Visual Literacy Course Proposal Form
Overview
Students must take (1) one course that carries a Visual Literacy designation. Courses throughout the University carrying this designation focus on the viewing and interpretation of visual information and images from a variety of sources as well as the expression of meaning through visual means.
Learning Goals
Visual Literacy courses meet several of the following goals:
- Students will be able to visually convey meaning for a variety of audiences.
- Students will be able to discuss what makes some images more powerful or persuasive than others in particular contexts.
- Students will be able to identify and discuss the ways that visual images can be used to communicate meanings both similar to and different from other forms of communication.
- Students will be able to analyze the ways that new technologies shape visual meaningmaking and create hybrid texts will varying relationships between visuals and words.
- Students will be able to discuss the ethical issues involved in utilizing visual images
Common Practices
Visual Literacy Courses often use the following pedagogical practices, among others: Visual Literacy courses refine students’ abilities to:
- Translate the meaning of visuals through written or oral means
- Produce images that effectively communicate the intended messages to the audience
- To interpret images of the past and explain subject matter, purpose, and the techniques used to create the image
- Describe the way that visuals (or the absence of visuals) manipulate or persuade an audience
- Evaluate the aesthetic merit of images
- Describe the social and cultural context of images
- Articulate the social impact of images
- Critique the worth of images
