Purpose

This paper aims to present an interpretation of freehand drawings produced by a sample of final year degree level learners in response to the question: “What is civic engagement”? The aim in using this approach, with final year degree learners from different countries, but pursuing the same degree, was to compare and contrast their understanding of civic engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

Learners completed their drawings and then discussed their drawings in small groups. All of their drawings were initially examined quantitatively before a sample of six drawings were selected for in-depth qualitative examination.

Findings

Using learner-generated drawings enables learners convey visually what can be challenging to verbalise. After the exercise, some learners discovered that they had a good basic appreciation of civic engagement.

Research limitations/implications

Describing civic engagement pictorially forced participants to think about what the essence of civic engagement was for them.

Originality/value

This study shows how a collaborative learning experience, rather than a competitive comparison of performance, facilitates learners readily demonstrating their level of understanding and appreciation for civic engagement.

中文翻译：

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使用视觉表示技术来理解大学生对各国公民参与的看法

目的

本文的目的是对最后一个学位课程的学生样本回答以下问题产生的徒手绘画进行解释：“什么是公民参与”？来自不同国家但攻读相同学位的最终学位学习者使用这种方法的目的是比较和对比他们对公民参与的理解。

设计/方法/方法

学习者完成他们的图纸，然后分小组讨论他们的图纸。在选择六个图纸样本进行深入定性检查之前，首先对所有图纸进行了定量检查。

发现

使用学习者生成的绘图，使学习者可以直观地传达口头表达所面临的挑战。练习后，一些学习者发现他们对公民参与有了很好的基本认识。

研究局限/意义

用图片描述公民参与，迫使参与者思考公民参与的本质是什么。

创意/价值

这项研究表明，协作式学习体验而不是竞争性的绩效比较如何帮助学习者轻松地展示出他们对公民参与的理解和欣赏水平。