A Techno-Innovative Approach to Visual Communication Design in Geography Teaching: Canva

Abstract

Communication using visuals such as maps, graphics and concept maps has an important function in geography teaching. For effective geographical visual communication design, these visuals must first have a successful design. While visual design was previously an activity that could only be done by experts in this field, the tools developed with the support of technology have enabled many more people to make these designs even without any training. One of these tools is the Web 2.0 tool called Canva. Research shows that the visuals in the resources used in the geography teaching process are either incomplete or inaccurate. For this reason, the ability of geography teachers to make visual designs with Canva can eliminate this problem. For this, it is essential for geography teachers to be aware of the capabilities of this tool in visual communication design. In this context, the aim of this study is to reveal how the web 2.0 tool named Canva can be used in the teaching process of a geography course with examples. In order to achieve this goal, a descriptive literature review was conducted and document analysis, one of the qualitative research method designs, was used. According to the results obtained from the research, it was determined that Canva contains many geographical visuals, and these visuals can be used in different dimensions of geography teaching processes. At the end of the study, suggestions were made regarding the effect of Canva on the success of visual communication in the geography teaching process.