Analyzing the Essential Skills for Visual Literacy
I consider myself a person who appreciates aesthetics, and up until not very long ago that would have been a characteristic that qualified me (at least according to my former boss) to participate in the creation of visual aids for students (a little more than setting up bulletin boards attractively). Nowadays that is faraway from being enough, after reading the ACRL Standards for Visual Literacy Competency, I think I have the equivalent level of a first grade child.
But not all hope is lost, because when judging my skills objectively, I always refer to visual aids when I try to communicate, and I am resourceful enough not to limit myself to one or two sources or types of images. Although I normally know what I want an image to project according to the context in which I want to use it, I don't have the skills to produce original visual products that have the required technical elements, so I am still quite limited to what is available, and that is hard work. It is easy to get lost in the overwhelming amount of available media and my critical skill is yet to be nurtured.
Even when it comes to using existing images, the different programs and applications available to transform these images in order to communicate ideas effectively are many and they all must be learned and practiced, which takes time and patience, both of which are precious resources I don't always have.
It is one thing to judge an image that someone else created, and a very different one to critically aesthetic and technical characteristics before using it.
The most important skill that I hope to acquire in this course is the creation of original, efective, relevant, and meaningful visual material produced in a way that is ethical, legal and doesn't interfere with copyright issues.
I would like to have a varied participation with different kinds of teachers, I love diversity, and let's face it if I was to limit my choices to science teachers (like me) we would be losing the chance to become richer in experience, plus the outcome would be limited also. I think that as long as the interest is common and everyone is focused, the working group should be as diverse as can be.
I agree with you in regards to how much we need to develop in this field. We are in the first stage which is to become aware of the importance of including in our resume development of these skills.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a long way and not easy, but I also believe that with planning and interdisciplinary work we can soon offer our students what they really need.
Tania Hinojosa
I empathize with you when you say you know what images to choose an original one. In my case, I sometimes come up with nice products, let us say "by inspirational chance". However, if I sit to think about "creating", some kind of filter blocks me. As I said in my post, I go running to art teachers for help. I wonder, how can I overcome this situation? It could be rough, but I am looking forward to answers with this course. Thanks!
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