Chiachi Ming is a service designer who has joined the University’s Faculty of Humanities to work on our ‘Student-centred design’ project, exploring the potential of human-centred design in Higher Education. In this blog she reflects of the power of visualisation in articulating and creating student learning journeys.

When the word ‘visualisation’ popped up, I thought of my time back in design school where it was emphasised. Visualisation in this context encompasses prototyping, fostering understanding, building consensus, enhancing clarity, and promoting inclusion. The significance of visualisation in our daily lives cannot be overstated. How can we effectively apply this practice in the context of higher education?  

When I first heard about the day-long training on visualising learning journeys in education led by Marcus de Vale, I found myself questioning what I could possibly illustrate. However, these doubts were quickly dismissed through actual practice. The possibility of communicating my thoughts through simple drawings rather than relying on words was appealing. What impact can it bring to my work engaging students to capture their voices and studying experiences? 

The training agenda sent to us prior to the session gave me a clear view of what I would learn and interact with. I liked how simple the visual language was. This approach goes beyond the theme of how to draw icons, it’s how to craft a narrative of the learning design process. The trainer started by introducing key concepts using large flipboards in the video meeting. This use of visual cues helped me to maintain focus at each stage of the training. I kept thinking about what it might look like using these small, lovely drawings as a way of communication. Perhaps the communication will evidence and maintain the continuity, much like how films have transformed the way we perceive and discuss stories, breaking them down into frame-by-frame conversation. This approach could similarly enable the learning journey to be more visible, planned, and comprehensible, even in complex scenarios. During the training, my fear of drawing imperfectly diminished through practicing drawing some regularly used icons and building a visual library with guidance. These elements led me to creating a storyboard tailored to the context of higher education and to the discussion of how the meeting might be in real life. That’s the richness of conversation that the storyboard brings. It provides a framework that enables the audience to share thoughts, recall relevant experiences, and spark meaningfu

l dialogues, which results in deeper connection and understanding. Inspired by this, I applied the visualisation approach in the agenda I provided to participants during my first co-discovery session with the Library Student Team.

Their responses highlighted the effectiveness of visual prompts in conveying ideas and hosting communication through visual metaphors in educational contexts. 

One of my main takeaways from the training is how I would like to adopt visualisation in future student engagement initiatives.The discussion I had with a peer, in which we mapped out our planned workshop journeys, allowed us to delve into the objectives of each activity and consider our audience’s feelings and potential responses. As a facilitator or a host of a workshop, we play a crucial role in encouraging participants to share and discuss, leading to the desired outcome. Visual prompts can significantly enhance this process by influencing participant engagement. Given this, I see great value in experimenting with workshop planning through visual journeys, as well as in creating visual agendas using icons and visual metaphors. Besides, drawing could be a good way to stimulate creativity, encouraging participants to visually express their ideas or thoughts. Most importantly, I would like to depict or present the visual journey to others, which might inspire productive conversations with my audience. 

Chiachi Ming, Research Associate on Student-centred Service Design projects 

School of Environment, Education and Development (SEED)

Connect with Ming on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiachiming 

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