Wayfinding

I hope everyone's first(ish) week back to the academic calendar was okay. I know that many folk talk about how this time of year is a time when routines are reinforced or created and that is certainly the case for me right now. It also a time of wayfinding which is also the case for me (if you read my post last week (opens in new window), you know why). But this also has me thinking a lot about the pedagogical wayfinding that happens in HigherEd spaces. Within user experience (UX) spaces wayfinding is crucial to design, but also a space where a lot of assumptions are made, especially around accessibility and how users will navigate a site or tool. So today I want to talk a bit about where wayfinding finds itself in eduspaces and what we can do to make spaces, processes, and experiences a bit easier to navigate. I will break it down into three areas, wayfinding in the physical environment, wayfinding in the classroom environment, and wayfinding in the online environment (see modelling wayfinding). There are definitely other spaces and places to consider but I will start there and welcome any other conversations and ideas. 

The Physical Environment

Orientation time is a time of intense signage on college and university campuses. Often times campuses have older buildings where new additions have been added to the older buildings and so the naming of buildings is modified. We see this all the time with the addition of the word "new" in front of building names, like "the New North building" which assumes that the person knew what the old North building was. Or when someone gives money to rename a building and then those with institutional memory still call it by its old name, and the newer people call it by its endowed name (I see you SkyDome, lol). 

Physical wayfinding also requires deep accessibility awareness. Often how to get from point A to point B on campus assumes that someone can use stairs or doesn't need an elevator, or is okay with walking 20 minutes non-stop. Once those Orientation signs disappear (as they will this week), what is left to tell people how to get to where they need to go? I know a couple of students asked me this week how to get to particular classrooms in the building where my office is and I had to give a, "I'm so sorry I am new too" answer. We often joke when a building or series of buildings is difficult to navigate, or say "oh don't worry it is so difficult to find a room in that building." But making light of the lack of wayfinding issue does not actually help wayfinding. Part of this is actually an architectural version of rigour/hidden curriculum discourse. If you belong here, you will know where to go, if you can't figure it out, well...And so lets move away from John Houseman in The Paper Chase, and reflect on how this is literally a structural problem.

The Classroom Environment (Pedagogy)

In a similar way, the pedagogical environment is also a space that requires wayfinding for many reasons. In some ways the syllabus acts as a wayfinding document; it outlines due dates, it notes policies, it flags topics. But beyond this are the weekly outlines that each class meeting can start with, highlighting topics, activities, and things to think about going forward. However, there are also things built into pedagogies that help support wayfinding. Instructors use all kinds of pedagogical signposting in eduspaces. It can be verbally flagging where the discussion is in relation to topics. It can be using images as a backdrop for discussion. It could be using culturally or temporally relevant examples. Instructors can help students find their way through topics, ideas, and reflections in different ways. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), helps support some of this wayfinding, through choice models to make learning meaningful. All of this to say pedagogy is just as much about supporting finding one's way, as the built environment.

The Online Environment

Finally, the online environment is one where wayfinding is also important and where design can support users finding what they need. There is a long standing joke about how websites for HigherEd institutions are the place where people go to never find what they need. Often search functions don't work well, and there is always an assumption that folk will know how to use a hamburger menu (opens in new window), when most don't even know what a hamburger menu is. The same thing with the assumption that folk will know to click on an accordion menu (opens in new window), or that they will assume something is an accordion menu when it isn't. When we are designing courses in learning management systems (LMS) sometimes that LMS (Canvas, Blackboard, Brightspace) forces a navigation that is not intuitive to some users. This is where wayfinding is also really important. Short 2 minute videos guiding users to where to find what they are looking for can help. So can "where to find this" type FAQ documents. Getting feedback from others in the vein of "can you find X on here?" can also help support design edits that you are not thinking of because you are used to navigating the page, the system or the tools. 

Wayfinding in Your Spaces

Wayfinding is really important to supporting learning, and ultimately in supporting a sense of belonging. And I know there is a lot being written about and discussed about belonging in HigherEd, but one way that folk determine or reflect on if this a place for them, is if they can find the place they are actually looking for. I am slowly getting used the transit system here, and I can now find at least two coffee places on campus without getting lost, and two places to sit outside to drink it. Part of this wayfinding for me has been Google Maps and repetition. Just like I am getting into new routines for myself to help support my quality of life, such as first thing I do when I get home is open my bag and put my plastic lunch containers in the sink to wash, there will be new wayfinding needs that appear for yourself, your colleagues, and students as the term progresses. I would love to hear about wayfinding in your spaces as the semester has started. What new spaces did you need to find? What spaces are still elusive to you because of poor signage? What websites remain an Everest in terms of finding what you need?