Digital Imagery

Increasing Visual Literacy Skills with Digital Imagery
By Dr. Lance Wilhelm, Arizona State University - West Campus

The use of images is becoming extremely popular in our society today, and schools are starting to adapt to this in their instructional practices. Because visual literacy is becoming more important, and our society is replying more on images and visual communication, it is essential for students to acquire some visual literacy skills.

According to the article I read, one way for teachers to increase virtual literacy is by the use of digital cameras, which are becoming cheaper and easier to use in the classroom today. Many schools have used laptops in the past, and that tool still remains essential and crucial to the learning environment as well.
Using laptops, students can work on imaging programs such as Adobe Photoshop, which is a great program to use to enhance images, edit them, or combine images together. Using this program, as well as many others, can help students produce many creative images, while learning the many aspects and advantages of digital imaging.

However, the article I read didn’t really focus on using laptops or computers for “digital imaging.” On the other hand, digital cameras were its main focus. The teacher stated many ways that he could use the digital camera in his classroom. The first example was on the first day of each class. He would take digital photos of his students then combine their photos and contact information into one Word document, which he would keep in his course binder. That way, he learned their names and had access to their information. Also, the teacher would also use the digital camera would take photos of the whiteboard, when it had interesting notes or data. So instead of wasting time writing the info down, he would take a picture of it.

Also, the article discussed how the teacher showed his students how easy it is to import digital pictures into Word or PowerPoint documents. Students could build and organize the images for their use, or maybe the use of their students. Many other examples of teacher use are demonstrated throughout the course, including utilizing cameras to document the steps of a procedure (e.g., carving a pumpkin) or creating a photo journal of a field trip.

The article also discussed the ethical aspects of digital imagery, such as importance to give credit where credit is due, and identifying situations where editing photographs is clearly unethical and shouldn’t be done. These situations are really important, because it’s crucial to give credit to an image’s source.

This article gave us a set of examples of how digital imagery can be integrated into classes in the college. What I would like to do more research about is if effective integration of technology can occur into K-12 curriculum. I think that will be a bit more challenging, however, this article briefly mentioned that it can be done, and students as young as kindergarten can effectively use digital cameras as well. This article didn’t really mentioned how to go about that exactly, but I would like to do more research on that and find out.

As you can see, students can use digital cameras in many ways. I really liked reading this article, and enjoyed all the information it provided. I think using digital cameras in the classroom is great, and what this professor did with his college students is a wonderful experience for each one of them. New experiences like that can enhance the learning process, and are crucial means of adapting to our society today. When I become a teacher someday, I will definitely be using this technology, as well as many others, in my classroom.

The original article can be found at the following link: http://thejournal.com/articles/17145