Using Visual Mapping to Communicate Connections Between Learning Outcomes and Student Tasks

Abstract

Visual mapping is a method of presenting course material in a visual format to aid comprehension. This paper looks at applications of visual mapping in post-secondary courses to engage university students more deeply from the very beginning of a course, through creating visuals to which students can be constantly referred. We discuss our efforts to design visuals of learning outcomes, objectives, concepts, and processes in multiple courses. We will highlight the process we used to build the graphics and keyways these graphics improve the communication and understanding of learning outcomes, content, themes, and processes, primarily via knowledge visualization and visual perceptual learning. We also discuss sharing our discoveries with colleagues to help further develop our understanding of this approach.