Course type: Online-Workshop

Target group: Postdoctoral researchers  

In cooperation with the University of Hohenheim.

This workshop deals with the visualization of scientific ideas and projects. Much like the traditional abstract as a written summary of a journal article, the graphical abstract has made its way into scientific publications as a visual summary. Beyond that specific purpose, it actually can be widely used in a variety of contexts, be it in a thesis defense, a conference talk, or on a poster. No matter what the context, a graphical abstract captures the viewer's attention, explains the science, and will be remembered. However, visualizing complex scientific ideas can be tricky. Where do you start? How do you organize the content? What is important, and what can be left out? How can abstract concepts be visualized? This course leads you through the different steps of creating a graphical abstract and includes an introduction to vector graphics.

After the course, you will …

• … be familiar with a systematic approach to generating a graphical abstract,
• … be able to visually structure your project,
• … be aware of resources and approaches to visualizing abstract concepts,
• … be able to digitally create custom vector graphics and icons in Affinity Designer,
• … understand the concept of vector graphics,
• … know the basics of graphic design such as the intentional use of color, line thickness, typography, etc.,
• … have learned about different graphic styles and have settled on your own style, and
• … have created a graphical abstract for your project.

Please note: In order to participate, you are requested to install the latest stable version of Affinity Designer (free trial version available, you will receive detailed instructions in advance) or Adobe Illustrator for use in the workshop. Please plan approximately four to eight hours for individual work between the two days of the course. To participate in the online course, you need a PC/laptop with a current browser as well as a headset (or speakers and a microphone), a webcam, and a stable Internet connection.

The workshop is aimed at postdocs and is offered by the University of Hohenheim. 2 places are available for postdocs from Konstanz.

Registration until 21 Feb 2025 by mail to: asd-veranstaltungen@uni-konstanz.de

Sabine Hoidn is a lecturer and Head of the Student-Centered Learning Lab at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Her research focuses on higher education teaching, learning and curriculum as well as management education. In particular, she consults and conducts research in the field of student-centered learning and teaching in higher and management education with her latest co-edited handbook titled The Routledge International Handbook of Student-Centered Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (2020). She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in management and education and conducts professional development lectures and workshops for faculty worldwide. She received a PhD in business education from the University of St. Gallen, and the venia legendi in educational science, especially higher education (PD) from the University of Zurich.