Don’t give me pretty graphics…
Many people think graphics are solely about aesthetics, making it pretty. Graphics communicate meaning, the same way words communicate meaning when you speak or write. In fact some of the human race’s earliest recorded communications were graphics.
Learning people should be especially attune to the power of graphics
Why? Because our brains are wired for the visual. Research has demonstrated our memory is able to recall visuals better than text. This phenomenon has it’s own name: the pictorial superiority effect (PSE). Richard Medina sites studies that show when information is presented orally, people remember about 10% when tested 72 hours later. If you add graphics that figure goes up to 65% . (234, Brain Rules) I would qualify that the types of graphics referred to here are “meaningful” ie: the graphic is an integral part of the message not just making it pretty.
What learning person doesn’t want to increase learner retention?
Research suggests we should use more visuals for better learner retention. But what types of visuals?
Types of Graphics
Instructional graphics fall into one five basic categories, see the work of J.R. Levin. (85, Knowledge Acquisition from Text and Pictures)
| Category | Function |
| Decorative | The pretty…sometimes used to gain the attention of the learner. |
| Representational | Provides the same information as the text. These graphics make the text more concrete. Ex. screen captures blueprints… |
| Organizational | Provides structure and hierarchy of information to help learners understand and process information. Ex. tables, organizational charts… |
| Interpretive | Clarifies difficult or ambiguous content or illustrates relationships. Ex. system models, flow charts of a process, animations… |
| Transformational | Develops a visual mnemonics or analogy. Ex. animation of an atom where the proton and neurons have names and personalities and describe their job in the atom. |
Examples of Types of Graphics
Decorative:
Representational
Note: Both examples of a Decorative and Representational graphic come from a wonderful educational (Smithsonian) site African Voices that is worth exploring. The site itself contains examples of many types of instructional graphics and interactives.
Organizational
The chart text here is a little difficult to read as an image, but it shows positive and negative traits associated with the color orange, cultural connotations of the color, how the color is made, it’s relationship on the color wheel and more – all in a chart! The graphic comes from Colors in Motion.
Interpretive
See slightly better resolution image in the post Crude Awakenings . I selected this example as a non-interactive graphic because it shows how a graphic can tell a story and impart factual information. The site referencing the piece e-Learning Examples is a great resource for inspiring interactive graphics.
Transformational
I selected Peter Packet as an example of a Transformational graphic. Peter Packet is a visual metaphor for understanding how data is transferred across the internet. The dangers of cyberspace are personified viruses, hackers, etc… as well as essential hardware routers and servers. Peter Packet adds a game layer on top of the graphic layer. It’s a really clever way to make abstract concepts understandable (yes, I actually learned something here and enjoyed playing this one with my kids!).
Call To Action
We should always be looking for ways to incorporate graphics into the learning materials we create, especially organizational, interpretive and transformational graphics. These graphics increase a learner’s ability make sense of new information, concepts and skills.
Unfortunately, the research tells us we aren’t doing this very well. Richard Mayer’s survey of text books found the overwhelming majority of images missed the opportunity to provide meaning or structure. The results:
“From this kind of analysis I conclude that the potential power of graphics is not being met.” (77, Multimedia Learning). I doubt a survey of learning presentations (online or classroom) would yield any better results. Meanwhile the use of visual thinking, visual management, data visualization and infographics is increasing in the both the media and business.
Can I make your learning material prettier?
Yes, but I would prefer to make it more meaningful. How can we challenge ourselves to incorporate more meaningful graphics into our learning environments?
Designing for Limited Memory
In a series of posts I want to connect the importance of understanding how our brains work with some of Richard Mayer’s findings on how to best design for multimedia delivery…keeping the posts accessible for those who haven’t read his work.
Working memory, sometimes referred to as short term memory, is the intake desk of our brain. As new information is presented your brain attempts to make meaning of the information using your working memory. The problem we face in communicating is that our working memory is limited.
We’ve all had the experience of reading a really long complex sentence. By the time you get to the end of such a sentence there is a good chance you’ve forgotten the beginning of the sentence. You’re forced to go back to the beginning of the sentence in a second attempt at making meaning of such a sentence. When this happens it’s an example of working memory overload in action!
Exactly how information makes its way successfully from our working memory to our long term memory (the permanent brain storage for information, knowledge and experiences) is a question education folks and others have pondered for a long time. Information makes it to long term memory via “encoding” and, or repetition. Encoding is the process of new information linking to our existing mental model for understanding a topic. There are lots of ways to assist in the encoding of information, providing relevant context, chunking, organization of information, analogies, imagery, etc… But, what I want to focus on is:
1) Working memory is limited
2) Working memory has a two separate channels – visual and auditory (verbal)
21st Century Skills
This is more a drive home thought than a full blown post. I was thinking about what it takes for career success in today’s work environment, two contrasting skills came to me: self-directed and collaborative.
Self-directed, the ability to see a need, take ownership (or proceed with minimal supervision) and solve the problem. Self-directed in your learning about the problem or learning of additional skills to solve the problem.
Collaborative, reaching out to others to develop the best ideas, for support in areas where you are not the expert, bringing together the right mixture of people to provide insights.
For career success today one must be both self-directed and collaborative.
What other 21st century skills make for a successful careers?