Title: Visuality
Course: Digivisio DEMO: Planning and creating a MOOC > Section: Creating a MOOC in a virtual learning environment

When planning the visual aspects of the MOOC, you should pay particular attention to its accessibility and openness to all participants. In this context, it is advisable to stop and think about what you intend to support with visuality, and if the visual element effectively supports learning the topic in question.

You should also consider whether the visual element translates as a meaningful exercise for the learner if, for example, H5P tools, video questions, or other visual means are used to enrich the course content. Visuality is not an intrinsic value when planning MOOCs, but when successfully implemented, the added value gained from it often distinguishes MOOCs from old-fashioned correspondence courses and death by PowerPoint, especially in terms of learners’ motivation and meaningfulness of studies.

When planning visuality, you should primarily pay attention to its benefits, which are presented in the figure below.

Picture only in Finnish.

When planning the visual aspects of the course, draw up a quick list of DOs and DON’Ts for yourself to guide the creation of visuality into your MOOC. See below for an example and summary of such a list.

Make sure that the visual element you are planning scales up for use by thousands of learners, synchronously or asynchronously.
Avoid elements that require logins or other similar actions of the learners.

Keep the visual content clear and easy to understand (KISS planning: Keep It Simple Stupid).
Avoid complex figures, process diagrams, or graphs in which the content essential for learning is not immediately obvious. Also create instructions for interpreting graphs and diagrams as needed.

Take different learners into consideration by using diverse visual methods. Also find your personal strengths.
Avoid using the same visual effect continuously. While this is clear and predictable and works for some learners, for others it reduces motivation and interaction with the material.

Use interactive visual elements to encourage interaction with the learning materials.
Avoid "death by PowerPoint" and excessively large doses of information. Use visuality to break the material down into suitable portions and offer a participatory approach to the learner.

Use vector files or similar scalable file types.
Avoid low-quality, grainy or unscalable visual elements, especially in graphs and images.

Make sure you have the right to use the visual content.
Do not use visual content created by someone else without appropriate rights.

Pay attention to cultural contexts and special features.
Avoid using examples that are strongly dependent on cultural context in teaching.

Make sure that the content is accessible.
Avoid using materials with low contrast, small font sizes, and smudged text. Always add metatext to images and, if necessary, make sure that an audio description is provided.

Test, update, and continually improve the MOOC based on feedback you collect.

Visuality also supports the learning of different learners. At best, visuality activates the various learning styles of different learners and enhances the impact the content of your MOOC makes on the learner. Various interactive elements and activation features added using visual means optimally support different learners in using the same content.

See below for a video on the visual learning style. Watch the video (in English) on the topic and learn about the visual learning style and how visual elements can be used to create visuality in online studies.

An example of a YouTube video that works both as content and a visual element.

Learning style thinking and the theory of experiential learning were developed by David Kolb. To find out more, visit the website embedded below. This website together with its visual elements also serves as an example of how using different visual elements can make the content easier for the learner to absorb. Its embedding in this learning workspace is also an example of how visual means can be used to support learning.

Experiential Learning Institute

In MOOCs, you should combine visual and interactive elements to maintain and promote the learner's motivation and progress. Visual activation elements also enable different completion methods and strengthen the learner’s learning by creating repetitions and exercises alongside conventional written or audiovisual material. In particular, you should get to know H5P tools, which are also used on this page to illustrate the importance of visuality. The H5P tools are a collection of open-source tools that authors of online courses can use to create interactive, visual, and gamification elements.

An example of an interactive H5P (Image Hotspot) element as a visual element.

Visuality.h5p

HEI:

The higher education institution can give the teacher important support by selecting software needed for producing visual learning content and obtaining licences for its use. To enable the production of well-functioning and visually relevant MOOCs, it is also essential that the higher education institution organises support for the deployment of such software.

Teacher:

The teacher selects visual elements and teaching solutions for their course on pedagogical grounds. They also select the software for producing visual elements (see the higher education institution's licences) for designing and creating the course. The teacher creates and prepares the visual content and the learning paths associated with it, and makes sures that the content works. In addition, the teacher is responsible for the implementation of the visual learning elements, ensuring that they support learning and are easy for learners to understand. The teacher also provides instructions on how the visual elements should be used in each section of the course to support learning.

  Tools:

Tools for producing visual content, such as H5P tools, videos, images, websites and visual assignments, make it possible to take different learners into consideration and promote the learner's progress on the course while strengthening their engrams by means of exercises and visual presentations.

Fill in the visual aspects of your MOOC and their justifications in your pedagogical manuscript. Pay attention to at least the following:
- Do you intend to use images or videos?
- Will you create your own visual material for the course?
- Where will you search for images (for example, what free image banks are available) and videos?
- How do you plan to use them to create a motivating and welcoming learning environment for the learner?
- How will you ensure that you can support different learners through visualisation?
- How will you ensure the accessibility of visual content?

Read more:
Visuaalisuus virittää oppimismoodiin - visuaalisuus oppimisen tukena -part 1 of blog series Using Visual Elements in Online Teaching 10 Types of Visual Content You Should Use to Increase Learner Engagement (In Finnish)

References

Institute of Experiential Learning

Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning. A systematic and critical review. London: Learning and Skills Research Centre.