Preferences for visualizing predictions with metaphors were a matter of personal choice, with students wanting to choose their own metaphor¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Student preferences among weather, tree, and smiley-face metaphors for visualizing predictions were a matter of personal choice, and students said the choice of metaphor should be made by each student. → Herodotou 2025

Evidence¶

Herodotou 2025¶

Herodotou, C., Shrestha, S., Comfort, C., Andrews, H., Mulholland, P., Bayer, V., Maguire, C., Lee, J. & Fernandez, M. (2025). A Participatory Approach to Designing a Student-Facing Dashboard for Online and Distance Education. Journal of Learning Analytics, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.18608/jla.2025.8481

q2 · i? · design · r2

Thematic analysis of Activity 2 mock-up discussions found opposing and supporting views for each of three metaphors: the tree metaphor was seen as "less judgmental" and showing growth, the weather metaphor as more neutral, and sad faces as potentially upsetting. The article concludes metaphor choice should be made by each student.

"Overall, it was noted that the choice over which metaphor to be used should be made by each student."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Comparative dashboard features found less support among online students than recommendations and contact features — related
• Metaphoric competence is proposed to be central to all aspects of language use, including grammatical and sociolinguistic competence — related
• Learning Styles Matching Does Not Improve Learning — related
• Students strongly prefer qualitative tree visualizations over quantitative radar charts of classroom collaboration — related
• Students avoided metaphorical visualizations they perceived as childish or insufficiently rigorous, signaling disciplinary legitimacy concerns even when the tools could help them — related