Attempts to make broad generalizations about the role of visuals in learning invariably fail to yield simple answers. For example, a major synthesis of research studies comparing visual-based lessons (those using photographs,overhead tranparencies, video, etc) with conventional instruction indicated a small overall superiority in achievement for students who experienced the visual treatment. However, on closer examnination it was found that the degree of superiority depended on many factors, including the subject matter and the utilizations practices of the teacher.
VISUAL LITERACY
Consider the sorts of visuals that are used every day for important communication purposes, such as the emergency information card in airplanes or highway signs that warn of dangerous curves or obstructions. Research on visual literacy examines the influence of the visual processing system on the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes.The critical role of visuals in education was recognized forcefully a century ago by Jhon Dewey, probably the most influential American Philosopher of education :
“ I believe much of the time and attention now given to the preparation and presentation of lessons might be more wisely and profitably expended in training the student’s power of imagery and in seeing to it that he is continually forming definite, vivid, and growing images of the vurious subjects with which he comes in contact in his experience.( Jhon Dewey, “ My Pedagogic Creed, Article 4).’’
Visual Literacy can be developed through two major approaches : 1. Input strategies
Helping learners to decode, or ‘’read’’ visual proficiently by practicing
visual analysis skills. (e.g., through picture analysis and discussion of films and video programms).
2. Output strategies
Helping learners to encode, or “write’’, visuals, to express themselves and
communicate with others. (e.g., through planning and producing photo and video presentations)
DECODING : Interpreting Visual
Learners must be must be guided toward correct decoding of visuals. One aspect of visual literacy, then, is the skill of interpreting and creating meaning from the stimuli that surround them.• Development effects
How learner decodes a visual is affected by many variables. Prior to the age of twelve, children tend to interpret visuals section by section rather than as a whole. In reporting what they see in a picture, they are likely to single out specific elements whithin the scene. Students who are older, however, tend to summarize the whole scene and report a conclusion about the meaning of the picture.
• Cultural effects
In teaching, we must keep in mind that the act of decoding visuals may be affected by groups may perceive visual materials in different ways. For example, let’s say your instruction includes visuals depicting scenes typical of the home life and steet life of inner-city children.
• Visual preferences
In selecting visuals, teachers have to make appropriate choises between the sorts of visuals that are prefereed and those that are most effective. People do not necessarily learn best from the kinds of picture they prefer to look at. For instance, research on picture preferences indicates that children in upper elementary grades tend to prefer color to black and white and choose photographs over drawings; younger children tend to prefer simple ilustrations, wheares older children tend to prefer moderately complex illustrations. Even though many learners prefer very realistic visuals over abstract representations, teachers must strike a balance between the two to achieve their instructional purposes. Even tough young learners prefer simple visuals and older students prefer more complex visuals, simpler visual are usually more effective, whatever the age group. ENCODING : Creating Visuals
Another route to visual literacy is through student creation of visual presentations. Just as writing can spur reading, producing media can be highly effective way of understanding media. One skill nearly always included in visual education curricula is that of sequencing. Reading specialist have long known that the ability to sequence, that is to arrange ideas in logical order is an extremely important factor in verbal literacy, especially in the ability to communicate in writing.
VISUAL LITERACY EDUCATION Visual literacy education programs have been developed throughout the United States and in many other countries to introduce students to the concepts and skills related to interpreting visuals and communicating visually. These programs are designed for children from preschool through high school and encompass both the encoding and the decoding of visual information in all media. Visual literacy has now become well accepted as an important aspect of the curriculum at all levels of education. Students examine all media with a focus on how elements such as color, camera angle,and pacing can affect the impact of visual messages. “ visual education “, the district’s curriculum guide, encourages teachers to consider visual learning styles and emphasizes the importance of visuals in developing creativity and critical thinking skills. In many media centers around the district, students create poster compaigns, design new products and advertising, examine their television viewing habits, and analyze commercial messages.
In programs like this all over the country, teachers are encouraged to think visually and to focus students’ attention on the visual aspects of textbook and storybooks while reading. Visuals inundate today’s students,so their ability to read,understand,create and analyze the persuasiveness of visuals has become more important than ever. Media production, computer design, and critical thinking skills can enhance a student’s ability to work and succeed in an increasingly visual world.
GOALS Of VISUAL DESIGN The consideration are too numerous and complex to be spelled out fully here. However, there are a few fundamental principles of visual design that can be pursued even by novices. For purposes of information and instruction, good visual design tries to achieve at least four basic goals in terms of improving communication between the message source ( teacher ) and the receiver ( learner )
• Ensure legibility A visual cannot even begin to do its job unless all viewers can see the words and images. The goal of good visual design is to remove as many obstacles as possible that might impede transmission of your message.
• Reduce the effort required to interpret the message As a designer you want to convey your message in such a way that viewers expand little effort making sense out of what they are seeing and are free to use most of their mental effort for understanding the message being conveyed.
• Increase the viewer’s active engagement with the message. Your message doesn’t stand a chance unless people pay attention to it. So a major goal is to make your design as appealing as possible to get the viewers’ attention and to entice them into thinking about your message.
• Focus attention on the most important parts of the message. Having enticed viewers into your display,you then face the callenge of directing their attention to the most important part of your message. PROCESSES OF VISUAL DESIGN
This section outlines a set of procedures for carrying out visual design in such a way that these goals are enhanced. Teachers, designers, and others who create visual and verbal/visual displays face a series of design decisions about how to arrange the elements to achieve the goals of visual design. We will group these decisions into three sets :
• Elements : Selecting and assembling the verbal/visual elements to be incorporated into the display.
• Pattern : Choosing an underlying pattern for the elements of the display.
• Arrangement : Arranging the individual elements within the underlying pattern PATTERN
It is very important to attract the viewers’ sights so they will flow across the display in front of them. There should be some elements to include in the visual display shown. They are such as alignment, shape, balance, style, color scheme, and color appeal.
1. Alignment
It is considered to be most effective way to establish a display with a
clear visual relationship to each other so the viewers can understand more
about the message being conveyed.
2. Shape
It is an important thing to arrange the visual display with the shape familiar to the viewers. It aims to use pattern attracting and focusing their attentions. The shapes of circle, triangle, or rectangle are familiar because they are predictable to most viewers.
3. Balance
Balance is achieved when the weight of the elements in a display are equally distributed on each side of an axis either horizontally or vertically. 4. Style
Different audience and setting call for different design styles. Here means that a slide intended for adult audience, for example, should have different style from the one intended for elementary school age children. 5. Color scheme
In displaying material, color plays an important role. Viewers are more likely to linger over and to remember a display having pleasant color harmony than the display done with clashing color. It is suggested that in a display, there uses a color combination such as yellow-violet, green-red, blue-orange, etc. it means that violet is the background, for example, and place yellow letters on it as well as dark red letters on a light green background, and so on. 
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