Interest in the role of visual literacy within education has grown significantly over the last 50 years. Many scholars maintain that living in an image-rich culture in the twenty-first century requires preparing visually literate graduates who are capable of a critical reading and understanding of visual texts, as well as constructing images…

A conceptualization of visual proficiency is offered. A survey is described which asked college students (N = 358) to identify five photographs, five symbols, and five paintings that are generally recognized to be "famous". About 27% of all respondents claimed to recognize all the photographs, 23% recognized all the symbols, and 3%…

The so-called millennial learners who currently populate college classrooms are purportedly digital natives whose repeated exposure to a host of new technologies has allegedly resulted in enhanced skills in several areas, including those related to technology and visual communication. By extension, the argument has been made that digital natives…