{"id":445,"date":"2017-02-16T00:17:13","date_gmt":"2017-02-16T00:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/?p=445"},"modified":"2017-02-16T00:30:50","modified_gmt":"2017-02-16T00:30:50","slug":"what-youve-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/2017\/02\/16\/what-youve-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"What you&#8217;ve learned"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445?print=pdf\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-pdf\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/pdf.png\" alt=\"image_pdf\" title=\"View PDF\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445?print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div><p>One of my favorite in class writing assignments is to ask students to tell me what they know. Typically I do this around the mid-point of the term to find out what is sticking and what areas we may need to go over a little more.<\/p>\n<p>I am always surprised at these brief in class writings because they highlight big and small what has been going well in class and what hasn&#8217;t been going so well. This particular class is a &#8220;crossover course,&#8221; which means that has both undergrads and grads in it. This type of course is particularly challenging to teach and as a production course (that has no prereqs), the technology aspect adds another layer too. Thus, it&#8217;s important to find out where the students stand in their learning.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a list of some of things that students wrote that they have learned:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can tell multiple stories in several different ways <strong>from just one set of data&#8230;<\/strong>(emphasis the students)<\/li>\n<li>While part of the course is learning what effective information design is, we are also learning how to apply it.<\/li>\n<li>Yau gave me an appreciation for just how murky the working definition of \u201cdata\u201d can be<\/li>\n<li>How will the data show this point (You first have to make sure you understand the data, and it does what you say it does. You can\u2019t manipulate it in a way that falsifies information)?<\/li>\n<li>The basics of creating an infographic. I have learned what kinds of charts NOT to use and when certain charts are acceptable.<\/li>\n<li>I think the biggest takeaway that I\u2019ve gotten so far from this class is learning about the story that data has to tell. Nathan Yau\u2019s <u>Data Points: Visualization that Means Something <\/u>really put that into perspective for me. The way he related a data set to a photographer\u2019s photos of a wedding helped me visualize the power of data. He compared one picture to a data point and the whole wedding album to a data set. It made me realize how important it is to look at individual data points <em>and<\/em> data sets.<\/li>\n<li>We learned the importance of planning and process in effective project management.<\/li>\n<li>the psychology behind why we are attracted to certain layouts, fonts, colors, etc.<\/li>\n<li>audience analysis helps to guide what info to include and how to display it. always be aware of what medium your info will be presented on and plan accordingly<\/li>\n<li>the importance of tailoring your argument to suit the audience<\/li>\n<li>feeling more comfortable with data and analysis. 9I&#8217;m more of a visual person so I&#8217;ve had to work on balancing them both.)<\/li>\n<li>[information] must be designed to enhance the way the human mind works&#8230;requires a fluid and iterative design process<\/li>\n<li>how it is important to understand the order we navigate and present visual documents<\/li>\n<li>let the data speak for itself and let that data guide and inspire you throughout the process, especially when it comes to how you will be presenting it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And a number of students pointed to the technical skills of learning photoshop and other tools; specific points about different readings such as color, typography, cognitive processing, CRAP, and personas; notes on learning more about how to research and find good information.<\/p>\n<p>All in all, from a teacher perspective, this &#8220;tell me what you know&#8221; was insightful to show that the students are picking up a great deal!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of my favorite in class writing assignments is to ask students to tell me what they know. Typically I do this around the mid-point of the term to find out what is sticking and what areas we may need to go over a little more. I am always surprised at these brief in class &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/2017\/02\/16\/what-youve-learned\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;What you&#8217;ve learned&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":446,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445\/revisions\/446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writeprofessionally.org\/info-design-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}