Addressing the Heterogeneity of Visualization in an Introductory PhD Course in the Swedish Context

TL;DR

This paper describes the design and implementation of an introductory visualization course for PhD students in Sweden, aimed at addressing the field's organizational heterogeneity and fostering interdisciplinary understanding.

Contribution

It presents a novel course structure that integrates field trips and cross-disciplinary interactions to help students grasp visualization's diverse landscape.

Findings

Course facilitated interdisciplinary understanding among students.

Students gained practical insights through field trips and research group interactions.

Lessons learned can guide similar doctoral course development.

Abstract

Visualization is a heterogeneous field, and this aspect is often reflected by the organizational structures at higher education institutions that academic researchers in visualization and related fields including computer graphics, human-computer interaction, and media design are typically affiliated with. It may thus be a challenge for new PhD students to grasp the fragmented structure of their new workplace, form collegial relations across the institution, and to build a coherent picture of the discipline as a whole. We report an attempt to address this challenge, in the form of an introductory course on the subject of Visualization Technology and Methodology for PhD students at the Division for Media and Information Technology, Link\"oping University, Sweden. We discuss the course design, including interactions with other doctoral education activities and field trips to multiple research groups and units within the division (ranging from scientific visualization and computer graphics to media design and visual communication). Lessons learned from the course preparation work as well as the first instance of the course offered during autumn term 2023 can be helpful to researchers and educators aiming to establish or improve similar doctoral courses.