Using Visual Journals as a Reflective Worldview Window into Educator Identity

This ethnographic case study research and content analysis presents the conclusion of a three-year study involving 37 teacher candidate participants across a three-year study within a two year (2 semester program) Bachelor of Education program at a university in Ontario, Canada. Each academic year participants were intentionally given time over two semesters of literacy courses to engage in literacy practices and knowledge of self through the use of multimodal visual journals. Candidates reflect on their conceptions of literacy, teaching, identity and worldview within an institution grounded in the Christian faith. Findings, philosophical ponderings and content analysis suggest that the identity of the teacher candidate filters learning through visual and multimodal ways. The findings raise questions about the place of multimodal learning, self-reflection, faith and worldview in the learning process, and in identity formation of educators. We suggest that this study may inform current multimodal and visual literacy research while generating enriching discussions on how multimodal forms of literacy instruction may assist in acknowledgement of worldview recognition and self-identity awareness. Keywords: Multiliteracies, visual journals, self-knowledge, worldview, identity, visual literacy, multimodal literacy, teacher educatio

Visual representations of literacy in the press : report to the Leverhulme Trust February 2001.

This project investigated the ways in which literacy practices are represented in visual images in a range of British newspapers. The aims of the research were: a) to contribute to theoretical understandings of literacy as socio-cultural practice and their implications for educational policy discourses about literacy b) to offer a framework and new data about the construction of visual messages in the media. c) to develop computer-based methodologies for dealing with visual data which are of relevance to social research more generally. The data showed that a mismatch exists between text-based stories and visual representations of literacy practices in the press: whilst text-based stories present a view of literacy as a neutral, technical, cognitive skill or deficit, the visual representations show it to be embedded in everyday social practice and to carry powerful ritual and symbolic as well as functional meanings

What visual literacy is not!

This paper intends to help design educators reach a more informed understanding of visual literacy by stating what we already know it is not, in order to promote discussion on how it can be fostered. This paper is based on Jefferies’ PhD research from an empirical visual experiment carried out on a wide range of design practitioners, design students and the general public. Specific terms of influence such as ‘fixed’, ‘cross-disciplines’ and ‘accessibility’ were highlighted for discussion when considering what visual literacy is not, and were consequently used to frame the problem. When considering each of these influences in terms of seeing; (a) Viewing visual language as a ‘fixed’ vocabulary does not allow for each working context to have its own visual value system. (b) Literacy of ‘cross-disciplines’ may not enable a way of seeing to be transferred between each design discipline. (c) ‘Accessibility’ in terms of a student’s ability to read or write an image can not be determined from a designer’s final product, as each individual and context is different. It is proposed that debating the three identified areas will heighten design educators’ awareness and provide a valuable basis for future pedagogy practices

Visual Literacy and New Technologies

This body of research addresses the connection between arts, identity and new technology, and investigates the impact of images on adolescent identities, the relationship between online modes of communication and cyber-bullying, the increasing visualization of information and explores the way drawing and critical analysis of imagery develops visual literacy. Commissioned by Adobe Systems Pty Ltd, Australia (2003) to compile the Visual Literacy White Paper, Bamford’s report defines visual literacy and highlights its importance in the learning of such skill as problem solving and critical thinking. Providing strategies to promote visual literacy and emphasizing the role of technology in visual communication, this report has become a major reference for policy on visual literacy and cyber-bullying in the UK, USA and Asia

The impact of early and late literacy on the functional connectivity of vision and

Introduction: Learning to read leads to functional and structural changes in the cortical regions related to vision and language. The visual word-form area (VWFA) is though to play a key role in the interaction between these two systems (Dehaene et al. 2015). For instance, the VWFA is activated not only from bottom-up during reading but also in a top-down manner during speech listening without visual stimulation (Dehaene et al. 2010). The objective of this study was twofolded: how literacy acquisition affects four intrinsic functional connectivity networks related to vision and language (a dorsal language [DLN], a bilateral auditory [AN], a low-level [LLVN] and a high-level visual [HLVN] networks); and to explore the role of the VWFA as an interface between high-level vision and language functions. Methods: Independent component analysis (ICA) was applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 40 adult participants with variable levels of literacy (illiterate, late literate and early literate). The four functional connectivity networks were compared across groups using dual-regression (Filippini et al. 2009). In addition, we directly explored the functional connectivity between the VWFA and each of the studied networks. Finally, the strengh of connectivity between the VWFA and each network was compared across groups and correlated with individual reading fluency scores. Results: ICA produced 40 networks, and spatial crosscorrelation was used to identify the four networks of interest. Literacy was positively correlated with increased connectivity within the four networks. A major difference separating early literate from illiterate and late literate subjects was found. The connectivity between the VWFA and the DLN increased with literacy. Conversely, the strength of connectivity between the VWFA and the HLVN correlated negatively with literacy. Finally, , the HLVN-VWFA connectivity was negatively correlated with reading scores while the connectivity between the DLN-VWFA was positively correlated with reading scores. Discussion:Literacy has a strong influence on the visual and language functional networks. Literacy modifies the VWFA connectivity, by making it functionally closer to the language system, and more distinct from other associative visual areas that do not contribute to the reading process. The current results suggest that early acquisition of literacy plays a critical role for the tuning of the functional brain architecture. References: -Dehaene S et al. Nat Rev Neurosci.(2015)16:234 244 -Dehaene S et al. Science.(2010)330:1359–1364 -Filippini N et al. PNAS.(2009)106, 7209–7214Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

How Can Visual Literacy Support English Language Teaching?

Visually literate persons are able to understand, to create and to use images as a means of expression and communication. Understanding the elements, the meanings, and the natures of visual images may lead visually literate persons to be able to use the images for the purpose of teaching English. Integrating the visual images in the steps of teaching learning process may create better learning atmosphere that trigger the students\u27 higher achievement. This paper is aimed to elaborate the nature of visual literacy and the integration of visual literacy component in teaching English

Leveraging Visual Literacy to Engage and Orient First-Year College Students in the Library

Too often incoming students leave library orientation sessions feeling overwhelmed and overstressed, which results in the library becoming one more intimidating obstacle to them. However, this does not need to be the case. Visual literacy and visual culture can be leveraged to engage students and improve library orientation sessions

What Is Essential Is Invisible To The Eye : Culturally Responsive Teaching As A Key To Unlocking Children\u27s Multiple Literacies

Refugee students, language learners, and students in poverty are often viewed through a deficit model of everything they do not have in the way of school preparedness. However, many of them are survivors who possess courage and resilience. They also possess exceptional visual literacy developed through experiences with video and other images. Leveraging their visual literacy builds a bridge to help them understand text, which in turn helps them understand how literature reflects all of our experiences. Increased textual literacy helps students engage with vexing human questions. These questions form an inquiry base from which students can approach writing as an authentic task for self-expression. Student voice and culturally responsive teaching is valued in this model, which counters the experiences with failure that so many immigrant and low-income students learn when standardized testing is the focus of school. Inviting students to co-create literate spaces honors them, their families, and their cultures

Artful Citizenship Project- Year 3

Artful Citizenship is an arts-integrated social studies curriculum project designed to provide third- through fifth- grade students and teachers with the tools necessary to: * develop visual literacy skills; * implement social science content across academic content areas; * create opportunities for integrated artistic response. Artful Citizenship is a pilot educational program funded by the US Department of Education, Arts in Education, Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program. It was developed by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University (FIU) in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), Visual Understanding in Education (VUE), a non-profit organization that develops learner-centered methods that use art to teach critical thinking and visual literacy, faculty from the FIU College of Education, and a team of independent education researchers and evaluators from Curva and Associates, a private research and evaluation firm. The Wolfsonian and its partners recently completed the three years of funded activities that included development, field testing, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of Artful Citizenship as part of the core social studies and language arts curricula in the third, fourth and fifth grades at three Miami-Dade County public elementary schools. All three schools have high percentages of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who are at risk of academic failure. An additional school with similar demographics was included to serve as a comparison group for evaluation purposes. The evaluation addresses the central objectives of the program: teaching visual literacy in order to influence children's character and social development, and, ultimately, to improve academic achievement, as measured through norm-referenced tests and criterion- referenced test (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test). The psychosocial dimensions included in the evaluation were Art Self-Concept, Art Enjoyment, Academic Self-Concept, and School/Civic Orientatio

Theories of developmental dyslexia: Insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults

A multiple case study was conducted in order to assess three leading theories of developmental dyslexia: the phonological, the magnocellular (auditory and visual) and the cerebellar theories. Sixteen dyslexic and 16 control university students were administered a full battery of psychometric, phonological, auditory, visual and cerebellar tests. Individual data reveal that all 16 dyslexics suffer from a phonological deficit, 10 from an auditory deficit, 4 from a motor deficit, and 2 from a visual magnocellular deficit. Results suggest that a phonological deficit can appear in the absence of any other sensory or motor disorder, and is sufficient to cause a literacy impairment, as demonstrated by 5 of the dyslexics. Auditory disorders, when present, aggravate the phonological deficit, hence the literacy impairment. However, auditory deficits cannot be characterised simply as rapid auditory processing problems, as would be predicted by the magnocellular theory. Nor are they restricted to speech. Contrary to the cerebellar theory, we find little support for the notion that motor impairments, when found, have a cerebellar origin, or reflect an automaticity deficit. Overall, the present data support the phonological theory of dyslexia, while acknowledging the presence of additional sensory and motor disorders in certain individuals