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FLC: Visual Learning and Thinking

The Center for Teaching and Learning will be offering FLCs during the 2014-15 Academic Year. Participating in an FLC requires a commitment to meet together 5-6 times (about every 2-3 weeks) over the course of a semester. In most cases, FLCs work over a two-semester period. In addition to the meetings, participants will read, collaborate, and make progress on individual projects between meetings. Each participant will actively contribute as responders, facilitators, peer reviewers and experts in selected areas of teaching and learning. Faculty should consider their other professional commitments before applying.


2014-2015: Registration for this faculty learning community is closed!

Facilitator: Dr. April Fugett, COLA/Psychology

What are the merits of teaching with visual materials, or of asking students to produce arguments in a visual vernacular or to visualize intractable concepts with the mind’s eye? What visual technologies and resources (analog or digital) are available locally and globally? How might one’s own teaching practice be improved through the strategic practice of visual thinking?

Members of this FLC will first work toward arriving at a new and unexpected perspective on a well-worn teaching problem, dilemma or question through visual means. Reflection on that process will drive individual or cooperative projects that enable members to 1) investigate the cognitive benefits of visualization and 2) experiment with classroom pedagogies and resources related to visual thinking, including infographics, Prezi, sketch notes/visual notes, conceptual structures, TED Talks, pixilation, coordinate axes, GIS mapping, Pixton and other similar “comics” apps, word clouds, the fine arts as metaphor, mental doodling  & visual minute papers, etc. The learning community will also consider the different contexts in which visual methods are used in classes and in scholarly work in general, and disseminate the results of the FLC’s individual and collaborative work. 

VLT FLC Schedule: September 8 & 22, October 6 & 27, November 10, and December 1 (2:00 pm – 4:00 pm) | OM 109 – Teaching Commons