Talking Stick - July/August 2015 - 55

on buzz words such as "activities"
and "student success," which helps
to draw the reader in. At the same
time, it does not deliver the entire
message or key points. This gives
the audience a reason to continue
reading. Ultimately, blog titles capture
the interest of the audience, but they
do not deliver the key point in the
same way a journalist would.
There are also differences in
the content of journalistic and blog
writing. The blogger often includes
content with a more personal
nature - perhaps even a personal
story or narrative - to further build
connections with the reader. An
opening story about the author's own
involvement in a hall council could
help build a common experience
with readers in residence life who
either participated in such activities
themselves or personally worked with
many students who have done so.
A blog may also contain items such
as photos, drawings, and graphics
to make the piece more visually
appealing.
For longer blogs, the narrative will
likely include catchy subheaders with
key points and additional promises
or some other type of benefit from
continuing to read. In the case of oncampus activities, while the title hints
that engagement supports student
success, the key data supporting
it is not delivered until later in the
blog. The subheaders could be the
five main points referenced in the
title. For example, one could be
"On-Campus Activities Support
Social Integration." The section
could include data points from
survey results that illustrate how
71 percent of students who often or
very often participate in residence
hall programs and activities reported
that their housing experience
helped improve their interpersonal
relationships, as opposed to only
40 percent of students who rarely
or never participate in programs.
For the purpose of presenting

When a Picture Is Worth a
Thousand Words
Trying to make assessment results more powerful? Many housing
and residence life professionals also are putting increased
emphasis on the visual elements they use for presentations and
reports. For visual and spatial learners, traditional PowerPoint
presentations - especially those simply filled with an ocean of
text - can create obstacles to receiving and retaining information.
Similarly, text-heavy or number-heavy tables, lengthy bullet
points, and even complicated graphs can muddle the main
points of a data story. Furthermore, considering that researchers
such as William C. Bradford claim that as many as 65 percent of
individuals are visual learners, this growing focus on visuals may
be the smart way to go.
Artists have been exploring visual and spatial communication
for decades. They draw on specific strategies to focus attention
and provoke reactions, tools such as elements (lines, colors,
shape, texture, space, and form) and principles (unity/harmony,
balance, hierarchy, proportion, scale/proportion, dominance/
emphasis, and similarity/contrast). To best learn from artists,
one needs to determine what the focus of an assessment
presentation will be as well as what the desired reaction is. From
there, the presenter must be able to capitalize on visual tools and
principles.
Think about this version of storytelling within the context
of student staff training. If the statistics hold true, 6 out of 10
resident assistants learn best visually. How could presentations
at RA training be either a huge hit or a disastrous miss? Think of
how to display survey data highlighting the top challenges faced
by first-year students as they transition to college. Percentages
and long lines of text may obscure the point. On the other
hand, a visual black and white photo of a lonely looking student
combined with a percentage of homesick students (utilizing the
artist's tools of the color element and principle of dominance)
may be more memorable and clear.
While assessment professionals may be unlikely to possess
superior artistic skills, that does not mean they cannot think
about the elements and principles and how to apply them to
presentations and reports. When using text in presentations, one
can simplify to get the point across. Users can choose powerful
images and combine them with data. Or the assessment officer
can partner with artists, designers, or other visually creative
people, perhaps staff from the communications or marketing
office who are already inclined to tell stories through words and
pictures. No matter the approach, the artistic approach to visuals
can be powerful for sharing assessment data.
- Matthew Venaas and Sherry Woosley
JULY + AUGUST 2015

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Talking Stick - July/August 2015

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