Visual Literacy and Technology

Do you wish your students can interpret and critique images that they understand? Then try and use visual literacy. It creates a thinking environment with, about and through pictures. 
Visual Literacy is the way someone interprets an image to effectively communicate. Sometimes visuals are used with text or alone. Teachers are using them to relay information to students. Here is a new visualization of concepts in the ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

Visual Literacy Array based on ACRL’s Visual Literacy Standards by D. Hattwig, K. Bussert, and A. Medaille 

Copyright 2013 The Johns Hopkins University Press. This image first appeared in PORTAL: LIBRARIES AND THE ACADEMY, Volume 13, Issue 1, January 2013, p. 75.

Teachers can combine visual literacy with the Internet to communicate effectively with students using less text. It can take place of pages of power points or lectures. Simply by replacing with images, videos and audio students can get the same information in less time. 

There are many types of visual literacy you can use in your classroom. Here is a list you can try:

• Photos
• Story boards
• Videos
• Cartoons
• Advertisements

There are many strategies you can use when you use them. All of them are based around discussions and what students see. You can use formal formats such as charts for the students to record ideas.

The Internet can play a huge role in your classroom if you plan for it. I plan to use blogging in my classroom in place of writing journals. Look at how this classroom have taken on Blogging as a hobby.  Blogging is a great way to get students to start writing!