The Study of Visualization in the System of Distance Education

during the Pandemic: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect

T. V. Byundyugova

, O. A. Kholina

and E. G. Petrova

Southern University (IMBL), 33a/47, M. Nagibin Ave., Rostov-on-Don, Russia

Taganrog Institute named after A. P. Chekhov (branch) of RSEU (RINH), 48, Initiative street, Taganrog, Russia

Keywords: Visualization, Thought Form, Cognitive Construct, Learning, Learning Technologies, Digital Environment.

Abstract: The paper analyzes the current patterns of development of the cognitive sphere, describes the current issues

of the use of modern technologies in education during the pandemic in the digital environment. The results of

the study of the possibilities of using visualization in the training of employees of commercial organizations,

which is based on active interaction and transformation of images, are described. It was revealed that the use

of scribing, infographics, as well as a number of other patterns of the cognitive sphere allowed to significantly

increase the effectiveness of training, motivation and involvement in the process. It was also shown that the

data obtained confirm a number of works on similar topics conducted recently.

1 INTRODUCTION

The current situation in the world, which arose during

the pandemic, has led to a change in key trends in

education, shifting the focus to the online format. In

addition, according to surveys and monitoring

conducted by us since March 2020, many respondents

(students of universities and institutes) noted that

there are certain difficulties in perceiving and

processing all the information received from teachers,

linking this with difficulties adapting to the online

format and increasing anxiety associated with the

pandemic and concern for their health and emotional

state.

All this led to the fact that there was a need to

optimize the education system for the online format:

to diversify the material offered as part of the training,

to break it into small pieces, to do several forms of

tasks within one lesson, so that attention would

switch, the cognitive load on the entire material as a

whole would decrease and its qualitative shift to the

analysis of key materials would occur.

Among the urgent requests of modern systems

(social work, public services from the state, the

educational sphere) that work with information and

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broadcast it to the world, including in digital format

(due to the pandemic at the time of the study there

were a number of restrictions), there was a request for

staff training and the development of information

materials in such a format that they are not only easy

to read and perceived, but also their level of

memorability would be significantly higher.

In addition to changing the perception and

processing of information, in general, people's

consciousness is changing, a "digital self" appears,

based on the adoption of cultural norms and values in

a digital, network format, on the perception of their

personality through the prism of social networks,

digital content and the speed of information

dissemination. Current trends and research suggest

that the "digital Self" is increasingly coinciding and

less separated from the "real Self" of a person. The

"digital Self" is currently being formed haphazardly,

the patterns of its development and manifestation

have not yet been revealed, there are no clear ideas

about the specifics of communication and

socialization of a person in the network, their impact

on his psychosocial development.

All this speaks of the necessity and relevance of

analyzing and identifying patterns that will, on the

one hand, determine the features of the formation and

380

Byundyugova, T., Kholina, O. and Petrova, E.

The Study of Visualization in the System of Distance Education during the Pandemic: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect.

DOI: 10.5220/0011121000003439

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference "COVID-19: Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" (RTCOV 2021), pages 380-385

ISBN: 978-989-758-617-0

development of the "digital self" of the individual,

and on the other, identify the features of interaction

with the "digital Self" at the level of perception and

processing of information from that new world, the

"bifurcated culture" (digital and real) in which the

modern individual lives.

2 METODOLOGY

In modern research, the focus is increasingly shifting

to the development and study of systemic models of

cognitive activity – a complex of active actions that a

person does to obtain and assimilate new knowledge

and important information for him.

Modern information in the digital environment is

nonlinear, therefore, on the one hand, cognitive

processes remain the same and obey the laws of

development in ontogenesis, on the other hand, they

require constant involvement of various sensory,

perceptual and cognitive processes simultaneously or

in some unsystematic order.

There are some features of the cognitive sphere of

a modern adult that can be noted:

 theoretical thinking is being used less and less,

being replaced by practical thinking aimed at

solving specific tasks, individual intellectual

operations are turning into a system that is

increasingly focused on one-time goals of a

short time period, abstract reflections are

becoming less and less. Many people still have

a "rectangular logic" that is relevant for

adolescence: there is a desire and motives to

talk about some issues, but at the same time

there are no developed skills to conduct a

discussion, give arguments, and most

importantly - to find them in competent sources

of information, which leads to a lack of logic,

correlation of causes and effects;

 the area of interest, on the one hand, is quite

wide, but at the same time it is very superficial,

often without diving into the essence of the

issue. Social, moral, political, psychological

and health issues are becoming more and more

relevant for people. But at the same time, the

"imprinting effect" is increasingly triggered:

what I read first and liked, then it's true, then I

like it;

 the level of assessment of one's intellectual

abilities is growing (this is reinforced by the

illusion of the availability of information in the

digital environment), but at the same time the

level of adequacy of this assessment is getting

lower, since modern man equates the existing

ability to "scan diagonally" information on the

Internet to data mining and processing.

Consequently, the level of overestimation of

their intellectual abilities has increased

significantly;

 the digital environment (often purposefully)

forms an illusory representation of the ease of

certain aspects of life (a way of making money,

creating a business, buying expensive things on

credit, freelancing), the imagination of a

modern adult easily "completes" certain

aspects, fits itself into this world,

overestimating its strength and cognitive

resources. At the same time, the Internet creates

cognitive distortions: "information is easily

accessible", "press the button and you will get

the answer to all questions", "buy a course and

become a millionaire". All this leads to

subsequent breakdowns, an increase in anxiety

and a decrease in motivation to do something,

and even more so to study;

 the development of perceptual processes is also

changing: very often, attention and detailed

perception of an object or situation focuses not

on what is significant for a person, but on what

the Internet, the digital environment offers,

based on their own goals (shopping, developing

consumer or electorate loyalty). The beauty and

attractiveness of images is becoming

increasingly important, rather than their critical

comprehension;

 as for mnemic processes, their quality is also

significantly reduced and transformed to meet

the requirements of the modern environment:

either memorization is situational and

involuntary, or turns into attempts to memorize

and mechanically memorize the necessary

information.

 the focus of the "use" of imagination is no

longer connected with intellectual activity or

creative processes, but with an attempt to

imagine oneself in an updated "artificial" non-

existent life, the appearance of which is

associated with a low level of the possibility of

satisfying needs, interests, as well as an

externally imposed value system. The

imagination becomes less productive and more

and more reproductive, - processing and

creating attractive pictures from the outside;

 the development of speech is also changing: the

use of complex sentences, metaphors, phrases

is used less often, sentences are becoming

shorter and more concise. Written speech is

also impoverished and often the expression of

The Study of Visualization in the System of Distance Education during the Pandemic: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect

381

thoughts and ideas is replaced by the use of

pictograms (emojis).

 attention is becoming "ill-mannered"

(D.Hamilton): it is increasingly difficult to

focus on something for more than 10 minutes,

switchability has become higher, as well as

distractibility. The level of observation and

contemplation has decreased, which is

facilitated by constant stimulation from the

digital environment.

All the patterns described above lead to the

formation of a new individual style of cognitive

activity – a system of individual characteristics of

perception and processing of information, which is

based on individual experience of obtaining and

analyzing data from the surrounding and digital

environment.

Due to the non-linearity of the information

received, it is necessary to take into account the

peculiarities of its processing, analysis, memorization

and evaluation. The model of nonlinear cognitive

presentation of information in a digital environment

is based on the active interaction of a person with

perceived images, and not just their perception and an

attempt to remember. To do this, you need:

 reasonably and competently offer applications

and various technologies for use (especially

those related to training), with the opportunity

to test, try them, evaluate their effectiveness for

personal use;

 use visual forms not only to provide

information, but also to track all the changes

and progress that have occurred during

training, on the basis of which possible

development trajectories can be predicted;

 when using non-linear information delivery, it

is important to take into account the personal

characteristics and values of the student, since

when "scanning" information from the digital

environment, the student's attention focuses on

what matters to him and meets his value

orientations.

The model of nonlinear cognitive presentation of

information in a digital environment is a whole

cluster of structural and functional relationships

between a person who perceives, analyzes, processes

and remembers information, the information itself,

those who broadcast it and the ways (in our case

visualization) of its transmission and explanation.

The transformation of information into thought

forms of the inner picture of the world takes place

according to the following algorithm: "scanning"

information on the web, stopping and focusing on the

necessary and interesting, active interaction with it

(for what it can be useful, how to use it), hypothetical

or real application of it in life, "fitting" into the inner

world of the individual in the format of thought

forms.

Thus, the digital environment becomes a

simulator for the development of a new cognitive

model of perception and processing of information,

which leads to the use of new resources for social

transformation of the individual, including in the

online learning system during the pandemic. The

cognitive sphere gains flexibility, versatility and

allows you to focus more clearly on the main thing

and be less distracted by secondary moments related

to learning. All this is connected, among other things,

with the possibility of using visualization in the

educational process.

Visualization can be considered in several

directions:

 a way of presenting information in the form of

diagrams, pictograms, infographics, drawings,

etc. for faster and clearer understanding and

interpretation;

 active interaction of the personality and the

mental image, which allows him to maximally

"fit" it into the inner picture of the world,

endow it with value and remember.

Theories of schemes by R.S. Anderson and F.

Bartlett and the theory of frames by C. Folker, M.

Minsky describe visualization in a productive way: as

a way and result of the transformation by a person of

mental images of the inner world into a way of

communication with the outside world due to the

most complete presentation of the data available in

consciousness.

A.A. Verbitsky describes visualization in a

process context: this is a person's ability to "collapse"

the surrounding, including digital, reality to the size

of a mental image, which becomes a schematic

support for subsequent information with a similar

subtext or content. The author divides "conditionally

passive, visual" for perception images that have

already been prepared in advance and "conditionally

active, visual" images that need to be actively worked

out by the individual, and perhaps even created in his

inner world precisely by processing and

comprehending information, endowing it with

meaning and value, which will make it memorable.

Transformation and unfolding of mental images

outside are cognitive projections that are always

embedded in the interaction of the subject and the

environment, including the digital environment, and

can be effectively used in the learning process.

All information perceived from the outside goes

through the process of processing and combining into

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schemes and networks, which gradually become

larger, as well as branch out and allow storing

information and data in the form of enlarged mental

images, which are best amenable to visual translation

into the outside world due to their cognitive

complexity. In addition to all this, visual images, due

to the rapid "folding" and "deployment" of

information, allow it to be analyzed faster, evaluate

the available data and predict the results obtained.

As part of the formation of an individual style of

cognitive activity, a person goes through certain

stages in development: from the indicative stage

based on expressive emotional activity to the stage of

creating semantic images (exclusively mental visual

constructs) - the basis of the internal model of the

external reality in its complex interrelations, semantic

and cognitive integrity. This requires the

development and regular use of visual thinking.

Visual thinking is the analysis and synthesis of

information using visual data series, the ability to

interpret and analyze images. The key ability of visual

thinking is the ability to transform large amounts of

data into a system of easy and understandable thought

forms connected by a single unique meaning.

Thus, the external visual world appears as a

multidimensional cognitive construct that is subject

to processing and interpretation of its individual

images to thought forms that are understandable and

easily fit into the inner world of the individual. Any

thought form is always a combination of visual

thinking, imagination and previous personal

experience.

Visual thinking, among other things, thanks to the

possibility of recognizing and processing

information, allows you to quickly learn and use

information, which increases the cognitive

satisfaction of the individual, her cognitive needs.

Thus, visual information is always more

structured, has the most significant cognitive

potential for evaluating and memorizing data. Mental

images have not only cognitive, but also emotional

potential, allowing you to enter into the inner picture

of the world the data that the individual gives

meaning and remembers. In general, in the modern

environment there has been a shift from a verbal to a

visual picture of the world. The visual picture of the

world is more cognitively easy to perceive, more

capacious and containing many different meanings,

as clear and memorable as possible. Therefore, the

tendency to use various visual forms in work and

training is becoming more and more natural and

permanent, since it provides an opportunity not only

to perceive figurative information, but also to actively

present it, interact with it, transform it in a way that is

understandable to oneself.

The study was conducted on the basis of the

training departments of a number of large companies

in the Rostov region. A total of 214 employees took

part in the study, 100 of whom were randomly

assigned to the control group, and 114 to the

experimental group. All respondents have a higher

education, 67% work in their specialty, the average

age period in the sample is from 32 to 46 years.

The study was conducted in the following order:

 at the first stage, the respondents of both groups

were offered questionnaires to assess their

desire to study, their interests and involvement

in learning in principle;

 at the second stage, work was carried out with

teachers in the experimental group: they were

told about various forms of visualization of

information so that students wanted to work

with it, use it in professional activities (among

the forms they used were: scribing, intelligence

maps, infographics, sketching);

 at the third stage, as part of the planned

training, teachers implemented the proposed

visualization options and a number of other

recommendations, which will be presented

below. In addition, in the middle of the training,

the respondents (experimental group) were

interviewed again for involvement in the

learning process and motivation;

 at the fourth stage, all the data obtained were

systematized, the results of training and the

results of the questionnaire were analyzed,

general conclusions were made.

No manipulations were carried out with the

control group, they were interviewed at the same time

as the experimental group for motivation and

involvement, but studied according to the traditional

program.

Training recommendations offered to teachers, in

addition to visualization of educational information:

 clearly formulate the purpose of the lesson and

always link it with the practical activities of the

respondents;

 use a "content grid": the information in the

classroom should be diverse, contain examples

and stories;



the types of activities in the classroom should

change each other approximately every 20

minutes, it is difficult to keep your attention

longer;

 to link educational material with the sphere of

interests of students;

The Study of Visualization in the System of Distance Education during the Pandemic: Psychological and Pedagogical Aspect

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 provide feedback after each module or block of

information, focus as much as possible on the

progress and positive results achieved;

 constantly use images and metaphors in the

lecture material that should be emotionally

significant for this category of students.

The entire training program (regardless of the

subject of study) is based on active and purposeful

work with visual data, their mental transformation

and modification in order to consider information in

the framework of training from different sides, taking

into account many aspects that were not initially

noticeable.

All the work on the implementation of a training

system based on visualization lasted 8.5 months.

3 RESULTS

The data obtained for the control group are as follows:

 respondents are unenthusiastic about learning

in 69% of cases before the start of training, in

66% in the middle of training and in 68% at the

end;

 their motivation level is 4.5 out of 10 points at

the beginning of training, 4.6 – in the middle

and 4.4 - at the end;

 their level of engagement is 3.5 out of 10 points

at the beginning of training, 3.3 – in the middle

and 3.6 - at the end.

All data were processed statistically using the

Wilcoxon T-test, no significant differences were

found.

The data obtained for the experimental group are

as follows:

 respondents are unenthusiastic about learning

in 71% of cases before the start of training, in

42% in the middle of training and in 25% at the

end;

 their motivation level is 3.9 out of 10 points at

the beginning of training, 6.6 – in the middle

and 8.1 - at the end;

 their level of involvement is 3.4 out of 10

points at the beginning of training, 7.4 – in the

middle and 9.6 - at the end.

All data were processed statistically using the

Wilcoxon T-test, significant differences were found

in the degree of motivation (Temp>Tcr(0.01)),

involvement (Temp>Tcr(0.01)), level of enthusiasm

(Temp>Tcr (0.01)).

As for the teachers working in the empirical

group, they were interviewed based on the results of

their observation of the group during work. They

noted the following:

 in the empirical group, respondents studied

more willingly, helped each other, tried to

immediately apply the data obtained in their

work, often showed creativity in finding

solutions, became more organized and

independent, took the initiative in learning.

They also began to read more professional

literature. During testing, the HR department

noted an increase in their innovation potential

by 14%, some of the respondents began to offer

innovative proposals. The level of self-

organization has also increased;

 no such changes were detected in the control

group.

As for the assessment of academic performance

based on the results of training, it has changed in the

experimental group (it has grown significantly), the

number of errors in test papers and tests has decreased

by 64%. No such changes were found in the control

group.

4 DISCUSSION

The data obtained confirm a number of scientific

studies and works on the psychological and

pedagogical aspects of the use of visualization in

teaching within the digital environment, when

learning is implemented in an online format. Heidi

Julien also notes that the development of digital

literacy, skills of working with visual information is

required for the most effective and ethical training of

modern people of different ages (Heidi, 2016).

Gray, Jonathan; Gerlitz, Carolin; Bounegru,

Liliana put emphasis on the fact that the effective data

and information cannot be limited to vospriyatiem

information needed her active processing and

evaluation.

John. McDougall, M. Readman and F. Wilkinson

focus that different visual technology in the digital

environment allow you to develop and enhance the

quality of interaction between students and teachers.

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