This document discusses a collaboration between faculty and librarians at Miami University Hamilton to incorporate visual literacy into the classroom. It provides definitions and standards for visual literacy as well as examples of how faculty worked with librarians to design class blogs and websites where students analyzed multimedia sources. While this collaboration helped improve students' visual analysis skills, it also brought potential issues like student privacy concerns and increased workload that would need to be addressed.

1. Picture This
Faculty & Librarians
Collaborating to Bring
Visual Literacy to the Classroom
Miami University Hamilton
Dr. Theresa Kulbaga
Dr. Susan Pelle
Kathleen Pickens-French

2. Visual Literacy
Visual literacy is a set of abilities that enables an
individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate,
use, and create images and visual media. Visual
literacy skills equip a learner to understand and
analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical,
aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components
involved in the production and use of visual
materials. A visually literate individual is both a
critical consumer of visual media and a competent
contributor to a body of shared knowledge and
culture.
ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards
Draft (9/19/2011)

3. Visual Literacy Standards
A Visually Literate Student Will Be Able To:
 Determine the nature and extent of the visual
materials needed
 Find and access needed images and visual media
effectively and efficiently
 Interpret and analyze the meanings of images and
visual media
 Evaluate images and their sources
 Use images and visual media effectively
 Design and create meaningful images and visual
media
 Understand many of the ethical, legal, social, and
economic issues surrounding the creation and use of
images and visual media, and access and use visual
materials ethically

4. Collaboration
Faculty Librarian
 Communicate Needs &  Provide Guidance to
Expectations Resources
 Assign Multimedia  Suggest New Tools &
Projects Technologies
 Expect Citations &  Instruct on
Original Work Information Ethics

5. Blogs
Dr. Susan Pelle’s
WMS 201 Class
•Getting Started
http://wms201.blogspot.com
•Meeting the Librarian
•Organizing Groups
•The Main Class Blog
•Prompts
•Multimedia
•Modeling Assignments
•Additional Resources
•Meeting the Goals of Information
Literacy

6. Blog Examples
Visual Literacy
Students felt a sense of ownership and responsibility.
They were more critical and careful in their writings and
explorations and they realized just how visual literacy
could enhance their own arguments and explorations.
Gender, Labor, Justice: Brittany Blevins (June 15),
Michelle Gragg (link and video, June 15)
Body Image: Molly, June 22.
Malawi: Marci, June 15,
Violence against Women in local and global contexts:
Jenni, May 24
Sarah Baartman and Ethnocentrism: Allison, June 6
Intersectionality: Clare and Feinberg: Alexie, May 19 ,
Arizona and Ethnic Studies, and Christian, May 31 st ,
Feinberg lecture.

7. Websites
Dr. Theresa Kulbaga’s
AMS 205 Class
http://ams205.blogspot.com/
•American Dolls
•A Night at the Museum

8. Videos
Dr. Theresa Kulbaga
AMS / ENG 248 Class
http://eng248.blogspot.com/
•Monkey King
•Grandmother

9. Videos
Dr. Theresa Kulbaga
AMS / ENG 248 Class
http://eng248.blogspot.com/

10. Potential Issues
•Student Privacy
•Increased Faculty Workload
•Increased Demand on Librarian
•Student Confusion over Librarian’s Role
•Learning Curve for “Technology Timid” Students
•Faculty Balancing Technology Training with the
Learning Outcomes for the Course

11. Picture This
Faculty & Librarians
Collaborating to Bring
Visual Literacy to the Classroom
Miami University Hamilton
Dr. Theresa Kulbaga
Dr. Susan Pelle
Kathleen Pickens-French