My vision on VKB

Like many others, I also have a tough time defining this concept in my own words.

The term visual knowledge building is a combination of two definitions which are visual knowledge building and visual communication.

At first you might therefore think that visual knowledge building could easily be defined as the ability to develop knowledge through visual aids. However, during this minor I have learned that this is not the only way of building knowledge. The mixture of both terms results in a creative approach of knowledge building. It is definitely safe to say that visual aids are often supported by text which enhances and/or helps to build knowledge.

This means that visual (communication &) knowledge building is a form of blended learning in which different aspects combined together optimize our capability to learn in a more efficient manner.

In contradiction of what you might expect of a ‘digital immigrant’, I do not think of myself as being a very visual person. Although we are surrounded be thousands of visual communication each day, I prefer to see myself as a more textual person. The reason for me not being as visual as a lot of other people nowadays is that I think that ‘good’ communication lies in speech and literature. Although visuals are effective and efficient in use, misinterpretation due to lack of explanation is something that happens often. When (modern) visuals are combined with text or words it has even better results, the same conclusion can be applied to traditional and modern techniques such as computers in combination with literature.

I support blended learning, because I see it as the best way to learn. The combination of traditional means as well as modern methods makes our learning process faster and easier. Visual knowledge building is not only a good way of learning for digital natives (myself), but for instance also digital immigrants (my mother) experience the benefits of blended learning.

The traditional way of learning is not a bad thing; just take a look all that has been established in the past. But at the same time you might also see that “building” knowledge of certain things used to be a slower process. For example, learning a foreign language 20 years ago used to be very different. Now you do not have to go to class or learn from books only, but instead you can follow e-classes from your own house. You can learn the same thing faster, due to traditional learning methods in combination with modern technology such as the internet with all its benefits.

Although modern technology in combination with human urge to discover new things has always been the reason for innovation (which is a huge factor for visual knowledge building), I do not know how visual knowledge building will manifest itself further in the coming years. It is not for me to foresee the future. But I do think that, seen developments and innovations in the past, that there will be more forms of blended learning available, having said that I haven’t got a clue what/when/how. An example of human innovations/futuristic inventions is the electronic newspapers, which are supposed to change the way we know newspapers now. This form of modern technology (personally I do not believe this will replace the current form of the newspaper as we know now anytime soon) is currently still in the developing-phase. It is supposed to a more efficient way of reading our daily newspaper, on which we can not only read the newspaper but also can participate in an interactive way and use for other purposes, such as surf the web, GPS, etcetera.

Participating (web 2.0) in social communities has almost become a human necessity these days. Almost everyone, who knows how to work with a computer, is somehow linked to a community on the web. Whether this community is based on learning, gaming, socializing, special interest, work or any other kind, most people are active on the web. I do think that in the future we will be more subordinated to functions of the World Wide Web. Having said this (people ‘connecting’ in all sorts of ways), the term Connectivism is also a very relevant learning theory during this minor.

This is a learning theory of the digital age developed by George Siemens and based on the limitations of the three broad conventional learning theories; Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Constructivism. These three theories were developed in a time when learning was not impacted through technology. Over the last twenty years, technology has shown how people live, communicate and learn. Effective learning techniques should be reflective of underlying social environments. Learning should be a way of an ongoing set of attitudes and actions by individuals and groups to keep abreast of new events. It should overlap social environments in order to bring across information in a known context (grey text from Jessica de Korte’s vision on VKB). According to George Siemens learning is not about knowing things, but more so it is about knowing how to discover and make the right connections with your mind between bits of information and doing so ‘creating’ new information. Because I agree with the definition of Connectivism and I find it being such a common process that everybody does, it is very possible that this theory, due to its modern approach, will (in the coming years) grow to be a theory which will be applicable to a lot of things.

In conclusion, I think that Visual (Communication &) Knowledge Building is a growing form of our modern age learning. We have already found different techniques which able us to learn ‘faster’ than before. Technology enhancements such as digital encyclopedia and search engines for instance have giving us the opportunity to learn (or find) things ‘faster’, due to saving time. Also blended learning such as e-learning wherefore we do not have to ‘travel’ to certain locations save us a lot of energy and time. We can now use the time and energy saved to ‘learn’. Modern technology also gives us the opportunity to communicate (mobile communication and internet) faster that ever before.

In the future maybe schools will implement this form of learning more into their systems. Whatever the outcome may be, VKB will manifest itself more into our learning.



- We are constantly building knowledge and now the time has come in which we are able to learn anything at anytime.