“We must prepare young people for living in a world of powerful images, words and sounds.”

UNESCO, 1982

I have been thinking about the concept of visual literacy a lot lately and its significance to students I work with. My previous job as a journalist and newspaper designer meant I developed a keen interest in the relationship between design and meaning and how imagery, fonts, composition etc. all contribute to how meaning is constructed, especially in multimedia texts. I don’t think that presentation is important because texts (and I mean texts in a generic way) have to be “pretty” or serve as “eye candy” but because the predominant way we access and disseminate information today is through visual media. Visual media is “the” language we communicate in every day and students need to develop a sophisticated understanding of these complex techniques in order to communicate effectively themselves. One of my classes recently completed a visual representation of values in Othello and it is clear that few of them are able to effectively communicate their ideas or understanding visually. It is interesting that, as 16 year olds, they demonstrate few of the skills associated with “digitial natives” and while they (mostly passively) consume vast amounts of visual information they have little understanding of how to create visual media themselves.

So I thought I’d spend some time while I’m on holidays thinking through how I can teach the concepts and skills of visual literary more effectively and consolidate all the resources I’ve been looking at here.

Starting with a definition: visual literacy is the ability to understand, analyse, evaluate and create texts that use still and moving images and audio to communicate in imaginative and informative ways.

I also like this definition from the Online Visual Literacy Project.: visual literacy is the ability, through knowledge of the basic visual elements, to understand the meaning and components of the image.

The NSW English Syllabus defines visual literacy as: “ The ability to decode, interpret, create, question, challenge and evaluate texts that communicate with visual images as well as, or rather than words. Visually literate people can read the intended meaning in a visual text such as an advertisement or a film shot, interpret the purpose and intended meaning, and evaluate the form, structure and features of the text. They can also use images in a creative and appropriate way to express meaning.”

David Jakes has fantastic resources assembled on his visual literary wiki. He defines visual literacy as “the ability to navigate, evaluate, and communicate (create and mashup) with visual imagery.” He poses the question: “What exactly is the rationale or framework for the inclusion of visual literacy instruction in education, as it relates to life-long learning? ” My rationale for incorporating these skills, other than the fact that it is mandated in the syllabus, is that students who do not have these skills are not fully literate and are locked out of the conversation around them.

David Jakes breaks his rationale into the following:

“There is a biological basis for visual communication

The auditory nerve transmits sound to the brain and is composed of about 30,000 fibers. Contrast that with the optic nerve which sends visual signals to the brain through 1 million fibers (Burmark 2002). Basically, you’ve got a dial-up connection from the ear to the brain and broadband from the eye to the brain.

Add to that:

Humans process images an amazing 60,000 times faster than text.
According to Time magazine, the vocabulary of the average 14-year-old dropped from 25,000 words in 1950 to only 10,000 words in 1999. I do not take that to mean that students are less articulate, but that they communicate in a different way – a way that is faster, more succint (think twitter) and image-laden.

“Emotion, depicted through visual means, sells the message. Students must learn how to convey meaning emotionally. That’s why digital storytelling, when done right, can be such a powerful learning experience.” He links to the inspirational 4 Generations: The Water Buffalo Movie, which is a great example.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/-_am82KhI-c" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

“The most powerful producer of visual imagery is the individual, it’s you.”

Digital cameras, cell phone cameras, citizen journalism, photos of the London subway bombings, of Saddam Hussein’s execution and 435,558,403 million photos at Flickr attest to the capability and absolute raw power of the individual to produce visual material and bring the world home. But simply producing this is not enough, because…

They have do something with that visual imagery and it has to be done the right way.”

“Individuals must be capable of working in multiple mediums to create visual messages, in accordance with the principals of visual literacy.

They have to do something with that visual imagery and it has to be done the right way. Create. Remix. Mashup.”

And to cut to the chase: “Being visually literate is just as important as reading and writing and should be considered a fundamental literacy of a 21st Century education.”

The significance of visual literacy can be seen when you compare Karl Fisch’s Did You Know presentation (which has been viewed more than 2 million times) to the mashups by others. While it certainly fulfilled his aim to “create a conversation”, I found the first one lacklustre and problematic in a number of ways. The tone created by the music didn’t seem to fit with the message and the presentation had a number of non sequiturs: for example, it isn’t explained why it is significant that China will become the number one English speaking country in the world… I’d like to think that this means that it is important for students to engage in internationalised education and to understand the world outside the confines of the nation/culture that they are educated in. However, education in China is dependant upon a rote-learned, instructional mode and discourages the questioning of authority, which is an important aspect of critical thinking. However, despite the “they are going to take us over, if we don’t do something” elements of Did You Know, the presentation addresses passionately the need for innovation in education and advocates a new way of looking at how we educate children and the implications of the exponential technological changes we all face.

The new versions that followed the original were much more engaging and eliminated some of the “us versus them” language. In terms of design, this demonstrates the importance of intended audience and younger viewers are used to more bang for their buck in terms of visuals. Check out the changes and see what you think.

Original Did You Know?

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/xHWTLA8WecI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Did You Know 2.0?

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/pMcfrLYDm2U" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

As Karl Fisch wrote: “Some folks will prefer the original, some will prefer this version, some will dislike both. For me, it’s just another attempt to create a conversation, so I hope that it does.”

Remix 1

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/KUsYFCfmNMo" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Visually, this slideshare remix is effective:

[slideshare id=33834&doc=shift-happens-23665&w=425]

Of all the videos making the rounds about web 2.0 and education, I’d prefer this remix by Bionic Teaching:
Download: Posted by bionicteaching at TeacherTube.com.

Image: http://www.azure-graphicdesign.com/media/graphics/newban_04.jpg