Emojis . . . avatars . . . icons . . . Our world is becoming increasingly reliant on visual communication. Yet our classrooms still heavily focus on traditional oral and written instruction. In this first-of-its-kind resource, Dr. Susan Daniels channels over twenty years of research and experience into a comprehensive guide of visual learning…

The importance of images and visual media in today's culture is changing what it means to be literate in the 21st century. Digital technologies have made it possible for almost anyone to create and share visual media. Yet the pervasiveness of images and visual media does not necessarily mean that individuals are able to critically view, use, and…

Suggests ways for technical communicators to improve their visual skills and visual literacy. (SR)

Care providers can help develop visual literacy in school-age children by taking children on trips to local art museums and television stations and by having children produce their own low-cost photographs, color slides, or film strips. Provides detailed directions for making slides from magazine photographs and new film strips from old film. (MDM)

A model is proposed that organizes factors related to visual function into three dimensions: visual abilities, available resources and past experiences, and environmental cues. The model is explained to be useful in determining how to elicit visual behaviors or maximize visual function in persons with low vision. (Author/CL)

Considers how too often theories about how to write and read images are limited to a functional view, which stresses objectivity, ignores interpretation, and sees design as preset layout formulae. Argues for a configural view of images that stresses their artificiality and cultural significance and articulates design in strategic terms by…

Discusses and illustrates problems with the interpretation of visual materials used in rural development campaigns in developing countries. The association between pictorial experience and pictorial literacy is examined, and guidelines are suggested for visual communicators. (LRW)

Defines new literacies and explores their place in school curricula. Contends that what is missing is a method of reading and understanding the new languages of media that would enable educators to produce meaning that enhances lives and rejects the oppression that privileges some students and denies other students' voice. (PM)

Notes that new literacies use computer graphics to tell a story, demonstrate a theory, or support a definition. Offers a functionality framework for assessing the value of computer graphics for early literacy learning. Provides ideas for determining the value of CD-ROM software and websites. Concludes that graphics that give text meaning or…

Identifies concepts relevant to aesthetic literacy, suggests possible procedures for instruction, examines different interpretations of aesthetics, and presents a curriculum model for aesthetic literacy. (Author/JDH)

Notes that the curriculum in Canada includes viewing and visually representing, joining the traditional skills of reading and writing, listening and speaking. Concludes that viewing and representing can help students learn to read and write but they are also unique literacies unto themselves. Lists 10 sources of information in both electronic and…

Considers that in order to be successful offering visual art lessons in the classroom, pre- and inservice teachers must develop a deeper more conceptual understanding of the power of art to communicate meanings, beliefs, ideologies, and experiences. Suggests teacher enroll in a high-quality arts course, create some authentic works of art, use…

Notes that basing composition almost exclusively on verbal instruction counters the very nature of literacy education, because the current verbal-based education system produces illiterates in this highly visual and multimodal modern society. Demonstrates composition's verbal bias; argues that this bias is both politically and rhetorically…

Finds the current emphasis on technical accuracy and neatness in handwriting limits the role of drawing in children's construction of text. Suggests this has adverse consequences for development of pupil confidence, particularly in boys. Argues that teachers need to be more understanding of differences in the modes in which pupils choose to make…

Advocates instruction in drawing for journalists to promote functional visual literacy. Argues that journalists comfortable with basic drawing will write more vividly, handle layout problems better, and have better relationships with artists and photographers than journalists not comfortable with basic drawing. Offers instructional objectives and…