Visual Literacy

To say that we live in a visual, media-rich world is an understatement.  Television, print media, and the Internet dominate and frequently overload our senses; charts, graphs, and tables abound.  The ability to draw meaning from images, often referred to as Visual Literacy, was first coined in 1969 by John Debes:

Visual Literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences. The development of these competencies is fundamental to normal human learning. When developed, they enable a visually literate person to discriminate and interpret the visible actions, objects, symbols, natural or man-made, that he encounters in his environment. Through the creative use of these competencies, he is able to communicate with others. Through the appreciative use of these competencies, he is able to comprehend and enjoy the masterworks of visual communication.

A more recent and concise interpretation of Visual Literacy comes from the NCREL/Metri Group:

Visual Literacy is the ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision-making, communication, and learning.

Regardless of how it is defined, Visual Literacy is essential and a “visual” can take many forms.  Visual-Literacy.org has created an amazing, interactive graphic that includes 100 types of visual representations, classified into six types of visualization methods, and organized into a periodic table:

Although we (and our students) may not be familiar with many of these nonlinguistic representations, graphic organizers, concept maps, data tables, pictographs, and other simple visuals have a place within the curriculum.  Text is but one method by which to acquire knowledge and demonstrate understanding and, as the adage goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Media Literacy

Media Literacy, which is closely related to Visual Literacy, focuses on the use of images in mass media.  The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has outlined three characteristics of a media literate society:

• Understand how media messages are constructed, for what purposes and using which tools, characteristics and conventions.
• Examine how individuals interpret messages differently, how values and points of view are included or excluded and how media can influence beliefs and behaviors.
• Possess a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program has taken the concept even farther and created The New Media Literacies, a set of literacy skills for our participatory culture.  The white paper Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century explores the skills in detail, but this short clip provides a good overview of contemporary media literacy:

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Media is no longer something only to be passively consumed; today’s students are active producers with the potential to reach a world-wide audience.  Images, video, audio, and text can easily be mixed, remixed, and shared.  Learning to use multimedia tools is easy; learning to use them to communicate effectively is a challenge, and the classroom presents an ideal learning environment.

Implications for Teaching and Learning

What does Visual/Media Literacy mean for our students?  Improved learning.   Dr. Lynell Burkmark, in her article Integrating Media into the Classroom, summarizes recent findings:

The research is in. Humans process images 60,000 times faster than text. With visually rich multimedia, students learn faster, remember better, and can apply their understanding and skills to new situations. Illustrations contribute to interest and enjoyment, affect attitudes and emotions, and provide spatial information that is difficult to express in words. Groups using illustrated texts (versus text alone) perform 36 percent better on tests! Even better: when teaching is based on appropriate images with voiceover narration, recall and retention are boosted 42 percent and transfer is increased a whopping 89 percent!

As we consider the role of Visual/Media Literacy in our academic program, we need to (1) identify opportunities for incorporating visuals into our teaching methodologies, and (2) provide students direct instruction and guided/independent practice in creating, interpreting, and evaluating media.  Learning to read visuals, like learning to read text, is a life-long skill that our students require for success.

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Although there are a number of great photo sharing tools available, including Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, SmugMug, and BubbleShare, it’s hard to beat Flickr in terms of features, ease of use, and price.  It only takes a few minutes to create an account and start posting:

What is Flickr?

Flickr’s FAQ page describes Flickr as “the best way to store, sort, search and share your photos online. Flickr helps you organize that huge mass of photos you have and offers a way for you and your friends and family to tell stories about them. The best way to learn about Flickr is to upload some photos, explore the site, join some groups and make some friends. You can find more info about Flickr on our About page.”

Create an Account

To start using Flickr, you’ll need to create an account using your Yahoo ID.  Avid photographers may want to consider purchasing a  Pro account for $25/year, but the free version of the service will work for casual users and includes the following limitations:

• 100 MB monthly upload limit (10MB per photo)
• 3 sets
• Photostream views limited to the 200 most recent images
• Post any of your photos in up to 10 group pools
• Only smaller (resized) images accessible

Organize and Describe

Once you have uploaded some images, you can organize them into sets, add titles, descriptions and tags, and decide who can view and use your work.  By default, Flickr images are copyrighted, but as we discussed in our lesson on Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons, you can change the licensing terms and let others use/remix your photos as you see fit.

Edit and Share

Our students utilize Photoshop Elements, but Flickr images can also be editing using Picnik, a free online photo editor.  While it lacks Photoshop’s extensive features, it does allow for basic edits and includes a nice collection of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames.  It’s worth noting that Picnik integrates with other photo sharing sites, including Picasa and Photobucket, and can be used as a stand-alone editor for working with images stored on your computer.

Your images are part of your Photostream and can be viewed by anyone who visits Flickr, but there are other options for sharing Flickr photos.  Here’s a partial list from Flickr’s Help menu:

• Blog any of your own public photos (set up your blog here.)
• Set up your own Flickr web address (like http://www.flickr.com/photos/george/) and share it with all your friends
• Email, link, blog, or get the HTML code to embed pictures using the “Share this …” button that’s located top right of your browser window
• Send individual photos to people, either as attachments to an email or as a link to a Flickr page
• Add tags to your photos so anyone searching the Flickr collection can find them

Give it a Try

It’s unfortunate that we didn’t have time this trimester to get the students going with Flickr, but that shouldn’t stop you from giving it a try.  Photo sharing is easier than you might think; all you need is a little time and some images.  Once you get started, don’t hesitate to share your photos; we’d love to see them!

Organize, Edit, Create, Share

Many think of Photoshop as only an editor, but Elements includes tools for organizing, creating, and sharing your work.  The Organizer workspace displays all your media and allows you to place your images into albums, add captions and keyword tags, and perform simple edits.  Once in the Editor workspace, new users may want to begin with the Guided option, then progress to the Quick Fix and Full edit tools when they become more experienced.  The Create tab makes it easy to design books, calendars, collages, and slideshows, and the Share tab includes a number of options for sharing your work with friends and family.

Ideas for the Classroom

The Create and Share features should spark your creativity, and additional ideas and resources for using images in the classroom abound.  Adobe’s Digital School Collection includes lesson plans, assessment tips, and lesson accelerators, and their Digital Kid’s Club has tips and lessons for digital photography, video, and multimedia presentations.  The Center for Digital Storytelling is invaluable for anyone interested in the art of storytelling, and tools like Photostory for Windows can be used by students of any age.

Getting Started

No matter your skill level, interests, or needs, the aforementioned resources will help you find an appropriate entry point into the world of digital imaging.  Photoshop Elements does not have to be intimidating, and time spent practicing and reviewing tutorials such as those found on Atomic Learning will get you on your way.  The addage that a picture is worth a thousand words is true, and with a little Photoshopping, it might even be worth a few more.