The voice of the visual : visual learning strategies for problem analysis, social dialogue and mediated participation

The changing needs for innovative learning strategies in the life sciences results from the growing complexity of societal issues. Nowadays, complex societal issues are also called ‘wicked problems.’ Wicked problems are problems that do not have one single solution that is right or wrong, good or bad or true or false. These are problems in which many stakeholders are involved, all of them framing the problems and issues in a different way. Reflecting on the consequent changing role of scientists and the way they need to be trained, it is realized that innovative learning strategies are needed to enhance problem analysis. This PhD project explored visual learning strategies for problem analysis. In exploring these strategies, the project emphasized dialogue and participation by social actors, (future) practitioners and decision makers involved in wicked problem settings. The project had the twofold aim of exploring the potential of visual learning and defining the design and production of visual learning strategies. The project materialized in a design and research perspective on the production and use of visual learning strategies. The design track resulted in the development of the Visual Problem Appraisal (VPA) and Embedded Filming strategies. At the start of the project these strategies were used in settings of international master course work and adult education. As the project advanced, the attention also focused on using the strategies in the public domain, with a focus on public participation by silenced or overlooked social actors. The VPA design developed with the production and use of the ‘VPA Kerala’s Coast’ (2003 – 2008) and the ‘VPA AIDS & Rural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’ (2005-2009). Core of the VPA design are filmed stakeholder narratives and a well elaborated methodological approach that creates a learning space where the VPA user meets with these stakeholders as part of a decision making process. The wicked problems addressed in these VPAs focus on integrated coastal zone management in Kerala, India, and on AIDS and rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Embedded Filming, designed and produced between 2003 and 2007, also focuses on HIV/AIDS and rural development professionalism in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Embedded Filming involves participation in the production phase by combining action research with a learning process. The film crew, facilitators and participants form an integrated whole. The shared focus of VPA and Embedded Filming is reflected in similarities in the general production and use. The filming process of both strategies focuses on social actors, their perspectives and reflections on reality. This consideration for multiple realities and societal complexity in the films is further underlined in the absence of a voice over or otherwise a steering ‘outsider.’ Although VPA and Embedded Filming have strong similarities, they are also characterized by differences. VPA filming activities are not embedded in a wider activity as is the case for Embedded Filming. Editing in Embedded Filming differs from the editing style of the VPA interviews as it adheres more to conventional documentary editing. The distinctive visual language of each film style was highlighted in the found footage experiment. This experiment showed that the footage of the Embedded Filming series could not be used for the production of VPA narratives because of the film styles not being congruent. The visual learning strategies have been used in an array of situations and with a variety of audiences. They have shown the ability to bring complex realities and a diversity of stakeholders together in spaces of learning, reflection and change. The experiences obtained with Visual Problem Appraisal and Embedded Filming provided the empirical evidence that it is possible to design, produce and use specific visual learning strategies to achieve strategic learning objectives that enhance complex competences for action and change. Research on these experiences is documented in the various chapters of this dissertation. The first chapter provides the background to the study and elaborates on the research design. The second chapter gives a broad introduction to the design, production and use of the ‘VPA Kerala’s Coast.’ It describes the educational design of VPA and the operationalisation during the filming process in Kerala, India. The analysis of the production experiences led to a series of workshops to research the impact of the VPA in the public domain. The evaluation of these workshops provided indications for social learning and stakeholder dialogue. The third chapter elaborates on the effects of the VPA in higher professional education. The study is based on experiences with the ‘VPA Kerala’s Coast,’ lectured in 2007/08 and 2008/09. The VPA design deliberately incorporates a rich variety of instruction strategies to anticipate the diverse learning styles of students in the international and intercultural classroom with a prominent role for visual learning. Students are confronted with a variety of learning activities that provides a challenging environment. They are immersed in the reality of complex multi stakeholder settings and they are stimulated to learn about wicked problems that are not easy to solve. Facilitator’s instructions and precise feedback options stimulate students to reflect on their work and that of their peers. It makes students almost immediately aware of the effects of their actions and the way they learn. The assessment presented indicates that the VPA strategy is effective as a strong and attractive simulation. The created safe space provides students an opportunity to learn from their interaction with un-familiar stakeholders and the VPA enhances critical reflection on learning procedures and patterns. Besides elaborating on the impact in education the chapter also provides insight in the design process of this learning strategy. The fourth chapter presents the process of producing and testing the ‘VPA Kerala’s Coast’ as a complex and intriguing multidisciplinary and multicultural project. We wondered what made the project a success. Framing the project as a space of intercultural communication gave guidance to the questions that articulated our search to understand the process we had been immersed in. In this chapter the events are described and critical incidents are analyzed that occurred during the production and the use of the VPA. The outcome leads to valuable recommendations for international and intercultural teams working on similar production and research projects. The fifth chapter reports on Embedded Filming. The filming and the films of a series of workshops and courses for Rural Development Professionals in Ghana, India, Tanzania and Zambia are analyzed as tools for learning and social change for different audiences. Analyzing the production and consumption processes shows the interconnectedness of the filming and learning during the courses. The results indicate that the films contribute to improved rural development professionalism in the context of HIV/AIDS. Chapter six highlights the potential of ‘mediated participation’ as compared to live participation, especially regarding the inclusion of vulnerable and distanced stakeholders. Mediated participation was explored by studying the production and use of the ‘VPA AIDS & Rural Development in Sub-Saharan Africa’ in workshops in Congo DRC, Ghana, Tanzania, the Netherlands and Zambia. The qualitative assessment was based on production experiences, evaluations of participants, and debriefings of workshops. The results indicate that mediated participation is not just a second-best option to live participation. Mediated participation as operationalized in VPA-methodology offers an alternative to learning in face-to-face interactions. The concept of mediated participation that resulted from the study is perceived as a promising concept. This term is used to contrast live presence of silenced and overlooked stakeholders in processes of public participation with participation or representation of these stakeholders’ concerns through the use of media (film). Mediated participation refers in this study to the filmed narrative (or mediated presence) of direct stakeholders who otherwise wouldn’t be present in public policy making processes. Mediated participation enhances social inclusion and equity in problem analysis and decision making by other means than through live participation. The experiences in this study with the design, production and use of VPA and Embedded Filming indicate the relevancy of designing and producing specific visual learning strategies in the context of wicked problems in multi stakeholder settings and sustainable development. It was learned that a specific visual learning strategy requires a particular film style or visual language. It is not film in general that defines the outcome of a learning process; it is the conceptual design, grounded in specific learning and film theories and film making expertise that lays foundations for the process that can be induced by the film. The discussed visual learning strategies overcome physical, cultural and social barriers between vulnerable stakeholders and decision makers. The mediated encounters with ‘the Other’ and ‘meeting’ other realities in social dialogues turned out to contribute to problem analysis. Designing, producing and using visual learning strategies requires due attention, expertise and resources.