VLEE Multiplier Event by UPM
We are pleased to invite to the Multiplier event that will be held on November 11th from 17:00 to 18:00 pm GMt+1
In this Multiplier event we will show the results of the VLEE project, focusing on the IO1 the VLEE competence Framework. Wee will describe in detail its elements as well as its implications for educators, students, professionals and policy makers.
Please access to this link to register: https://eventos.upm.es/73455/detail/presentation-of-the-vlee-project.html
as well as to access to the zoom presentation: https://eventos.upm.es/event_detail/73455/tickets.html
Progress on Intellectual Output IO3
IO3, The Visual Literacy in Engineering Education (VLEE) online course, is now available in English version.
Target of this course is to provide engineering students and engineers with an introduction to visual literacy in an engineering context. The course focuses on visual literacy for the actual practice of engineering in the real world – preparation of schematics & diagrams, visual communication, problem solving visually, creative visual design etc.
This course is made up of 7 modules, 7 video overviews, additional reading as well as downloadable activities and work sheets.
To enter the course, please access this link: https://vleeproject.eu/lms/
Versions in Spanish, Danish and Polish will be soon available.
Intellectual output IO2 now available
Visual Literacy for engineering Education toolkit is now available.
In this Toolkit, practical guidance to engineering educators is provided, incorporating 25 digital tools into their day-to-day work, ultimately improving the quality and relevance of the education they provide to their engineering graduates.
Students will increase their visual literacy and digital competencies while also further preparing themselves for entry into the smart digital Industry 4.0 world of work.
Toolkit can be accessed and downloaded through these links:
https://www.vleeproject.eu/toolkit-en/
https://www.vleeproject.eu/toolkit-es/
https://www.vleeproject.eu/toolkit-pl/
The VLEE competence framework
The Visual Literacy for Engineering Education competence Framework is now published and available. The goal of this guide is to provide adequate resources to develop their Visual Literacy competences and then contributing to improvement of engineering and VET. VLEE framework offers provide a reference for engineering education as well as technology educational programs in general.
In this Framework it is established the relationship between visual literacy and engineering education and undertaking an assessment of what represents competence attainment.
Visual Literacy Competences for Engineering are structured in six different areas, taking into account the different characteristics of the engineering processes which requires the involvement of Visual Materials:
It is expected that this Visual Competences described in this guide become a resource for the development of innovative teaching, focusing on the web-based and digital tools.
The complete VLEE guide is available through this link:
https://www.vleeproject.eu/competence-framework-en/
https://www.vleeproject.eu/competence-framework-es/
https://www.vleeproject.eu/competence-framework-pl/
VLEE PROJECT AT IBIMA CONFERENCE
(november 2020)
The 4th and 5th November 2020 in Granada, Spain, The results of the first stage of the project, the Competence Framework for Engineering education, was presented at the 36th IBIMA conference.
This major international conference address a range of important themes with respect to around important topics, including information Management, Technology Innovation, Adoption of Technology in Organizations, Knowledge management among others:
Paper presented:
A FRAMEWORK OF VISUAL LITERACY COMPETENCES FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Alfonso MARTÍN ERRO
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, alfonso.martin.erro@alumnos.upm.es
Silvia NUERE MENÉNDEZ-PIDAL
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, silvia.nuere@upm.es
Raúl DÍAZ-OBREGÓN CRUZADO
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, raul.diazobregon@upm.es
Adela ACITORES SUZ
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, adela.acitores@upm.es
Abstract
Visual literacy is essential for engineers and technical professionals. Across the higher education curriculum and VET training, students are required to use and produce visual materials, and they must be prepared to do so.
We present in this paper a framework for the development of Visual Literacy competences required for engineers and technicians. Its objective is to provide adequate resources to develop their Visual Literacy competences and then contributing to improvement of engineering and VET education. This guide therefore intends to provide a reference for engineering education institutions as well as technology educational programs in general.
The methodology used is supported by the conviction that it can be provided a presentation to Visual Literacy for engineering and its particular competences according to a rigorous academic research but also accessible and useful. Teachers, educators and HE/STEM stakeholders can find it directly relevant to the opportunities and challenges they face.
Our goal is to understand, catalogue and communicate the Visual competences, skills and abilities specific to engineering that most contribute to engineers’ creativity and productivity.
ETCS establishes generic as well as specific competences. Goal of this research is to establish the set of Visual Literacy competences specific to engineering.
In this Framework it is established the relationship between visual literacy and engineering education and undertaking an assessment of what represents competence attainment.
We expect that the VLEE Competence Framework shall be a new element of teaching for Higher education as well as VET organizations.
Keywords: Engineering Education, Vocational Education and Training, Visual Literacy, Visual skills and abilities.
Visual Literacy in the engineering context
Visual Literacy is acknowledged to be of great importance in many professions, commonly in art and design, but also in every domain where visual information plays a significant role. In the case of science and mathematics, Visual Literacy skills are also of most relevance. In engineering it is paramount. Professors Craig L. Miller & and Gary Bertoline stated in 1991 that engineers must be visually literate to be successful engineers.
Visual Literacy in engineering is reflected in their work development: engineers are problem solvers who handle a lot of visual information. An engineer requires visual means to express completely the results of their work: a mechanical design or an electronic scheme cannot be defined completely by describing it with words, it requires a pictorial description supported by symbols and annotations, which may be concrete (a mechanical object’ drawing) or abstract (an electronic scheme).
Engineers use and produces visuals in all of the technical problem solving tasks, since the identification of the problem to sharing the solution. Engineers need to understand and create messages in visual format as well as to create them to express concepts.
These messages are supported in different formats and abstraction degrees. Since schemes, computer graphics, freehand sketches as well as physical models.
Engineers use a Visual language which is made up of symbols, standardized pictorial representations and annotations. This is how they understand and produce Visual information of engineering Drawings and sketches reflects Visual Literacy in engineering.
An example of Visual Literacy in engineering is the design intent. How a graphic representation reflects exactly what a design engineers ideated, as well as what an engineer wants to communicate. A set of graphic and text elements are needed to express this idea, so, for achieving that any engineer must be Visual literate enough to produce this adequate visual message.
One of the most important Visual Literacy skills for engineering is visualization. Being problem solving the main activity of engineering the use of visualization for this purpose is fundamental. To be specific for engineering, visualization means being proficient in handling in mind three-dimensional forms. Spatial abilities are therefore most important.
Other fundamental Visual Literacy skills and abilities are those related to present abstract conceptual ideas graphically, using technical drawing or CAD. These are the skills to draw freehand as well as drafting, and to generate 3D models using computer programs. Visualization is also a required skill in graphic expression as it is necessary to understand projection drawings as well as to generate them.
In that case, engineers apply sketches, engineering drawings, or CADD databases. These are the Visual communication skills specific to engineering. Visual Literacy in engineering involves the use of Visual thinking, spatial reasoning, the use of 3D modelling, freehand sketching as well as creating physical models.
Visual Literacy in engineering is not only related to the creative side of engineers, but to their analytical tasks. Apart of shapes and functional descriptions of designs, engineers need their Visual Literacy to express analytical information. They use graphic representation of data in all of the development stages of a product or system, as it is an easy way to explain the results of calculations or empirical data collections. Sharing data by visual means is a key skill for a professional engineer.
An agreed definition of Visual Literacy
Our research started about clarification of Visual Literacy concept. This is justified because there is not a common nor an agreement of what is Visual Literacy. In the literature review, we identified a plenty of VL definitions. Maria Avgerinou, an important researcher in Visual Literacy, concluded that there were as many definitions as Visual Literacy authors (Avgerinou, 2003). This lack of an agreed definition of Visual Literacy means a difficulty for researchers, as indicated Braden (1996, cited by Avgerinou, 2011).
Definitions evolved from simple to more detailed, in order to take into account the complexity of the concept of Visual Literacy, as well as the continuous innovation on Visual resources, such as digital media.
Therefore, definitions described a set of skills or abilities, which were more or less broad, depending on the specialist or the organization who proposed it. An analysis by Arslan (2014) showed a list of VL definitions by different authors which mentions different skills each one. He concluded the difficulty to englobe in one definition all skills related to Visual Literacy. It shows that a common VL definition cannot enumerate and describe skills or abilities, doing that better in a framework.
Other question is where these skills or abilities are expressed or perceived. Many definitions mentioned the term “images”. As it could be valid for the early definitions, the innovation on visual resources demands to take into account a broader term. In that sense, other definitions applies “visuals”, “visual media” or “visual materials” (Brown, 2015).
In her analysis of VL definitions, Maria Avgerinou indicated that the terms “skill”, “ability” and “competency” are applied as they had the same meaning. Most recent definitions uses the term “ability”, such as proposed by the ACRL and the “operational definition” by Maria Avgerinou (2007):
“In the context of human, intentional visual communication, visual literacy refers to a group of largely acquired abilities, i.e. the abilities to understand (read), and to use (write) images, as well as to think and learn in terms of images.”
Since the term “ability” is adequate in the academic context, according to our project goals, we shall use “competence”.
Finally, the subject of VL is treated in most of the cases around communication. In other cases, It appears thinking processes, as well as learning (Debes, 1968). The studies of VL by Maria Avgerinou (2003) indicated that Visual Literacy is clearly linked to communication, thinking and learning.
In conclusion, a common and valuable in time definition of Visual Literacy must be concise but precise in the terms, mentioning the cognitive proceses involved but not in detail, and to be about Visual Materials in order to englobe images, pictures, mockups, digital visuals and other resources which are to be developed in the future).
By reviewing Averignou’s operative definition of VL (Avgerinou, 2007), we propose that:
Visual Literacy means the competences to understand (read) to create (write) as well as to think and learn using images, pictures, graphics or any kind of Visual Materials.
The need of Visual Literacy in Engineering Education
Visual Literacy is acknowledged to be of great importance in many professions, commonly in art and design, but also in every domain where visual information plays a significant role. In the case of science and mathematics, Visual Literacy skills are also of mostly relevant. In engineering it is paramount. Professors Craig L. Miller & and Gary Bertoline stated in 1991 that engineers must be visually literate to be successful engineers.
Visual Literacy in engineering is reflected in their work development: engineers are problem solvers who handles a lot of visual information. An engineer requires visual means to express completely the results of their work: a mechanical design or an electronic scheme cannot be defined completely by describing it with words, it requires a pictorial description supported by symbols and annotations, which may be concrete (a mechanical object’ drawing) or abstract (an electronic scheme).
Engineers uses and produces visuals in all of the technical problem solving tasks, since the identification of the problem to sharing the solution. Engineers need to understand and create messages in visual format as well as to create them to express concepts.
These messages are supported in different formats and abstraction degrees. Since schemes, computer graphics, freehand sketches as well as physical models.
Engineers uses a Visual language which is made up of symbols, standardized pictorial representations and annotations. This is how they understand and produce Visual information of engineering Drawings and sketches reflects Visual Literacy in engineering.
An example of Visual Literacy in engineering is the design intent. How a graphic representation reflects exactly what a design engineers ideated, what an engineer wants to communicate. A set of graphic and text elements are needed to express this idea, so, for achieving that any engineer must be Visual literate enough to produce this adequate visual message.
One of the most important Visual Literacy skills for engineering is visualization. Being problem solving the main activity of engineering the use of visualization for this purpose is fundamental. To be specific for engineering, visualization means being proficient in handling in mind three-dimensional forms. Spatial abilities are therefore most important.
Other fundamental Visual Literacy skills and abilities are those related to present abstract conceptual ideas graphically, using technical drawing or CAD. These are the skills to draw freehand as well as drafting, and to generate 3D models using computer programs. Visualization is also a required skill in graphic expression as it is necessary to understand projection drawings as well as to generate them.
In that case, engineers applies sketches, engineering drawings, or CADD databases. These are the Visual communication skills specific to engineering. Visual Literacy in engineering involves the use of Visual thinking, spatial reasoning, the use of 3D modelling, freehand sketching as well as creating physical models.
Visual Literacy in engineering not only related to their creative side, but to their analytical tasks. Apart of shapes and functional descriptions of designs, engineers need their Visual Literacy to express analytical information. They use graphic representation of data in all of the development stages of a product or system, as it is an easy way to explain results of calculations or empirical data collections. Sharing data by visual means is a key skill for a professional engineer.
There is a clear need to take into account the development of Visual skills in engineering curricula in the same way as analytical skills are. The key to have creative and innovative engineers depends on this.
VLEE project main events
Kick-off meeting Szcecin
The 6th of February 2020, the kick-off meeting of the VLEE project was held in Szczecin (Poland). In the official presentation of the project, All partners presented their organizations, putting attention on the experiences on the field of international projects. The agenda of the event was marked by the presentation of basic assumptions, objectives, anticipated results and timelines of the project.
Transnational meeting Madrid (Spain), held online
The second transnational meeting of the VLEE Project planned to be held in Madrid was held online the 6th july 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. IO1 progress was reported by UPM team. The two main development stages of IO1 were completed. Tasks to be done and timelimes on IO1 were agreed. IO2 draft was also presented by MMs.
Third transnational meeting Leitrim (Ireland) held online
Meeting expected to be held in Leitrim was also on line in the 25th February 2021. IO2 progress and planning was discussed. Research on VLEE toolkit was finished identifying a wide range of applications that can be used for developing Visual skills for engineering students. The selection of 24 tools for the final toolkit for VLEE was agreed to be done.
Fourth transnational meeting Copenhagen (Denmark) held online
Meeting was held on line in the 08 of July 2021. MMS presented the finished VLEE Toolkit, which is already uploaded on the VLEE website. CCL presented progress on Intellectual output IO3, the online course. ZUT presented the very first draft of Sustainability Strategy. NOT presented the updates as well as plan for the development of dissemination and impact.
The VLEE project
Visual Literacy for Engineering Education (VLEE) is an EU Erasmus+ Project based on the collaboration of partners and experts from Poland, Spain, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.The aim of the project is to strengthen and enhance the visual literacy of engineers and to introduce innovative visual literacy training into vocational teaching and provision. Is based on the recognition that visual thinking and related skills are a key area of competence for today’s engineers across all engineering disciplines because of the relationship between spatial reasoning and graphic representation to problem solving and creativity. It recognises that the possibilities for developing these competences have grown exponentially thanks to the proliferation of digital technology.
VLEE seeks to address the identified lack of visual skills of EU students, by pursuing the provision of visual literacy for engineering training in our VET system through the following objectives:
- The Competence Framework (IO1) is a concerted effort to structure and communicate the engineering-specific components of visual literacy in a way that speaks the language of educators, addressing the specific gaps in their knowledge
- the Toolkit (IO2) is aimed directly at teachers and trainers who wish to increase the quality of their teaching using digital visual media tools, but are unsure which tools to use and how to use them.
- the Online Course (IO3) complements classroom work, providing teachers a practical resource to help consolidate student’s skill.
This project will enable engineering students to adopt a more proactive and strategic use of digital visual technology in their learning (and future practice) of engineering. By teaching them how to think, reason, interpret and communicate visually through media such as mind maps, infographics, technical sketching, 3D imaging, vlogging, video explainers, and more it uses to technology to reinforce their engineering-specific cognitive skills and contributes to important transversal skills in digital literacy, particularly the third competence area in the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, “digital content and creation.”
The project will impact at a national level by bestowing a deeper understanding of the relevance of “soft” transversal skills such as visual literacy to engineering education and a recognition that innovative pedagogic strategies can make these competences highly “teachable” even within traditional engineering courses. While at a European level the project is designed to contribute to a shift in understanding of the role of VET Institutions, and in particular Engineering teaching, in contributing to transversal competences such as visual literacy and our ability to produce well-rounded engineers that flourish in the world of work.
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