Visual literacy: what is it and do we need it to use learning technologies effectively?

Visual images are increasingly appearing in learning and teaching resources, delivered across a range of media in a variety of formats: digitally in Web-based materials and multimedia as well as in print and as transparencies. The proliferation of image-rich resources is due in part to the wide availability of digital images and access to the technology and graphics software that facilitates the creation and delivery of visual materials. As theory underpinning the modelling of learning shifts current practice towards the construction of knowledge based on tutor-student and student-student interchanges, communication skills including visual communication, and therefore visual literacy, become more critical to successful educational outcomes. This paper offers a definition of visual literacy and identifies some of the core competencies of a visually literate person. Also described is how the Learning Technology Support Service at the University of Bristol, UK, is beginning to address the need for visual communication skills development in staff, students and learning technologists by developing training in the visual design of online learning and teaching materials.