A Collective Reflection on Surface and Substance in Visualization Teaching and Learning
Authors
Shehryar Saharan (University of Toronto), Jenny Long (University of Edinburgh), Ke Er Amy Zhang (University of Bergen), Ibrahim Al-Hazwani (University of Zurich), Alessia Musio (Freelance Designer & Lecturer), Narges Mahyar (City St George’s, University of London), Laura Garrison (University of Bergen), Uta Hinrichs (University of Edinburgh)
Abstract
Visualization pedagogy often asks students to make choices that extend beyond representation alone. Yet as visualization educators, we have repeatedly encountered moments in our own teaching where the relationship between a visualization's outward form and what shapes its production remains implicit. In such moments, students may learn to reproduce conventions without fully engaging with the assumptions and values that gave rise to them. We describe this relationship as one between surface (what a visualization looks like and appears to claim) and substance (the processes, values, and commitments that produced it). Drawing on collaborative reflective inquiry, we present eight situated, first-person reflections on moments from our own teaching where surface and substance came into question. Reading across these cases, we also present four tensions concerning intentionality, interpretation, pedagogical structure, and misalignment. Rather than resolving these tensions, we seek to trouble our teaching practices and examine the relative ease of surface over substance woven into how we teach, from the tools and examples we bring into the classroom to how we structure and evaluate student work. We conclude with reflective probes to help educators examine these tensions within their own teaching, and open a wider discussion within the community.