Visual Thinkery stories and cartoons

Category: #edtech

  • Curious Intelligence

    Curious Intelligence

    Prepping for a Visual Thinking workshop at DCU in Dublin last month (part of a conference entitled “Education after the Algorithm”) had me pondering my current interactions with Generative AI.

    I recognise that magical feeling of speaking a sentence into the void and being presented with an instant revelation – a conjuring trick. But if Visual Thinkery is about anything, it’s about listening to more than just the words, and following a series of small experiments – some conscious, some unconscious until finally the creation seems formed enough to be abandoned and released to the wild, before have meaning gathered and attached by others…

    Curiosity is the seam of gold in the creative journey. And it’s with that very same curiosity that I’m experimenting with AI and wondering what it is – behind the magic trick.

  • A Typology of Interpersonal Recognition

    A Typology of Interpersonal Recognition

    Back in the old days of social media, h/t was a thing. (I remember having to ask what it meant…) Being restricted for characters as was the trend then, hat tip became h/t. I often posted half-baked drawings inspired by hearing someone speak at a meeting or event and used these precious 3 characters to acknowledge the spark behind the thought.

    I was doing a little visual thinking (start in the middle of the page and work out in as many directions as possible) about interpersonal recognition for a credentialing workshop with Badge guru Doug Belshaw for the N-TUTORR project. Trying to think of all the ways that humans give recognition to each other. If I’m missing one dear to your heart, feel free to write me!

    A couple of days after the workshop I was talking with Alan Levine about recognition in Open Education for the OEGlobal Podcast, and we contrived to build a remixer for humans to digitally hat tip.

    Get ready to tip your hat here: Hat Tip Remixer

  • The Meaning of Recognition

    The Meaning of Recognition

    I think in the early days of thinking about open credentialing, I got fixated on the credential part. The proof you might receive from an authoritative body, qualified to judge, rather than a human nod or tip-of-the-hat from someone in my community. Recognition – we all need it.

    By the way, it’s a long time since I’ve woven a friendship bracelet. (Is it still a thing amongst the youth of today?)

    This illustration was created for a series of credentialing workshops with Badge guru Doug Belshaw for the N-TUTORR project.

  • Microcredentials and Recognition

    Microcredentials and Recognition

    Hidden in conversation are a whole host of metaphors, which are pictorial clues to the stories being told. Contrasting two metaphors allows us to compare how different each one feels from the other. That being said, for those living in bungalows, this might need some explaining…

    This illustration was created for a series of credentialing workshops with Badge guru Doug Belshaw for the N-TUTORR project.

  • Elements of a badging policy

    Elements of a badging policy

    What creates the spark behind an illustration? There’s nothing I love better than playing idea ping-pong with a co-collaborator.

    This illustration was created for a series of credentialing workshops with Badge guru Doug Belshaw for the N-TUTORR project.

  • Meaningful online

    Meaningful online

    “We need to build an app.” Maybe you do, and maybe you don’t. Take a few steps back and think about what would work best for your user. Chances are, whatever you create will need to be meaningful, bring value and be online.

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • The Wizard of Pollution

    The Wizard of Pollution

    We often don’t associate plastic with the oil industry. But it’s a massive market, and one that Big Oil is pumping billions of dollars into. Plastic is a substance with magical properties alright, but when it’s washed up on a beach, we see the dark magic for what it is.

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • Big Plastic

    Big Plastic

    I hate single-use plastic, and how its waste is a problem pushed down to the consumer. It’s where legislation is so important. One of my biggest Brexit fears is that UK standards will lag behind the EU, because in a small capitalist state, big businesses call the shots. This is the path of least resistance, and we’ve been here before. Illustration originally created for #breakfreefromplastic

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • Big Oil Playbook

    Big Oil Playbook

    Our energy supplier Green has gone bust. So we’ve been automatically assigned as a new customer to… Shell. I’m not happy. This illustration was originally created for #breakfreefromplastic

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • Keeping Afloat

    Keeping Afloat

    It’s easier to keep your idea afloat when you can see others working to keep their ideas afloat too. You are not alone. (Phew!)

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • It’s a bit of a problem…

    It’s a bit of a problem…

    “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem…” wrote G.K. Chesterton. Defining a problem statement can be a bit of a problem.

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

  • If you really knew me…

    If you really knew me…

    You’d know that I once appeared on a TV comedy show in a police line-up of bald men… This is one of my favourite icebreakers. It gets people talking about themselves, but heading straight for the quirks (We’ve all got them!) By recording a visual landscape of these offhand intros, it becomes much easier to remember who was in the room, as a visual landmark has been created for each person.

    This Thinkery was captured live during a series of workshops by We Are Open, for Catalyst.

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