Digital Communication Tools for Effective Academic Research and Teaching Practices
By PROF. DR. SAIM MEMON
It is perceptible, in sublime and outstanding journals or in the academic teaching profession where effective students’ engagement with illustrative diagrams-maps-plans-infographics are nowadays a paramount need. The use of flashy or highly illustrative and colourful graphical abstracts or ideas are important to engage both researchers and students. The year 2020 has put more strain in enforcing modern new practices in anew normal. It is a long list of the amount of software’s we use in these gruelling exigent situations for recording lectures, tutorials, meetings, collaborative research meetings, and management/administration. Everything we do and try our best for the purpose of expressing our genuine interest in bringing innovation with effective communication of novel ideas to scholars and helping students in acquiring their knowledge for the learning outcomes and not for the tick boxes.
So, we all love when technology works and we all love success stories. Behind the curtains/walls, there are so much failures, preparations and to make sure video lectures present the best realistic feelings with clarity and eye-contact in explaining complex engineering ideas. It has never been adequate because there is a need of effective diagrams, figures, illustrative images, infographics to explicitly explain ideas. In other words, speaking to the camera for hours require a level of enigmatic pretension and tools that we speak to 100’s of students.
Extraordinary situations require a bit of investment on achieving realistic and smart objectives in academic research and teaching profession. In other words, you can make a cup of chicken soup out of the sun but it would take time.
Although I have been comfortable in using MS Office and other software’s, I will continue to use it, but there are limitations. For example: (i) if I were to draw an electrical circuit diagram I would have to spend at least 30 minutes or to use Multisim or; (ii) If I were to draw a graphical abstract for a manuscript of a particular journal it would certainly take many hours, depending on the complexity of the idea or; (iii) if I were to draw a mind-map to share and work with research collaborators I would have to set up the meeting, discussions, minutes etc and then a particular Gantt chart or mind-map or planning diagram and then corrections changes, etc. These are just a few examples.
I decided to research on the best tools that not only save time but also help me in optimising my communication of ideas. I found Edraw Max, Edraw MindMaster and Edraw Infographics. Well, they are bit expensive but I bought them with full lifetime license. If had known these tools, I would have saved many months. I did a self-initiative cost analysis with an idea. My idea was, if I were to decide to travel abroad and spend at my holiday, which was not possible in 2020 and you know why, it would cost at least £800 or even if I were to decide to go for a holiday in the UK, which was risky because of the Pandemic in 2020, it would certainly cost at least £200. I decided and invested on my academic research and teaching profession from my pocket.
The next part was to learn these Edraw Max, Edraw Mindmaster and Edraw Infographics tools. It took about 3 hours to learn its functionalities. Of course, these tools have numerous features that it is almost impossible to enlist here, and I am still learning the vast number of features it offers. In simple words, any idea or story or thought can be presented using Edraw Max software. It is important to mention here that in the academic research, graphical abstract and diagrams are important that allow readers to perceive the conclusive or a particular aspect of the contribution of the research in the manuscript. It is also important to mention here that in the Engineering profession, where ideas are complex and no doubt written literature is very important but an informative diagram plays an important part in communicating your ideas effectively. It also applies to the academic teaching practices where students perceive more with diagrams and illustrations of the concepts than with pure text. I like text and specific details and it is important to know the complete story than just an illustrative figure.
The reason I bought Edraw MindMaster full licensed version is to use this Edraw MindMaster in developing ideas for collaborative research articles with collaborators around the world. For example, it allows me to share a unique link where the receiver can actively contribute to the diagram and add the complexities and possibilities of the contributions that he/she would make. Although, there are other platforms available but sometimes, video or voice chatting would just waste the ideas or writing minutes of the meeting would again for collaborator to read and contribute in a descriptive way. For example organising meetings and having collaborative discussions for hours would not document itself the ideas discussed unless we record videos but again the significance is to be smarter and utilise hours effectively where we should jump on to the actions rather than having discussions after discussions with minimum or lost results or creating a hole of misunderstandings. With this Edraw MindMaster, it has been possible for me to lead a project where individual contributions written by the author and simultaneously creating the Gantt chart where we all stick to the deadlines in order to achieve the research outcome on time. Of course, this is an advanced new method of collaboration where Edraw MindMaster can be used and thus require adaptive learning approach and willingness to utilise excellent maps and resource templates it offers. There are so many possibilities with Edraw MindMaster. For example, if I am not using the function of the online collaboration then it is still possible for me to draw my ideas and planning diagrams. Also, useful to draw spheres of the keywords of my research area.
The reason I bought Edraw Infographics is to use this tool to create posters of my research or to create large size posters for a conference that I organised in the past or to simply create a poster to explain a particular idea or tentative teaching plan or deadlines etc for a module in the academic teaching. It would take time but once the format is done it can be reutilised.
Extraordinary situations require a bit of investment on achieving realistic and smart objectives in academic research and teaching profession. In other words, you can make a cup of chicken soup out of the sun but it would take time.