons of people sat in groups, an introduction and instruction from an educator at the front of the room, a discussion, an announcement from the lead educator, them answering questions, and a break for coffee at the end. This activity prompted me to consider how people would experience and respond to the HNAP session, leading me to make some changes.  

Story – people arrive

Rather than starting with people sat in groups, I had them arriving as individuals with their own emotions and preoccupations: a lack of interest, frustration about having to be there, uncertainty about what they would be doing. This is a really different place to start a learning journey, and focused my thinking on how I might design a more welcoming way of arriving and settling into the session.  

Story – no shared language

The discussion icon of my storyboard plot became people talking in different languages in the story. This again reminded me that participants in the first HNAP session are not likely to have a shared language or existing relationships of trust. They will have all sorts of different experiences of education through being learners and educators in different countries and disciplines. They will have different passions, hopes, and fears. Drawing the story created real clarity for me about some of the challenges I will face designing this session. 

Story – coffee break

The final insight I want to highlight is about the coffee break. When I originally drew this in the storyboard, I highlighted the relief a coffee break can bring. Although on reflection, for some coffee breaks can be uncomfortable, as people may feel they should socialise with others they don’t yet know. Drawing this in my storyboard plot also called my attention to how some people use coffee breaks to check emails which might distract them and draw their attention away from the next activity of the day. 

My storyboard and the insights that it inspired are all based on personal experience but are still my assumptions. Nevertheless, I found them very useful prompts for further developing the design of my HNAP introductory session. I am planning to use this approach when I work with others, to surface and test our respective assumptions. Drawing learning journeys doesn’t yet feel natural to me and I will need to remind myself to employ this technique. It is though something I will certainly continue to experiment with. 

Sarah Dyer, Manchester Institute of Education

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