Why Visual Literacy?
To many of us, “literacy” has always meant reading and writing, but it means so much more. Literacy is how we read or create almost any form of communication. There is literacy in understanding a friend’s emotional state or interpreting a great piece of art. Literacy is not confined to the written word, and neither is illiteracy.
My partner, who is a college professor at Mizzou in English and Gender & Women’s Studies, focuses much of her work on images. She is a rhetorician, specifically, who looks at how images are used to make arguments. Often times, she assigns students images to read or alter in order to make their own meaning. Visual literacy is a definite reality at the college level, and if we are preparing our students for college, we must include visual literacy.
One of the most discussed examples of visual literacy has revolved around the photographs in National Geographic. Often times, NG uses images to convey a sense of exoticism even though the accompanying articles have little to do with the photos.
One example of this use of an image to demonstrate the exotic is found in Steve McCurry’s picture of the Afghan girl (seen below). The photo provides a sense of wonder as to the life of this wild-eyed girl in a strange, war-torn land. The topic is both intriguing and problematic. It is intriguing in that NG uses images like this over and over to give their readers a sense that the publication opens the reader to strange, new worlds of exotic beauty and wonder. It is problematic in that the images are of real people with real histories and issues that stretch far beyond these depictions and should not be limited to the perceptions of the publisher and reader. In other words, it’s very complicated. We need to prepare our students for these complexities in society. We need to make our students visually literate.
Is it really a SMART Board?
My fellow Twit (Twitter user), dannynic, drew my attention to an article about IWB effectiveness on student learning. For those of you who just went “Huh?”, an IWB is an interactive white board or SMART Board. The findings were very interesting.
The article cited a British study that found no real improvements on student achievement. However, it seemed as if this had more to do with poor teaching practices than with the equipment itself. It seems that if teachers used the IWB without much interactivity or imagination, the tool became as old and tired as a chalkboard or text book from the early 90’s.
This was the part I found most informative…
But questions remained over how much whiteboards had enhanced learning. Studies found that they did not improve poor teaching, and only well-trained teachers who had had time to experiment and become familiar with technology delivered more effective lessons. It is that mix of using technology and pedagogy – the art of teaching – that seems to be the biggest obstacle. Part of the problem, according to Tim Rudd, senior researcher at Futurelab, is that teachers have found it hard to stop controlling the learning in lessons, rather than facilitating it.
The key points were that teachers needed time to experiment and that teachers should work as facilitators, not as “the sage on the stage”.
This is what we are providing you with the eMINTS model. We used nearly half of our session on SMART Boards and Notebook to “play” with the equipment. Plus, we have done this with every other piece of software introduced in the modules. The next step is for you all to share with each other the things you have discovered while using the SMART Boards. Additionally, listen to the podcasts at PDtoGo for even more ideas as to how you can use this tool to its full potential.
As far as the second point, we have to remember that a student’s time in class is not about us. It’s about the students and their learning. I struggle with this as much as any teacher. It is really difficult to resist being the “sage” instead of “the guide on the side”. We have to work together to find creative ways to allow students to learn.
You are all doing a phenomenal job stretching your teaching to its full potential. Some of you came in knowing very little about technology, building classroom community, using constructivist pedagogy, etc., but you all keep plugging along, trying new techniques at every turn. Let’s keep this progress moving forward. Lets’ continue to find new ways to facilitate learning in our classrooms.
Sorry for the soapbox moment, but I wanted you all to know that what we’re doing is important and will have a positive effect on your teaching and, more importantly, your students’ learning.
(Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vegiemince/175400554/)
Image Conscious
As many of you begin collecting images and clip art for your classroom websites, there are a few places you can look for unique images that can really enhance the look and feel of your sites.
The first place to look is in your own classrooms. Digital photos of your classrooms and student projects can give your websites a personal touch. You may also scan student artwork. When we work with altering images, we can edit these peices to be more functional elements of your websites.
Another place to look is Wikimedia. This site comes from the same people who brought you Wikipedia, but it offers various media that are open to the public for free use. The images on Wikimedia are under the classification of “public domain”, so users can publish the images with proper credit given. The best place to search for images is in the “Commons” area.
Another great source for original images is 
. You can use Fickr in a couple of ways. First of all, you could join Flickr for free and post your own images or pictures for easy access anywhere. Another useful feature of Flickr is that you can ask the actual photgrapher if you can use his/her photos for your site. I’ve done this with some blog posts and people have been very willing to share.
(Snowmen in Moscow image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Snowmen_moscow.jpg.)
Help for the SMART Board User
So, I’ve been spending some time Twittering with other edtech folks and learned of a message board for interactive whiteboard (AKA SMART Board) users. Whiteboard Web contributors share ideas and announcements for teachers who use interactive whiteboards in almost any capacity. The discussion topics range from general use issues to specific curricular applications. Searching through this message board might be a good step to add to your troubleshooting whenever you encounter problems on your SMART Boards.
Techlearning, Warlick, and PDtoGo
In case you all hadn’t figured it out, I am a huge proponent of the blog, or web-log. I’ve come across several blogs that I think are worth your time. Check them out and let me know how helpful they really are.
While I have been checking my Google Reader today, I have noticed that the blog Techlearning has been very busy lately. They have provided several articles with helpful hints and resources. One article provides a video tutorial for inserting pictures into shapes on PowerPoint. Another lists resources created by the federal government intended for free use by educators. There are also articles (like this one) that help make the connection between using technology and the web in constructivist classrooms. Techlearning is a site with which every eMINTS teacher should become familiar.
Another blog to keep an eye on is edtech guru David Warlick’s 2 ¢ Worth. A recent post by Warlick describes statistics he discovered on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The NCES has a “Kids Zone” that…
…provides information to help you learn about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many interesting facts about education.
Apparently the graphing tool is pretty cool.
The third resource blog I pay regular attention to is PDtoGo’s SMART Board podcasts. Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger provide an entertaining yet informational program on constructivist-based applications for the SMART Board. There are often free SMART Notebook files to download at the blog. I often listen to the podcasts on my way to Wellsville as a way to productively use that time.
Google Docs
Ruth and I have been collaborating using Google Docs in preparation for our training session in a week. Docs has allowed us to contribute and edit the same document without me having to make an extra trip to Wellsville. On Friday, we used Skype to talk while editing the document.
Ruth introduced me to Google Docs awhile back by sharing this video. Enjoy.
