Blog Assignment 1: Visual Literacy

Can you read a map? How about a street sign? Does the symbol below mean something to you?

If you answered yes, then you are visual literate.  Visual Literacy is defined as, “the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image” (Wikipedia, n.d.). You’ve heard of the old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” … well that’s visual literacy.
Think about all the images we are bombarded with each and every day. The logos on the orange juice container and cereal box, the weather symbols on the morning news, the street signs as we drive to work or school, and that’s just a few that we encounter before 8am. The list could go on and on.

Some researchers argue that using visual literacy in the classroom leads to increased learning by students (Stokes, n.d.). And I would agree with this. In my high school where I teach, we have a number of ESL students. Well for these students, reading may be difficult while they are tying to learn the English language, but the use of pictures, charts, maps, symbols, etc. would certainly make learning easier for them. An example of this would be how using a diagram or chart can help a student understand how facts are connected. As opposed to simply writing a list of facts in a notebook that may not seem connected at all.

Just stop and think about the society we live in today. Everything comes at us fast and we need to react and comprehend it quickly, or the information will blow right past us. Check out this YouTube video I found to see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQNbAtK3c3g

Webliography

Picture this visual literacy activities. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2010, from http://museumca.org/picturethis/visual.html#one

Sims, E., Butland, G., Cook, J., & O’Leary, R. (2002). Visual literacy: what is it and do we need it to use learning technologies effectively?

Stokes, S. (n.d.). Visual literacy in teaching and learning: a literature perspective. Electronic Journal for the integration of technology in education, vol. 1 (1), 10-17.

Visual literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15th, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_literacy

Visual literacy across the curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQNbAtK3c3g

Visual literacy k-8. (n.d.). Retrieved September 15, 2010, from
http://k-8visual.info/