Teaching visual literacy: Pedagogy, design and implementation, tools, and techniques

Abstract

Visual literacy is emerging as a key concept in educational standards in the twenty-first century; for example, the Association of College and Research Libraries developed higher education competency standards for visual literacy in 2011. Several of the Common Core State Standards emphasize visual literacy in terms of navigating, decoding, and encoding visual information. The purpose of this report is to discuss student experiences in a graduate-level visual literacy course that was revised to include a themed blended approach, reflective writing, a portfolio, collaborative projects, interactive online discussions, and several low-stakes production assignments. Due to an institutional shift towards blended course formats, key program courses were redesigned to fit the needs of commuting students. Another factor underlying the course redesign was the need to address the proliferation of participatory digital media in the twenty-first century. The course was enhanced in 2009 with a blended format, redesigned based on student feedback and piloted in 2011, and revised and piloted once more in 2012. Data were collected through pre- and post-course student surveys, student interviews, and student reflections. The findings of our case study indicate that engagement and active learning occurred and that these characteristics might be transferrable across many learning contexts. Course design concepts and examples of activities reviewed in this report are appropriate for higher education audiences and of interest to K12 educators.