It seems like everyone I meet these days is talking about the NSA - National Speakers Association - so when past president Kristin Arnold invited me to attend the Arizona Chapter meeting this week, I went for it! Kate Delaney, the Sports Princess, spoke about finding your WOW. I would boil her message down into these essential elements:
My visual notes of Kate Delaney's talk
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So, does this make me a “visual learner”? When people talk about learning styles, they often refer to people who prefer to learn from visual information (i.e., drawings, photographs, diagrams, and illustrations) and people who prefer to learn from verbal information (i.e., spoken words, written stories, and text-based instructions). Hence the suggestion of two learning styles: “visualizer” and “verbalizer”. These two styles have received a lot of attention from academic researchers, parenting journals, and Facebook quizzes, but they are only two among dozens of learning styles have been described over the years (e.g., Myers-Briggs, Kolb’s Learning Styles, Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, etc.). It seems to give people reassurance when they believe they know how they learn best. Parents are also drawn to the idea that if their children are taught in their preferred learning style, they will do better in school and go on to live more successful lives. However, the science suggests that it is not this simple (1). Educational psychologists have documented that people do indeed prefer visual or verbal information and to some degree these preferences are related to their cognitive ability with visual or verbal information (2). Scientists determine someone’s preference by giving them a quiz that asks questions like: “when you read science lab manual, do you prefer to look at the diagrams or read the text?” Once they know a person’s preferred style, they can validate that preference by offering them the choice of multiple types of information (i.e. diagrammatic or text-based help on a quiz) and determining if their choices match their preference (1). Once researchers demonstrate that people reliably prefer one type of information over another, they need to figure out if people learn better in an environment that emphasizes the type of information that they prefer (3). This distinction – switching from identifying the information I prefer to the information that helps me learn – is what separates a learning preference from a learning style. Researchers call this the “meshing hypothesis” and is the most common way to test for the existence of learning styles (4). Tests of the meshing hypothesis have come up empty-handed. Students do not score better on quizzes after they have been taught in their preferred style (5, 6). In one study, the researchers found that all learners performed slightly better on a quiz about lightning formation when they were presented with visual information, regardless of their learning preference. It seems that students can adapt to accommodate any type of information presentation. While there is not much scientific support for the meshing hypothesis, there is support for the idea that the teaching method should match the content being taught (7). For example, how effective would it be to teach:
The idea of learning styles is very compelling because it speaks to our human desire to understand ourselves and be understood. However, it is important to understand the difference between preferring visual information and learning more effectively from visual information because if you believe too strongly that you need visual information to learn, you could miss out on a lot of exciting ideas that are best described in only in words! Resources & References
Visual notes help a listener remember what a speaker says and also seem to help an audience track the flow of a presentation (more on this in an online workshop I am developing now). Drawing visual notes is a first step to developing a visual practice. When people see me work live, they often ask what materials I use for visual note-taking and graphic facilitation. This is a quick resource for people getting started with visual notes. I love taking visual notes in a sketchbook or journal while I watch TED talks online, listen to live lectures, or have coffee with friends. I typically write text and draw doodles in black marker and then add splashes of color here and there. My style and materials are constantly evolving as I gain practice and learn what works, but this is what I am doing now. Black outlines. I go back and forth between several black markers. I haven't found the best ink-nib combination, so I oscillate among four types of markers.
People who see Moline Creative work live, either working as a visual process facilitator or a visual note-taker, often ask how they can learn these skills. I always recommend these two AMAZING books for people who would like to work visually:
I have included links to purchase these books from Better World Books (a super cool online used - and new - book retailer), but you can purchase them everywhere wonderful books are sold.
VISUAL COMMUNICATION IS NOT ART. IT'S FASTER THAN ART You already know how to speak a visual language. When you were a small person, you recognized faces before you knew names. Then later, you probably started drawing before you wrote letters and words. Now you are able to fluently read faces, facial expressions, icons, logos, maps, and a thousand other types of visual language without thinking too much about it. As I just said, you are already a visual communicator. However, many adults feel that they have lost touch with their ability to speak a visual language because somewhere along the way they were forced to make a choice between being an "artist" or not being one. Most of us chose the second option. Visual communication conveys the essence of your message in drawings, sketches, icons, or clip art. If you've ever played the game Pictionary, you know that the drawings don't have to be pretty to get your message across! If you want to learn to work visually, you must set aside your inner art critic - or send her to the Met to critique works by the masters. ;) When you are starting to work visually, the most important thing you can train yourself to do is find the essential points of a story. Once you have these points, you can determine how you'll visualize them and where you need to add lines and arrows to help your audience follow your thought train. After you have those basics down on paper, you can make the presentation a bit prettier by adding color and flair.
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Angie B. Moline
Dr. Moline is an ecologist and visual process facilitator who draws pictures to help clients think. She is currently on a quest to understand why live drawings are so compelling and how to make them as sticky as possible in order to improve communication, understanding, and memory. Follow here journey here! |