Advantages to Using Visio

As a required assignment to my Strategic Information Systems class at Montclair State University, we were asked to download Microsoft Visio and take the initial tour of all the functionalities of the software.  Being that I was lucky enough to be a part of the first group to serve as consultants, I took it upon myself to create some organizational charts relative to the Electronic Data Capture system that P&G uses to complete their clinical trials for investigative new drugs.  Here's what I came up with.

 As you can see, I was able to construct two very fluent and informative flow charts to explain some vital information about the Electronic Data Capture system that P&G employs.  Visio allowed me to select different colors to add fluidity to my charts and the creative freedom to organize my thought process.

But I am not here to show off my computer skills and how quickly I can learn a certain Microsoft program, although this may help to mention on some job interviews.  I am here to praise the functionality of Microsoft Visio.  Coming from an educational background with a number of years teaching in a public school classroom, I see perpetual use to Microsoft Visio in creating visual aids to all types of learners, especially the visual ones.  Statistics state that the percent of learners who consider themselves visual is upwards of 65%.  Visio is the tool that maximizes the potential to create supplementary materials for nearly every educational topic, requiring a small sense of creativity.

I literally just took approximately five minutes to create a flow chart for the categorization of quadrilaterals for any geometry class.  I am so impressed with how simple Visio makes these efforts.

Although Powerpoint now has the capabilities to create flow chart, it does not seem to have the "user-friendly" aura that Visio offers for these types of charts.  The world of education should already be using resources such as Visio to save time in lesson preparation, to exhibit information in a simple and concise manner, and to present a majority of visual learners with an exhibit that helps them retain the information more fluently.  I say all this with disregard to the current budget crisis that most schools are facing knowing that a school district would rather keep one more custodian on staff than to obtain a license for some Microsoft developer software.  This is another issue that I have with the world of education... it's more of a "get by with the resources available" when it should be "what is the best way to deliver this material to maximize student learning?"  Teachers are creative and they have the potential to increase student achievement if they make the effort to implement so cutting-edge software and other resources. 

So what I am saying is that if I had access to Microsoft Visio when I was teaching high school geometry, my lessons would include more functional, more appropriate, more visually attractive learning supplements that offer the potential to help my students, my school, and colleagues. 

So how do we get teachers to use new software to recreate educational material in a more approriate manner?  This is a question of whether school budgets will allow this and whether teachers are willing to break away with the methods that they have grown comfortable with.