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After reading the Arts, Brain and Cognition article, I searched “brain music” on Spotify and turned it on while doing my homework. I immediately felt distracted and almost turned it off. I stopped myself and left it on for about 15 minutes more, but then I decided it just wasn’t for me. I listen to a lot of music, but never while reading or doing homework – my brain just can’t seem to focus with it on. But I will try this “brain music” later while doing yardwork and cooking (after school!).

Honestly, I’m unsure exactly how my actual learning is affected by visual art. I think perhaps that art I either really love or strongly dislike may affect my attitude and thus my learning, but most falls somewhere in between and so may not have a big impact. I have a notebook for work that I spent over $25 on in the hospital giftshop – it is BEAUTIFUL. I felt ridiculous spending that much, but I knew it would make me happy ever day and it has. Has it actually made me more productive, who knows. Attitude certainly affects work, so maybe. This notebook has a mountain scene on the cover. In general, scenes of the outdoors, plants, trees – attract me. But I also like human faces. I am generally turned off by primary colors. This is random, but I thought the movie Fantastic Fungi was so visually stunning – I do think I learned more because of that.  Many of the images of the interconnectedness of the mycelium have really stuck with me.

So yes, I do think art can affect our learning, but its tough because if the style is something that turns someone else off, you may accomplish the opposite of what you are trying to do.

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Art, design and beauty have a strong relationship to my learning, and to the way I develop learning activities. First of all, I am not an artist. I can't draw or paint, my days of creating music were back in the 90's; yet I love beautifully designs. I love use of color and texture, use of images and font, the way a speaker uses tone, cadence and word choice to paint a picture. When I am the learner, I can be COMPLETELY distracted by a crappy slide deck. I cannot stand it when the words are too small to read, or when the presenter reads the slides. I hate a slide deck that is void of color, or worse yet, is so overwhelmed with color it becomes distracting. I get caught up when there are spelling or punctuation errors, or when there is inconsistent formatting.
When I create curriculum, or plan a flyer or put together a slide deck, I absolutely think about the emotions I want the audience to experience. I plan to pause to let something important sink in. I use a slide as an opener or as a period to a thought. I think about the color of the slide or the tone of the image I want to accompany what I am teaching.  I am certainly no PowerPoint wizard, but I also feel like I have used some of the tools to enhance the presentation.
In terms of accessibility and equity, there are always implications, in all we do, to exclude a person or a group. For example, if I spend a lot of time adding color for emphasis, a person who is color blind would not be able to receive that part of the presentation. I may use references, or images that a person who was not raised in the US would understand, or those images may be culturally irrelevant, or worse, culturally disrespectful.  I have also had the experience where a manager was really good at harnessing technology that made beautiful newsletters, and the unti sort of revolted saying she should be spending her time on other more important things. So in some ways making things too beautiful can backfire. When thinking about equity and inclusion, I work really hard to ensure that I am representing nurses of all beautiful shades of skin and ethnicities. We have made a request of our education department to purchase more mannequins that do not have Caucasian appearance and skin tone. And I work hard to use inclusive language not only in the words I use, but in the words I include in presentations. An example is referring to pregnant and birthing people, versus mothers and pregnant women.
I think style and aesthetics is either going to help draw the audience in, turn them away, or be distracting. It is going to have an impact, even if the person preparing the presentation doesn't think about it. I certainly formulate opinions quickly about a presentation and I keep that in mind when I am preparing my own.

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This is a photo of a staircase on a beach I took in Newport, OR that I find visually appealing.

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I definitely think the way something looks or the way something is presented impacts how it is received--especially when considering online learning platforms. The content might be excellent but if it's not presented in a visually appealing way, much of what was hoped to be conveyed may be lost. Using simple and relevant visuals are most helpful for my learning-whether it is a diagram, photo, or artwork--I want it connect to whatever I'm learning.

In terms of design, I like things to formatted in similar ways. On Canvas, that might mean the modules are formatted the same way from week to week. Or in a PowerPoint presentation, information might be presented in the same format from slide to  slide. I think this helps keeps things consistent and helps learners organize thoughts and know what to expect.

Here is a good article that talks about design principles in online learning. Within this article are some examples of how content can be improved simply by changing its visual appearance. I'll put those here.

Thinking about the implications of art, design and visuals on equity and accessibility has been interesting to ponder and I've enjoyed reading everyone else's thoughts and links. I think if using visuals with people in them, then the people in the visuals should represent all types of people rather than one group. And, rather than one photo that shows a diverse group, I think they should all represent some diversity because that's real life. I also recently designed some curriculum on Canvas and Canvas helps to make files and photos accessible by providing opportunities to describe photos and makes sure uploaded files can be opened in an accessible way. I also think it's important to be flexible and ask to be evaluated on if content was inclusive and equitable and be willing to make changes if needed.

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I think design is critical when creating an educational program or system... without forethought of design, the precious commodity of time can be wasted. Similarly, one can have a vault full of important information but without proper design it can be misunderstood or missed completely. For example, I've found some courses on Canvas to be extremely easy to find all the information I need and others to be extremely difficult to figure out where anything needed can be found. While design needs be paired with efficient communication, the design can make things faster or more time consuming.

I've found things that are visually pleasing (muted colors, symmetry, well spaced, high contrast between words/backgrounds) easier to engage with and put in any extra time that may be needed to succeed in the course. Alternately, those that are difficult to look at, require more concentration to find, or need increased focus just to locate necessary information are inherently harder for me to find the motivation to access. It's not that I'm unable to do them, but that it is extremely more demanding. Which, when I have a limited amount of time or energy, it could make me unable to access in the moment - often requiring me to "put it off" until a time when I have more in reserve.

Along the same lines, I do think beauty and art with a specific purpose can be extremely helpful. Using a picture or image or other visual to help support an idea discussed can help put pieces together that will otherwise be ethereal. Pictures need to have a connection for me otherwise they will detract from the learning as too much mental energy would go toward trying to figure out why, for example, a picture of a bird was in the content about mental health.

A picture of two or three different things put together can make a powerful statement that otherwise would take a lot longer and quite a few words to try and make the same mental image.

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"Looks" that speak to me and draws me into learning and cultivates my interest are simple and minimalistic, with a degree of creativity. It can be distracting when learning materials are too colorful and "loud," but I do appreciate when materials are clean, organized, and attractive to grab and maintain my attention. A degree of creativity speaks to me because it indicates that it was created with effort and some passion on the topic.  I do not like power points with just text and no pictures, but I also do not like bright and busy slide decks. There is a balance of presenting information in an attractive way that does not distract from the content.

How content is presented is also important for retention. I like when content utilizes visual cues, such as underlining and highlighting, to emphasize important parts. If the material is just a block of text, I am less likely to retain the information. I have a preference for a visual learning style, so I learn best with pictures, graphs, and pictographs that demonstrate the material. However, if there are too many visuals and examples, I can get information overload and I become unsure of what is important to look at and end up missing vital pieces of the content.

What pictures are included in educational materials can also promote inclusivity and or perpetuate biases and racist principles. For example, it is important to include pictures and examples of different skin colors when giving examples of skin conditions for assessments. Pictures and representations should not associate with stereotypes and stigmas. Accessibility is also important for the visually and hearing impaired. Fonts should be simple, large, and easy to read. Videos should include captions as well. Captions for me are really important because I am not an auditory learner, and captions help me engage with a video!

Click here for an infographic on tips on how to make an effective presentation with visuals. I agree with all the tips in the infographic!

Click here for tips on inclusive imagery and on how to create inclusive visual content. I think it is so important that as educators we take that pause and conscious effort to make sure our educational materials are inclusive and representative of the diverse populations we serve and collaborate with as healthcare professionals.

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I think that art can have an impact on engagement. Visuals can help draw the audience into what you are describing and can create connections to the content being presented. I find that in relation to art and learning I do best with connecting music with content. I really enjoyed one of our first classes in the MN program that Dr. Eagen-Torkko taught which was our Disparities and Social Justice in Healthcare class where we created a playlist of music for one of our assignments. We were asked to pick songs that relate to social justice and describe their meaning for us personally. It was a great way for me to connect the topic with something I am passionate about, which is music. The assignment challenged me to connect music to the topics in the course and create connections I hadn’t thought to make. It made the assignment and course content more emotionally impactful compared to if I was asked to simply write an assignment about how social justice has affected me personally.

Another area that art impacted my learning was when I was learning anatomy and physiology. To understand the different body systems such as the cardiovascular, neuronal synapses and others I found it helpful to draw them out by hand. Drawing each of the structures and labeling them helped me to visualize the structures and remember what they looked like. It also helped to describe the function of each of the anatomical parts and link it to the structure in the drawings I created. In this way the art I created by drawing helped me to learn a difficult subject I struggled with during my first year of college.

The kind of look that tends to draw me in and cultivates my interest in learning is a clean clear-cut design. I prefer logical organization of learning modules in sites such as Canvas. I often find that random visuals that attempt to add aesthetics can be distracting or unnecessary. I prefer visuals in the form of concept maps or visuals that apply directly to the course content. I tend to prefer non-cluttered visuals that are not overwhelming with details. It detracts from my learning when slides or learning sites are cluttered with lots of visuals that are not related to content or are there to look pretty and do not serve a clear purpose.

In terms of equity, I understand that there are learners that have learning preferences that tend towards visuals and therefore I think they should be included in learning platforms. However, I do think we need to be mindful that the art and visual aids we choose are purposeful and contribute to everyone’s learning. I would argue that we should be creative and be open to including assignments and other learning activities that can accommodate different learning styles and give students choices and voice in their coursework.

~Morgan Sidles

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I really like to use my own creativity in both creating lesson plans and in the accomplishment of my own assignments. When I create a PowerPoint, I like to find a meaningful image to associate with each slide. I believe that to move people in the cognitive realm of learning, it really helps to engage their affective, or feeling, side. Our feelings lead to our very motivation to learn something new. Also, the readings seem to bear out the fact that art and music do activate pathways in the brain that improve cognitive function. On my end, I enjoy a rich visual presentation, I believe it helps me to learn. The real trick to making the kind of presentations I am attempting, is finding just the right image to fit the content, that can be really, really challenging. The desire to create things that are beautiful as well as educational has really stretched my learning. I have had to master technology I felt was impossible to even begin to create what I like to present. I do feel good about my progress in learning to create beautiful presentations.
As for my own learning process, I really only do well when I am encouraged to be creative in my work. I really liked the middle school educator’s take on letting students use their raw creativity. In truth, most of the time, school leaves me feeling stifled and worse, sometimes I feel like my faculty is trying to put a muzzle of conformity on me. The bad news, for me, is that I often can not successfully conform. So when I am actually allowed to be creative, I not only perform better, I am happier.

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I love functionality, it’s my middle name. I love art. I love bright colors and bold lines. I love bringing the two together. Being able to bring the two together in the right balance is a challenge I enjoy. I love my very practical road bike with its bright pink handlebars. I love my black colored house, with the brightly colored side patio. (Pictured above if all went well.) While I embrace the functional, I also need the flare to bring a smile to my face. I think this mix of functional and flare is also my philosophy in how I approach my learning and teaching. As a learner, I prefer content delivered to me in a straightforward manner, with a little bit of something to make it interesting. As an educator, I want to design learning activities that are reputable, valuable, and interesting. Since I know I like the bold and bright, I know that it is important to keep it in small doses. Just like salt, too much takes away the flavor. I recognize that art, design, beauty and it’s relationship to learning is unique to an individual. I think any aspect of art and design in learning is the opportunity for self-expression, self-compassion, and connections with others. I like an aesthetic that tells me a little something about the teacher or facilitator but doesn’t punch me in the face with distractors.

I have spent some time exploring possible implications and effects of accessibility or equity and I continue to reflect on this one. I do want to share some material I came across as I continue exploring this piece. I’m especially excited to explore the Making and Being book. I know it is directed to the art community, but safety checklists were directed towards aviation and teamSTEPPS came from the military. It makes sense to me using something created by artists in the nursing education realm.

5 ways art can foster equity in the classroom https://medium.com/inspired-ideas-prek-12/5-ways-art-can-foster-equity-in-the-classroom-169d0598c776

Growth mindset through art- https://www.nea.org/professional-excellence/student-engagement/tools-tips/encouraging-growth-mindset-through-art

Book Making and Being https://makingandbeing.com/

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To me, art can be a real attention grabber. Which we all know in today’s world with so many distractions, sometimes we need something to draw us in and keep us feeling engaged. I think I have spoken on this before, that I also believe it can be too much if it's excessive or distracting from the learning process. For example, when attempting to explain the functionality of heart rhythms, or even the flow of blood through the body, I think it is appropriate and beneficial to have some art form because the visualization is necessary to articulate the point. However, when someone is trying to learn math (speaking for myself), and there is a cartoon talking about how to solve a math problem, I find it more distracting because it isn't necessary to articulate the point. Obviously in this scenario, the instructor drawing out the math problem and providing an explanation is great, but having a cartoon explaining the math problem would be distracting. I hope that makes sense. I really enjoy art when it helps aid the learning process, not when it is there “just because”. I do also appreciate that some people would continue to feel engaged with the cartoon explaining the math problem, I am sure it is not distracting for everyone and may actually help keep them focused and interested.

As far as “looks”, the only example I can think of that is utilized regularly we can all relate too would be Canvas. I enjoy that it has color elements, simple design, and clean layout. This is technology based art, and I enjoy that it can be utilized to enhance my learning (for the most part). For me, Canvas is just enough yet still stimple and allows for personalization in the art components, that it is pleasing to the eye but not overkill.

Here is an example of art that is distracting for me (math related):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C44WxGkJlCg

And here is the same concept (fractions) utilizing art that is not distracting for me-simple design:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=362JVVvgYPE

Thanks!
Taylor Smith

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I have never thought too deeply about why I like visuals while learning; besides, I just like pictures and colors. Thinking more about it, I realize that the use of art will attract my eye, and then my brain will become more interested. Maybe because art helps to tell the story or set the tone. I love to scrapbook, and I use colors, shapes, stickers, and pictures all to help tell the story that is being represented on the page. Since the use of art attracts me to want to learn more, it is a useful way to get my attention so I will be motivated to learn more about what is being taught. Art can be distracting or prevent me from learning or engaging as well. As Taylor mentioned, less can be more. If there is too much art or visuals, the sensory input is overwhelming, and I can shut down. Also, if the art is scary or depressing, I tend to reject it and not want to engage to avoid negative feelings. For learning, I enjoy art that is colorful, has a positive vibe, and brings me feelings of happiness. I think this is because learning takes effort and can be challenging, creating difficult emotions like confusion or insecurity, so if the art is uplifting, it can help to keep me mentally in a good place. Also, the positive feelings that I get from art can make me more motivated as well.
When thinking about art and the implications of accessibility and equity, the first thing that comes to mind for me are people with visual disabilities. Due to not being able to see the visuals, they don't have the same experience as students who can see. So as a teacher, could you use another form of art to support their learning, like playing calming music to elicit peaceful, happy feelings? I know Shelly mentioned a teacher that did this, and sometimes it was distracting. This is good to note and is a reminder to do an assessment of the class and ask if they would like it or feel benefited from it.
Lastly, I found an interesting video on how art can help improve visual and communication skills.

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How art can help you analyze - Amy E. Herman

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Can art save lives? Not exactly, but our most prized professionals (doctors, nurses, police officers) can learn real world skills through art analysis. Studying art like René Magritte's Time Transfixed can enhance communication and analytical skills, with an emphasis on both the seen and unseen. Amy E.

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I cannot imagine a world without art! I see it in everything I do, my clothes, my car, the music I hear, and even in healthcare. Have you ever seen the slides where they stain cells and wonder at its intricacy?  I have and do often. Art and I are co-companions in life. I paint and see how my brain can try to produce something I imagine or see in a photograph. It never comes out the way I expect, which is sometimes because I still lack the ability. It provides a constant stream of practice opportunities. I also like the mess at the end, and how my table looks like a hurricane of color, and shows the effort so vividly. I quilt and love to cut and strip fabric to manipulate it into a pleasing re-arrangement of color and design. These typically turn out the way I expect, and I usually gift them to others. My favorite is when the person does not know I have spent my time and efforts making something for them and they are happily surprised. It brings a small token of joy to my life. I have seen artwork and colors that are distracting, but they are also interesting. If something is asymmetrical my brain struggles trying to arrange it back to symmetrical and lined up because I have OCD, which can distract my learning. I had a class where the instructor played music during out group meetings. It was meant to be something to keep you moving and happy, but there are days I need quiet to really think through what I am focusing on. I stayed in a hotel once that was owned by indigenous people and they had a haunting portrait of a lady who watched  me attempt to sleep at night. Each time I stayed at this hotel, she would stare at me and I found it nearly impossible to study and sleep. I finally took her off the wall one night, and turned her to face the wall. When I checked out, I told the concierge what I had done and she started laughing. Apparently I am not the only one who had the issue. It was a gorgeous painting, but surreal enough to distract me. Simple and clean look appeals to me for learning activities, and photo's of individuals doing things that relate to the learning helps me visualize. When I taught nursing students in Bremerton, we redesigned our Canvas. I was so impressed by the redesign. The students had a much easier time navigating their coursework, which was all linked to the front page. Everything was branded to look the same for each program, so students would know where to find anything. Organization is also key, but I have found it needs to also make sense to my brain as the learner. Video's, journal articles, and extra's help me learn, and I will take time looking at everything before I ever start an assignment. Having things all available from the beginning helps me as well, I hate slow release classes. The learning isn't on my own non-linear timeline and circular way I learn.
Shelley

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Various studies revealed the efficiency of visual learning. A study revealed that participants retained 25% of written or spoken information but almost 80% of visual information after three hours. However, three days later, they were shown to have retained only 10-20% of written or spoken information but almost 65% of visual information. According to a study from MIT, 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. This is a huge proportion when all things are considered. With nine-tenths of the information we receive being obtained from visual means, we can understand a visual scene presented to us in just one-tenth of a second. Studies have shown that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text alone, meaning that if teaching methods rely solely on a singular method, without the inclusion of relevant visuals, then a huge amount of potential is being wasted, not allowing for the most sufficient levels of learning retention by the majority of people.

Art has been my passion throughout life. Engaging art has provided me with rich and creative learning experiences, facilitating and organizing the thinking process. I have used PowerPoint to prepare lectures and presentations, which helps me refine the teaching material to salient points and content. Class lectures can be typed in outline format, then refined as slides. PowerPoint's artistic effects are powerful for creating contrast and adding visual interest, even in integrating some of the kinesthetic aspects. I cannot imagine my teaching without PPT and its artistic features. The proper technique incorporated in PPT is the key to impact learning. The human senses maximize learning, and different learning styles (visual, auditory, read/write, and kinaesthetic) should be planned, explored, and implemented by well-trained instructors/teachers. That is possible through utilizing art and design. However, there are distractors, such as too many complex modalities in one slide or video in the concept. The most distractor is noise, music, or sound background embedded with over loud stimulus. Learning can be enhanced and provide impact only the sound auditory effects that are significant and relevant concepts and quiet enough to allow the learner to focus on visual or auditory learning at a time for the specific concept/subject. The bottom line is too many lines of context, too many colors, too many art effects and pictures, and too loud sounds are irritants and distractors to learners.

Understanding the characteristics of millennials of 21 century is crucial in designing teaching plans. They prefer a broad spectrum of learning strategies. The concept of learner style is more pronounced in this generation. They prefer learning materials delivered to cater to their visual, auditory, and even kinesthetic needs. Learner-centered and considering their styles in teaching can maximize their learning which can be significantly impacted by the utilization of art, design, beauty, and its relationship to their learning. Understanding the role of art and design is rooted from the understanding of human nature and senses in learning.

For accessibility and equity of learning, in PPT, videos in an auditory and visual format, it is essential to consider the learner with impairment. The most widely used feature to make videos accessible to people with hearing impairment is

the captions/subtitles function, which provides captions (also called “subtitles”) so that people who are deaf and hard of hearing get a text version of the speech and non-speech audio information needed to understand the content. The learner with visual impairment and vision loss will rely more on verbal descriptions to describe body movements or physical cues, including audiobooks, and kinesthetically by learning to read braille.