Area to be improved

Why this area holds promise

Steps to be taken

Lack of feedback or assessment

Users would have a clearer idea of exactly what they had learned.

1. identify areas where assessment and/or feedback would be most helpful
2. identify most promising method of assessment and /or feedback for the particular task
3. implement these techniques on small parts of the software at a time.
4. Write a manual of possible lesson plans for educators.

Lack of persistence of user projects

Users could share their work with teachers and other learners.

1. Identify best projects for users to be able to share with a group
2. Create a website on which users can share their work
3. track the hits on that website
4. change the website accordingly
5. publicize the site

Lack of scaffolding

Users who don’t initially understand could be led through the exercises.

1. identify areas where more scaffolding would be most helpful to learners
2. study teachers to get an idea of how best to walk students through exercises

Lack of collaborative learning

Users could interact with each other to foster a learning community.

1. Design the website suggested above to support collaborative learning via presentation of visual thinking work
2. Provide capabilities for students to add to the site using alternate authoring tools.

Lack of applicability to a particular course of study

Schools and Universities would be able to integrate it into an existing curriculum.

1. Create add-on modules that would provide exercises in visual thinking that catered to specific subject matters such as math, art, chemistry, etc.
2. Create teaching lessons that incorporate VizAbility for all add-on module subject areas.