Presented By: Misti Sharp, University of Florida
Co-Authors: Jeanette Mary Andrade, University of Florida

Background
Traditional modalities to assess a students' comprehension of complex systems may be through an oral presentation and/or a written report. To further expand students critical thinking skills, comprehension, and technological skills, other methods such as diagrams may be used in place of the traditional oral and written modalities. This presentation will review the use of diagramming in agricultural classes, different software options, benefits and trade-offs in assessing student learning.

Methods
During Fall 2023 in two undergraduate courses "Agrotourism and Food Systems” and “Introduction to Food Systems”, assignments were provided to students (n=77 and n=14, respectively), in which they had to represent their concepts of the food system, results from a food environmental scan and infographics using a diagram approach. Students were provided a small prompt for the assignments with no restrictions on the type of system to use to produce these diagrams.

Results
Students predominately chose Canva for these assignments in addition to PowerPoint and Plectica. From grading and reflection of the faculty, benefits of using a diagram approach allowed for students to visualize the complexities of the food systems and food environments, they engaged more senses, enhanced the technological and communication skills, diversified the student learner, and provided a broader diversity of perspectives. The trade-offs of using this approach were cost, limited clarity of student work if no written modality was provided/required, technical skills of students varied and may not have increased from start to end of the course, and evidence of critical thinking skills varied dependent on the assignment/prompt provided to the students.

Conclusions
A diagram approach may be beneficial in aiding students' development of technical and critical thinking skills when discussing complex information. This approach can be applied in a variety of contexts and is strengthened by considering the student learning outcomes.