What is Visual Literacy??

Visual Literacy, so what is it? Visual literacy has been defined as the “ability to understand, interpret and evaluate visual messages” (Bristor & Drake, 1994) It's pretty much the ability to read pictures and understand the underlying message that the picture is portraying.  Students need to have the acquire and build the ability to decode these pictures. We tend to see lots of visual literacy in storybooks, as the illustrator is trying to give readers a visual as to what is occurring from the text. By looking at the images, it allows students to comprehend, hypothesize, or draw conclusions on what will happen next.

Visual Literacy can mean differently due to the diversity of others. Age, background and or socioeconomic status of children or people can have an effect on how we interpret visuals. Obviously one's schema is due to this.  Most young students prefer simple photographs (in which they are able to decode literally), verses older students prefer complexed photographs (charts, flowcharts, ) and can understand the outcomes from those visuals.

Visual Literacy can come in different forms and be used in most content areas such as social studies, language arts, health, music, etc. We use visual literacy to help students understand the content and objectives that are being taught. Instead or reading from a textbook, or delivering a lecture via Powerpoint, teachers can show visuals to teach through the image the information. When teachers use images, students are more likely to recall the information being delivered as well as being intrigued by the image. 

The kinds of visuals teachers can use are  photographs, graphs, flowcharts, posters and drawings.  Teachers can use the "teach aloud" strategy to help students reflect on the images being shown. (Question students like, what's going on in this picture? How does this person feel? Why do you think this symbol is here) This will help students collaborate and work together on what the visual is trying to tell the leaner. Another way we can help students understand visual literacy is by asking them the 4W's, such as who, what, when and why? By asking our students like what do you see in the picture, what is happening, when do you think this takes place, and why would the illustrator draw or photograph this will definitely help students critically think and hopefully decode the image(s).

The Role of An Online Teacher

I am so used to teaching face to face, and I don’t have much experience teaching online. But, I recently just got asked to teach some online courses for the university I currently teach ground courses at, and wrapped up training this week. What are the differences between teaching higher learning face to face vs. online in an asynchronous environment? 

Teaching face to face, you see your students every day, you have routines, classroom management, you deliver lessons to the students in front of them and students are in charge of their learning. I like to say, this is where a more direct instruction takes place. With online teaching some aspects are the same, but the roles are more reversed. 

Both teachers and students need to know the expectations that they need to do in order for learning to be successful. Teachers know they need to online, monitoring discussions at least every 48 hours. Students should be answering and discussing amongst the teacher and their peers whatever it is that they are learning.

The teacher’s role is to be an online facilitator. They monitor discussions, answer and further their students thinking, and assess their thinking by creating CATS (Classroom assessment techniques) to assure their students understand the content. They create ground rules, the syllabus, model what kind of participation is good participation and what the expectations are in an online environment. At the same time, the online teacher grades accordingly as well as acts as technical support in case information isn’t uploading or students may be struggling with. Sounds like a lot, right? We actually do the same tasks teaching face to face, the only exception is this is through a computer.

A student, on the other hand needs to participate through discussion forums or via live web. This means using critical thinking and though explanations when answering discussion questions. The beauty of online discussions is that those who are considered shy in a face to face classroom, can really “voice” their opinions or thoughts via online. Also discussions allow you to really dig deep and further the discussion in whatever you are talking about, rather in a classroom, because of time limitations both students and teachers have to wrap it up. Students also have to be self-driven to learn via distance learning. This means self-directed learners in what they need to accomplish because they are learning on their own time.

I’ve learned a lot this week, whether you are teaching a distance course or via synchronously live to students, both teacher and students have to self-motivated, able to juggle many roles at once, and be knowledgeable when it comes to some technical things.

Teacher Centered vs. Student Centered Learning......

The teacher stands in front of students, writes on the board her objectives and then immediately starts discussing and talking about the first content objective they’ll be learning. Students watch, listen, making mental notes of what they see and hear. This type of learning is considered teacher centered or direct instruction, where the teacher delivers the content to her students and students learn from the teacher. Typically, the teacher should be implementing different ways the students can learn, whether it be with pictures, manipulatives, videos, and or materials.  Learners are mostly alone (sometimes they work collaboratively) when learning the material. Most of today’s teachers and classrooms are teacher centered and this is how our students learn the content they need to learn from our standards. Then students use different forms of assessment to assure their students are meeting the objective and goals needed to

However, more and more schools are noticing and implementing different student learning strategies into their classrooms.  Students centered learning takes more of a social approach into learning (talking to others using collaboration, groups, student lead thinking) and lets them take the paths into the direction they want to maneuver to learn whatever objective is for the moment. Instead of using handouts, or lessons on the board, student centered learning calls for of authentic/task based oriented learning where students learn through projects, group work, plays, etc. In this type of environment, the teacher is still present, but acts as a facilitator to assist students in achieving the goals. Student centered learning improves students’ critical and problem-solving skills.

When teaching our students in an e-learning environment, in my opinion I feel when we should use teacher centered instruction when we first learn a program, software, app, etc. Teachers should direct students in what they are using, what they should be doing, and what goal(s) they are to accomplish.  For student centered learning, students are working together or independently to learn from the apps and software and guiding their own thinking. This is where the teacher acts as a facilitator to assure the students are using the e-learning apps/software appropriately and are in the right direction. At the end, a teacher direct approach would take place where the teacher assesses his/her students to assure they’ve met the goal(s).

Technology and Media...defined

Technology. Lots of people are using it, lots of people are scared of it. But what exactly is it? It’s a tool for people to use to assist them with understanding and or learning. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a gadget, but it can be a sort of tool to use for assistance or a resource. Many students use assistive technology tools, and again, some examples of these can be pencil gripers, timers, or even a squeezable ball to help students with their disability.

            Media, on the other hand can be a form of technology, but let’s define what it means. It’s relaying information between a source and a receiver (Smaldino, 2019, p.4) We do this so people can learn what is going happening. There are what we call media formats, and these are the actual physical forms of media most people use on a daily basis, such as videos, books, pictures, CD’s, webinar, or even a newsletter. Remember, it’s just relaying information to from one person to the next. Most of society rely on different types of media formats to be updated on the news and what’s happening in our daily society.

            What’s great about technology and media is that we can implement these tools into our daily classroom to help students understand new subject content! As you can see there are many different media formats we can use, the problem is, how do we use it? Many teachers struggle to figure out how to implement these different media tools their students and at times, typically avoid the “online/technical” media route. But if we teachers could gain professional development on the ideas, usage on the different tools, this would not only help our students with learning the content, but it would be engaging and help with the different styles of our students learning!

            Using an array of media tools engages students learning, helps with the multiple styles of learning, and helps those who struggle and or have a disability to learn the content. It’s important that as we teach, we use different media formats and materials to enhance, promote students learning.

Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., Mims, C., & Russell, J. D. (2019). Instructional technology and media for Learning. New York: Pearson Education.