Visual literacy is a skill that is becoming more important than ever. In today’s world, there are visuals all around us, and being able to understand and make sense of them takes practice. Being visually literate is a must for students to understand the role images play in communication.
What is visual literacy?
The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Visual Literacy Compentency Standards for Higher Education defines visual literacy as “a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media.” Without visual literacy skills, students won’t be able to make sense of the many images, videos, graphs, charts, and other multimedia they see on a daily basis. It’s important to help them build those skills so they can understand visual materials.
Why is visual literacy important?
Students who are skilled in visual literacy are stronger readers. They’re able to think from different perspectives and create meaning from images. As visual literacy skills are built, students learn to think with their imagination and strengthen their critical thinking skills.
How can students improve their visual literacy skills?
Reading is a great way to help students improve visual literacy skills. Asking questions before, during, and after the reading can help strengthen these skills. Several of our Creative Education series include maps, labeled images and infographics that provide visual literacy practice for students..
Reading suggestions:
Related articles:
https://libguides.bham.ac.uk/asc/visualliteracy
https://ncte.org/blog/2021/01/visual-literacy-critical-21st-century-learners/
https://www.edutopia.org/article/how-incorporate-visual-literacy-your-instruction
Posted on July 25, 2022
