The meme I created to summarize my research.
“Visual literacy can be defined as the ability to understand and create visual messages (Gangwer, 2015).” I thought about doing an infographic to teach about learning through visual literacy, but I changed ideas through the course when memes was brought up after one of my weekly posts. In both cases, images are used as a way to teach, learn, and process new material. I created the above meme, based on research and my own experiences.
Rather than just send in the meme, I wanted to share some of my research and reasoning behind its creation.
Images show in seconds what can take significantly longer to process in text alone and help to contextualize information. An early example of using visual literacy to teach concepts is through Walter Crane’s picture books. Crane sought to actively teach visual literacy through children’s books in the late 1800s and used images to help teach children to read (Korda, 2016).
An image from one of Crane’s books to help children learn to read.
Visual processing of information can be used for many different types of information. Ikea assembly instructions are a form of infographic where information is shared via images only, transcending language barriers.
Official IKEA instructions for what to do during a pandemic (Liffreing, 2020).
An infographic can serve as a visual abstract in higher academia. Infographics show a quick overview of key concepts and understandings, but do not get in depth with knowledge (Saunders, Horrell & Murray, 2017).
Saunders, Horrell and Murray (2017) gave three minimum criteria to create an infographic:
- Every picture should serve a purpose.
- Without text, the infographic should still say something.
- Infographics should provide a quick connection to the topic.
Aside from length, the main difference between an infographic and a meme in the case, would be that a meme doesn’t have any significance without text. A great example of this is when Reddit user Cataliades posted a picture of her cat (“Meet Grumpy Cat”, 2012).
Original Grumpy Cat image alongside the meme that made her famous.
Memes are a format that is accessible to a variety of skill levels. People can add text to a particular image, find an image to go with a text prompt, or create something original (“Memescape: Enabler Formats”, 2021). Hinchman and Chandler-Olcott (2018) say that memes allow us to summarize multiple articles and opinions at once. They also state that inferencing is required to understand memes, a higher-level literacy. Although scholarly discourse on memes is minimal at this point, there is still a lot of potential for them in academic settings such as:
- Summarizing lessons
- Assessing current knowledge on a topic before starting a new unit
- Asking questions
- Sparking discussion
- Examining current affairs and bias
With a whopping 65% of students being visual learners (Gangwer, 2015), memes create a tremendous opportunity to connect, engage, and learn with your students.
References
Gangwer, T. (2015). Visual Impact, Visual Teaching. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing.
Hinchman, K., & Chandler-Olcott, K. (2018). Memes. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 62(3), 249-251. doi: 10.1002/jaal.918
Korda, A. (2016). Learning from “good pictures”: Walter Crane’s picture books and visual literacy. Word & Image, 32(4), 327-339. doi: 10.1080/02666286.2016.1204131
Liffreing, I. (2020). Ikea’s Coronavirus Instructions Map Out What to do During the Pandemic. Retrieved 14 April 2021, from https://adage.com/creativity/work/ikea-stay-home/2245896
Meet Grumpy Cat. (2012). Retrieved 15 April 2021, from https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/10bu17/meet_grumpy_cat/
Memescape: Enabler Formats. (2021). Retrieved 14 April 2021, from https://knowyourmeme.com/editorials/insights/memescape-enabler-formats
Saunders, D., Horrell, A., & Murray, A. (2017). Infographics for student assessment: more than meets the eye. British Journal Of Sports Medicine, 52(23), 1487-1488. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097553