Plenary presentation at University of Mary Washington Faculty Academy 2012, Virginia. An exploration of visual practice in our daily practice as teachers, learners and global citizens as a form of sense-making and information sharing. Conference Site: http://blog12.facultyacademy.org/giulia-forsythe/ Recording: http://vimeo.com/42419735

1. Drawing Conclusions
Giulia Forsythe

3. Visual Thinking
Brainstorming
Planning
Learning
Teaching

4. Planning

5. cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo by courosa: http://flickr.com/photos/courosa/344832591/

6. Oshii, M. (Director). (1995). Ghost in the Shell [Film].

8. A few words...
• The term “visual literacy” is credited to John Debes, co-founder of the International Visual Literacy Association.[1] In
1969 Debes offered a tentative definition of the concept: “Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a
human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences.”[2] A
white paper drawn up in January 2004, defines visual literacy as "understanding how people perceive objects,
interpret what they see, and what they learn from them." [3] However, because multiple disciplines such as visual
literacy in education, art history and criticism, rhetoric, semiotics, philosophy, information design, and graphic design
make use of the term visual literacy, arriving at a common definition of visual literacy has been contested since its
first appearance in professional publications.
• Since technological advances continue to develop at an unprecedented rate, educators are increasingly
promoting the learning of visual literacies as indispensable to life in the information age. Similar to linguistic
literacy (meaning making derived from written or oral human language) commonly taught in schools, most
educators would agree that literacy in the 21st Century has a wider scope. Educators are recognizing the
[4]
importance of helping students develop visual literacies in order to survive and communicate in a highly
complex world.
• Many scholars from the New London Group such as Courtney Cazden, James Gee, Gunther Kress, and Allan
[5]
Luke advocate against the dichotomy of visual literacy versus linguistic literacy. Instead, they stress the
necessity of accepting the co-presence of linguistic literacies and visual literacies as interacting and
[6]
interlacing modalities which complement one another in the meaning making process.
• Visual literacy is not limited to modern mass media and new technologies. The graphic novel Understanding
Comics by Scott McCloud discusses the history of narrative in visual media. Also, animal drawings in ancient
caves, such as the one in Lascaux, France, are early forms of visual literacy. Hence, even though the name
visual literacy itself as a label dates to the 1960s, the concept of reading signs and symbols is prehistoric.
• Visual literacy is the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations. Skills include the
evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of visual representations, to improve shortcomings, to use them
to create and communicate knowledge, or to devise new ways of representing insights. The didactic approach
consists of rooting visualization in its application contexts, i.e. giving the necessary critical attitude, principles,
tools and feedback to develop their own high-quality visualization formats for specific problems (problem-
based learning). The commonalities of good visualization in diverse areas, and exploration of the specificities
of visualization in the field of specialization (through real-life case studies).
• Visual Literacy Standards for teaching in higher education were adopted by the Association of College &
Research Libraries in 2012. They were "developed over a period of 19 months, informed by current
literature, shaped by input from multiple communities and organizations, reviewed by individuals from over 50
institutions, and approved by 3 ACRL committees and the ACRL Board of Directors."

9. A few words...
• The term “visual literacy” is credited to John Debes, co-founder of the International Visual Literacy Association.[1] In
1969 Debes offered a tentative definition of the concept: “Visual literacy refers to a group of vision-competencies a
human being can develop by seeing and at the same time having and integrating other sensory experiences.”[2] A
white paper drawn up in January 2004, defines visual literacy as "understanding how people perceive objects,
interpret what they see, and what they learn from them." [3] However, because multiple disciplines such as visual
literacy in education, art history and criticism, rhetoric, semiotics, philosophy, information design, and graphic design
make use of the term visual literacy, arriving at a common definition of visual literacy has been contested since its
first appearance in professional publications.
• Since technological advances continue to develop at an unprecedented rate, educators are increasingly
promoting the learning of visual literacies as indispensable to life in the information age. Similar to linguistic
literacy (meaning making derived from written or oral human language) commonly taught in schools, most
educators would agree that literacy in the 21st Century has a wider scope. Educators are recognizing the
[4]
importance of helping students develop visual literacies in order to survive and communicate in a highly
complex world.
• Many scholars from the New London Group such as Courtney Cazden, James Gee, Gunther Kress, and Allan
[5]
Luke advocate against the dichotomy of visual literacy versus linguistic literacy. Instead, they stress the
necessity of accepting the co-presence of linguistic literacies and visual literacies as interacting and
[6]
interlacing modalities which complement one another in the meaning making process.
• Visual literacy is not limited to modern mass media and new technologies. The graphic novel Understanding
Comics by Scott McCloud discusses the history of narrative in visual media. Also, animal drawings in ancient
caves, such as the one in Lascaux, France, are early forms of visual literacy. Hence, even though the name
visual literacy itself as a label dates to the 1960s, the concept of reading signs and symbols is prehistoric.
• Visual literacy is the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations. Skills include the
evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of visual representations, to improve shortcomings, to use them
to create and communicate knowledge, or to devise new ways of representing insights. The didactic approach
consists of rooting visualization in its application contexts, i.e. giving the necessary critical attitude, principles,
tools and feedback to develop their own high-quality visualization formats for specific problems (problem-
based learning). The commonalities of good visualization in diverse areas, and exploration of the specificities
of visualization in the field of specialization (through real-life case studies).
• Visual Literacy Standards for teaching in higher education were adopted by the Association of College &
Research Libraries in 2012. They were "developed over a period of 19 months, informed by current
literature, shaped by input from multiple communities and organizations, reviewed by individuals from over 50
institutions, and approved by 3 ACRL committees and the ACRL Board of Directors."

10. Tim Owens, We Are All Artists
1 Creativity is not inherited
2 In sports we accept the idea that with practice, we can get
better. Why can’t we translate that to art?
3 A creative environment can foster creativity
4 ds106 is giving you that environment
5 Do not accept the lie that you were just not born creative
6 We are more creative when we are uncomfortable
7 Take something ordinary and make it extraordinary
8 Take something complex and make it simple
9 Take something new and make it old
10 Find inspiration in the world around you
@timmmmyboy

12. Doodle Break
• Are we all artists?

15. Structured Serendipity
JASON ZWEIG, when asked: What scientific concept would improve everybody's cognitive toolkit?

17. Zack Dowell @noiseprofessor: http://www.noiseprofessor.org/?p=464

18. visual
feedback
loop

24. Ken Robinson
RSA Animate
Changing Education Paradigms

25. RSA Animate

26. RSA Animate
David Harvey
Crises of Capitalism

28. How we study our own autobiographies
as learners is essential to our
development as teachers
-Stephen Brookfield

29. Doodle break
• Learning is like...

32. “We cannot understand anything unless we
create internal neuronal networks that reflect
physical relationships”
- James Zull

33. Abstract concepts
are largely
metaphorical
-James Zull

36. Sunni Brown, TEDx

38. Sousanis, N. (2012). The Shape of our Thoughts. Draft Thesis. http://www.spinweaveandcut.blogspot.com/
Sousanis, N. (2012). The Shape of our Thoughts. Draft Thesis. http://www.spinweaveandcut.blogspot.ca/

39. Sousanis, N. (2012). The Shape of our Thoughts. Draft Thesis. http://www.spinweaveandcut.blogspot.com/

41. Drawing on Memories
• As an essentially verbal education gains
control, the child abandons his graphic
efforts and relies almost entirely on words.
• Edwards, B. (2008) Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.

42. How we learn
Zull

45. Emily Del Ross, DS106
emilydelross.com

46. Doodle Break
• My journey

47. Zull
• Teach - techen

51. • Cathy Davidson

54. How we measure

56. Biktimirov, E. N., & Nilson, L. B. (2003). Mapping Your Course: Designing a Graphic Syllabus for Introductory Finance. Journal Of
Education For Business, 78(6), 308-312.

60. Doodle Break
• Critical incident questionnaire (Brookfield)
• Graph your attention
• most engaged / least engaged

63. Monetarism- fixing price deflation
“price deflation can be fought by dropping money out of a helicopter” Friedman, M.
[1] money photo cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by AMagill and Helicopter from Apocalypse Now ↩

64. Taymore, J. (Director). (2007). Across the Universe [film]

65. Gilliam, T. (Director). (1985). Brazil [film]