MCOM 210 Visual Communication - Bowey

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About This Article

This article describes how mobile computing, specifically tablets, was piloted in Professor James Bowey's MCOM 210 - Visual Communication to transform teaching and learning.

Intended Audience

WSU instructors interested in past faculty experience with tablet devices in the classroom.

Fall 2012 iPad Pilot

All students in this course received iPad 2 tablets to use throughout the fall semester.

How the iPads are Used in MCOM 210

In MCOM 210, Professor Bowey teaches the theory of communicating through two-dimensional designs. Designs are studied for their communicative properties by applying theories like visual literacy, semiotics, and symbolism. These designs can include graphics, text, typography, or traditional art media. While the course teaches the theory of visual communication, Professor Bowey states that a main objective of the course is bridging the chasm between visual theory and the actual practice of communicating effectively. This is where the iPads are put to work. Because of the iPad’s innate ease of use and the flexibility of the applications, the psychological barriers around drawing, painting, or using any artistic media fall away. It is the removal of this artistic paralysis that makes the connection between theory and practice attainable for the students. Professor Bowey used the iPads to accomplish several key objectives of the course that would be difficult or impossible utilizing only traditional educational methods. The iPad and its associated application enable Dr. Bowey to:

  • Reenforce theory with practice. Theory informs practice and practice informs theory. Before employing the iPads, Professor Bowey explained the theory in class and assigned students work that enforced the lessons using traditional artistic media. Many students were uncomfortable expressing themselves artistically, so the connections were not always strong. With the iPads, creation of design pieces takes on new meaning through the simple application interfaces and intuitive tool set. Students build stronger connection between theory and practice in less time.
  • Go deeper and think deeper. Because students make stronger connections faster, they are able to take projects in more meaningful, thought-out directions. This affects the bottom-line quality of work in Professor Bowey’s class and into other courses in the students’ college careers. As an example, previous students were expected to reenforce their understanding of elements like line or shape by photographing examples in the real world. With the advent of the iPad in class, students now experiment in these elements with personal artwork, easily created with the abstract art tools in applications like MoMA Art Lab. These students think more about the relationship between element and principle.
  • Reenforce lecture materials with outside information. Students use an iPad application, Evernote, to record all Visual Communication notes they take in and out of class. A second application, News360, reads the student’s notes in Evernote and finds articles on the Internet that relate to the topic. These articles are then pushed to the student, supplying new and pertinent information otherwise outside of the course experience.
  • Open new forms of visual communication. By using applications like Theodolite and Star Chart, students are exposed to communicative forms like augmented reality.
  • Increase student engagement. Teaching the symbiotic relationship between theory and practice is difficult when students are intimidated by the practical medium. Adding iPads to the process removed many of the barriers. Many students who feel they lack the skills with a paintbrush adapt to iPad applications with little problem. They become more engaged and the learning happens more readily.

Outcomes

Changes in the classroom

  • Deeper understanding of theory. Visual Communication is full of theoretical concepts that were traditionally described through lecture and readings. This was the case because time limits prevented going beyond the theory and getting to the practical. For example, animation is theoretically challenging and teaching a fully-featured animation tool is a multiple-course endeavor. However, with the simplified animation tools on the iPad, students were given the theory and then reenforced it by creating simple animations.
  • Broadened view of visual communication. The iPads allowed the curriculum to be expanded to include several forms of visual communication that were previously not covered. For example, students in the pilot were taught about augmented reality and could experience it through applications on the tablets. Augmented reality is the additional of a layer of information over the reality being experienced by the viewer. One application used in the pilot was Star Chart. Using the gyroscopes, the calendar, and internal data, Star Chart was sensitive to where the iPad was pointed and could reproduce the correct star chart on the display, complete with the constellation overlay and constellation names.

Recommendations

  • Professor Bowey and his students found the iPads to be valuable additions to the course. Not only did the iPad provide the features and functions already discussed, but it replaced other pieces of equipment needed for the course like digital cameras and video recorders.
  • Professor Bowey did not teach Visual Communication in the spring term, but did run a pilot in the Visual Perception and Imaging course. An extension to the Visual Communication pilot is expected for the fall 2013 term.

iPad Applications Employed in MCOM 210

Professor Bowey used the following applications in his MCOM 210 iPad pilot:

  • Art Authority
  • Camera+
  • DoInk
  • Evernote Premium
  • Explorations in Typography
  • GoodReader
  • Lecture Tools
  • MOMA Art Lab
  • Moodboard
  • Musée do Louvre
  • News360
  • Photoshop Touch
  • Pinnacle Studio
  • SketchBook Pro
  • Star Chart
  • Theodolite HD

Descriptions, pricing, and links to iTunes for each of these applications is available on the iPad Pilot Applications page.

More Information

Related Wiki Topics


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