The purpose of this position paper in to provide guidance on the creation and utilization of infographics for learning and instruction. The paper includes practical insights and provides a framework for the creation of infographics. The framework can be used by educators to create their own infographics for instructional and visual literacy…

Developing digital literacy skills is essential for 21st century learning, working and living. Emerging mobile technologies provide affordances that can be leveraged to advance these skills in a school educational setting. Digital literacy in the context of this paper encompasses media literacy, visual literacy, technology tools literacy and…

In this technologically advanced environment, users have become highly visual, with television, videos, web sites and images dominating the learning environment. These new forms of searching and learning are changing the perspective of what it means to be literate. Literacy can no longer solely rely on text-based materials, but should also…

This article evaluates the impact of extending a traditional written research paper into a digital documentary on students' perception and level of comprehension of a global sustainability issue. An adaptation of Moon's (1999) five-stage map of learning was used to assess the written and digital projects students submitted to a statewide…

This paper briefly reports the outcomes of an action research inquiry on the use of blogs, MS PowerPoint [PPT], and the Internet as learning tools with a science class of sixth graders for project-based learning. Multiple sources of data were essential to triangulate the key findings articulated in this paper. Corresponding to previous studies,…

Digital fabrication consists of manufacturing design technology that is used to facilitate the creation of physical objects. Existing research suggests digital fabrication technology can inspire student creativity and innovation in mathematics and science. However, there is a lack of research that informs teacher education by identifying practical…

Since students are continually influenced by the visual culture surrounding them, content teachers should take steps to capitalize on the potential of instructional and communication technologies (ICT) to enhance their effectiveness. The article discusses the importance of integrating visual literacy and identifies the teaching environment needed…

One of the essential factors of successful integration of technology in classrooms is the role and relationship of the technology coordinator in supporting integration efforts. The vision for the use of technology in each school and district and the leadership role of the tech coordinator must be clear and understood by all. This article presents…

Living in an image-rich world does not mean students (or faculty and administrators) naturally possess sophisticated visual literacy skills, just as continually listening to an iPod does not teach a person to critically analyze or create music. Instead, "visual literacy involves the ability to understand, produce, and use culturally significant…

Traditionally, people have used perspectives of space and time to define a sense of place and personal identity. Western cultures interpret place and time as static entities. In interactive multimedia computing, visual literacy defines new dimensions in communication that are reshaping traditional Western concepts of place and time. Experience…

This article reports the result of an action research study that explored the need for visual literacy as an additional instructional input for students creating technology integration solutions. The introduction of visual literacy concepts is useful in two ways. First, it raises visual considerations to the conscious consideration of students.…

John Long, technology program specialist at Florida's Palm Beach County School District, has put up impressive numbers over the years. He provides training and support for the district's 104 elementary schools. Long has also presented at 20 conferences and helped launch a district technology conference that today attracts 2,000 participants--a…

Jerome Burg, after 34 years of teaching, left his own classroom last year and now helps other teachers integrate technology into the curriculum at Granada High School in Livermore, California. One new project he designed is heightening global interest in literary road trips by creating a resource that combines a new technology with a time-tested…

In order to begin to understand the current levels of awareness and understanding of teachers regarding visual literacy resources and tools, a descriptive study was recently undertaken by the authors. Data were gathered through a researchers-generated and pilot-tested web-based survey from 43 in-service teachers from the northern Illinois region.…

As graphically driven, animated, interactive applications offer educators new opportunities for shaping course content, new avenues for research arise as well. Along with these developments comes a need to study the effectiveness of the individual tools at our disposal as well as various methods for integrating those tools in a classroom setting.…