Visual Literacy in the K12 Classroom of the 21st Century

Abstract

Visual literacy (VL) is considered among the essential literacies of the 21st century not only due to its significance to most subject areas and fields of knowledge, but also because without it we are the illiterati of today's visually saturated world, suffering any implications that come with this serious void. The chapter discusses the importance of the VL concept in education, and then focuses on illustrating it from the trenches through (a) the design and implementation of a VL course in a pre-service educational technology context presented by two academic colleagues and (b) the personal trajectory of an in-service teacher's experiences and observations in visual literacy within informal and formal educational settings.