Presentation Summary:
Visual Literacy: An Introduction to the Implications and Resources for Educators
The aims of this summary are as follows: to define visual literacy, introduce key implications for educators, and provide an example of how it might be integrated in a classroom.
My initial readings and research on the topic made it clear: there is a critical need for the integration of visual literacy into our pedagogical approach. But for many educators it is unclear as to how we can best support our learners to acquire these skills. To begin, then, it is necessary to offer a definition of visual literacy so we were all working with the same understanding of how this term is pertinent to educators.
Visual Literacy is defined as:
“…a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials. A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture.
(Association of Colleges and Research Libraries (ACRL), 2012)
For our purpose as educators it is important to have a framework to understand what is expected of a Visually Literate Student; this is a learner who has the ability to:
- Determine the nature and extent of the visual materials needed
- Find and access needed images and visual media effectively and efficiently
- Interpret and analyze the meanings of images and visual media
- Evaluate images and their sources
- Use images and visual media effectively
- Design and create meaningful images and visual media
- Understand many of the ethical, legal, social, and economic issues surrounding the creation and use of images and visual media, and access and use visual materials ethically (ACRL, 2012)
There are unique skills required to read and engage meaningfully with images (including ethical and legal considerations.) And learners are now expected to implement and demonstrate learning that requires these visual literacy skills as part of the British Columbia Ministry of Education curriculum. Notably, the Ministry of Education now defines text to include visual communication and visual components.
For purpose of English Language Arts, the term “text” denotes any piece of spoken, written, or visual communication (e.g., a particular speech, essay, poem, story, poster, play, film). A text may combine oral, written, and/or visual components. (IPR p.262, 2007)
The Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLO) for English Language Arts include reading, viewing and thinking about texts:
Reading and Viewing, Grade 8
Purposes
- B3: View, both collaboratively and independently, to comprehend variety of visual texts, such as: broadcast media, websites, graphic novels, film and video, photographs, art, visual components of print media, student-generated materials. (p.49).
Thinking
- B8: Explain and support personal response to texts (p.50)
- B9: Interpret and analyse ideas and information from texts (p.50)
- B10: Synthesize and extend thinking about texts (p.50)
- B11: Use metacognitive strategies to reflect on and asses their reading and viewing. (p.50)
Features
- B12: Recognize and explain how structures and features of text shape readers’ and viewers’ construction of meaning…(p.51)
BC Ministry of Education
The activity component of this presentation provided an example of how we could use visual literacy skills to read and interpret an image. This activity could also serve as an introduction to a unit plan where students used visual literacy skills in sequential lessons to further develop their critical analysis of the images and visual texts they encounter in their daily lives.
The research and preparation for this presentation made a strong argument that educators should be reflective of our own visual literacy skills and to work toward stronger literacy in this area. By making this commitment we can better support learners as they acquire, navigate, and demonstrate their own visual literacy skills.
Link to Visual Literacy Lesson Plan: https://blogs.ubc.ca/lled368/files/2012/10/MayaSandersVisualLiteracyLessonPlan.pdf
Maya Medea Sanders
October, 2012
Bibliography, Including Resources for Teachers
“ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.” Association of College and Research Libraries. 2011. Web. 17. Sept. 2012. http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/visualliteracy
“Blindness and Visual Impairment.” Council for Exceptional Children. 2011. Web.17. Sept. 2012. http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Blindness_Visual_Impairments&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=37&ContentID=5625
“An Archive of Book Cover Designs and Designers.” Book Cover Archive. Jacobsen, Eric, and Ben Pieratt. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2012. http://bookcoverarchive.com/
“Judging a Book by Its Cover: the Art and Imagery of the Great Gatsby.” ReadWriteThink. 2012. Web. 17 Sept. 2012. http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/judging-book-cover-imagery-967.html?tab=4
“English Language Arts Curriculum Documents.” Ministry of Education – The Province of British Columbia. 2007. Web. 17 Sept. 2012. http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/subject.php?lang=en&subject=English Language Arts