I argue: Visuals play a crucial role in digital learning

In ELM’s "I argue" series, Professor Mie Buhl asserts that visuals are highly influential in digital learning environments, profoundly impacting cognitive development and social capacity within learning practices. The new series of columns, "I argue," features texts written by researchers, each presenting a well-argued statement on a topic of their research.

Visuals permeate educational environments, from boardrooms to kindergarten classrooms. They manifest themselves through PowerPoint slides, digital interfaces and physical learning spaces.

In today’s digital age, technology has expanded the scope of visual practices. It has reshaped how knowledge is accessed and absorbed, for example through learning platforms, YouTube channels, but also as more subtle elements in the communication of information, commercialisation, and entertainment. Yet visuals’ central role in learning practices is often overlooked.

Visuals’ central role in learning practices is often overlooked.

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), digital data is undergoing a transformation into fictional visuals, diverging from (re)presentations of real-life experiences, thereby introducing novel elements into visual culture and infiltrating educational environments. This underscores the importance of actively addressing the potential drawbacks of not engaging with visuals proactively.

WHY DO I ARGUE that we should dive deeper into visuals? Why not let them serve their communicative purpose undisturbed? Why argue for an active use of visualisations in learning practices?

My answer lies in the untapped potential of visuals to extend the depth and understanding of learning content. By strategically utilising visual elements, we can enhance learning, whether it takes place in remote or traditional settings, whether it is organised in online, blended or hybrid formats.

My answer lies in the untapped potential of visuals to extend the depth and understanding of learning content.

But what exactly constitutes visual knowledge generation?

FIRSTLY, IT INVOLVES purposeful (re)presentations across various domains of knowledge. Secondly, it encompasses the spatial and temporal organisation of interactive processes. Lastly, it integrates blended practices that leverage visual production as a tool for investigation.

Visuality serves as a catalyst for diverse knowledge practices, enabling learners to:

• Understand and contextualise verbal and numerical communication.
• Explore ethical and moral concepts that arise in social contexts.
• Model scientific phenomena.
• Facilitate creative processes in craft, design and laboratory work.
• Interpret the world through artistic expression.
• Generate and document scientific empirical data.
• Organise temporal and spatial interactions across different learning formats.

But how do visuals function within these knowledge practices?

• They support the comprehension of the learning content.
• They expand the comprehension of the learning content.
• They provoke critical engagement through contradiction.
• They enhance presentations but must avoid being mere decoration, devoid of educational value.

Visuals truly come alive in situations critical to knowledge generation when they are used as thinking tools in processes such as innovation and co-creation. Furthermore, they guide learners through decoding and meaning-making phases when employed as learning aids. Decoding visual information demands the ability to discern contexts and interpret visual choices, while meaning-making involves selecting, producing, and applying visuals effectively.

SO, WHY PRIORITISE visuals in learning practices?

• They render subject-specific knowledge tangible.
• They make problem identification and solutions concrete.
• They enhance accessibility and understanding of learning content.

To maximise the educational impact of visuals, I recommend the following should be considered:

• Tailor visual content to align with learning objectives and target audiences.
• Establish clear design principles, whether for lectures, peer-to-peer discussions or problem-based projects.
• Determine the purpose of visualisations at different stages of learning.
• Optimise visualisation practices to support, expand or challenge learning content.

MY CONCLUSION IS that visual elements are not just decoration in the pedagogical landscape, but can empower learning towards deeper understanding and engagement, as well as connect to personal and collective work-life experiences through their concretising power.

By embracing the visual as an integral part of learning design and practice in digital learning environments, we pave the way for utilising the transformative learning experiences of visual elements, enhancing learners’ knowledge generation.