VISUAL

LITERACY
STUDENTS WHO ARE VISUALLY
LITERATE:
▪Have knowledge of visuals produced through electronic
media
▪Understand elements of visual design, technique, media
▪Are aware of the emotional, psychological elements of
visuals
▪Comprehend abstract and symbolic imagery
▪Are informed viewers, critics and consumers
 WHAT IS VISUAL
LITERACY?
▪Process of sending and receiving messages using
images
▪Ability to construct meaning from visual images
▪Intermediality—combined literacies needed to read
in a multi-media world
“Visual literacy is the ability to
construct meaning from images.
It’s not a skill. It uses skills as a
toolbox. It’s a form of critical
thinking that enhances your
intellectual capacity.” –Brian
Kennedy
 VISUAL LITERACY
INVOLVES
▪ Ability to interpret content of visual images
▪ Examine social impact of those images
▪ Discuss purpose, audience and ownership
▪ Ability to visualize internally
▪ Communicate visually
▪ Read and interpret visual images
▪ Be aware of making judgments of accuracy, validity and worth of
images
 VISUAL LITERACY COMES
FROM
▪ Visual Arts
▪ Cultural Studies
▪ Art history
▪ Media Studies
▪ Aesthetics
▪ Instructional Design
▪ Linguistics
▪ Semiotics
▪ Literacy
▪ Communications Studies
▪ Philosophy
▪ Educational Technology
▪ Perceptual Physiology
▪ Sociology
 APPLYING VISUAL
LITERACY
▪ Identify learning styles
▪ Comprehend the meaning of visual literacy as information
▪ Create graphic representations of data, information, knowledge
and wisdom
▪ Use a digital camera, iMovie or equivalent and multimedia
software
▪ Provide classmates with constructive online feedback
 ISSUES
▪What issues are being shown in
the image?
▪How is the way the image is
being portrayed different from
the real world?
▪What might this image mean to
someone else?
▪What is the message of the
image?
 INFORMATION
▪Where did the information come from?
▪What was included? What left out?
▪What proportion could be inaccurate?
▪What information is factual vs. manipulated?
▪What is the relationship between the image and
text?
▪What impact does size have?
 WHO
▪What people are depicted?
▪Whose culture is represented?
▪Who created the image? For what
purpose?
▪Who is the intended audience?
▪Whose point of view does the image
take?
 PERSUASION
▪ Why was this media chosen?
▪ Why was a particular image chosen?
▪ Why is the image arranged this way?
▪ Is the information factual?
▪ What devices have been used to get the
message across?
▪ How has the message been affected by
what was left out?
 ASSUMPTIONS
▪What attitudes are assumed?
▪Whose voice is heard?
▪Whose voice is not heard?
▪What experiences or points of
view are assumed?
 CONCLUSION
▪Visual literacy is already prevalent in our culture.
▪Visual literacy is an essential rhetorical tool.
▪Multi-media, multi-modal compositions are
supplanting traditional modes of writing such as
essays.
▪Visual literacy is the way of the future.