The following is a summary of a paper presented by the author in the International Conference on Teaching Methods and Styles held in Nevada, U.S.A. on September 19-21, 2005. This summary was first published in Universitas in December 2005. Dr. Ramirez was then chair of the Department of Arts of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Today, the use of visual images has increased so tremendously that it has transformed the way students learn. The use of technology and computers, films, television, print media and billboard advertising not only threatens to take over from the written word. It also poses a challenge to the teacher to use it because visual literacy is a powerful teaching ally.
A visual image refers to an unmoving picture, a painting or sculpture that is created by an artist. It is a visual representation, an embodiment of an idea, an experience, a concept, a surge of vitality, emotion, feeling, a result of interaction with the environment, and a product of human thinking.
According to W.J.T. Mitchell, who expands the concept of visuality to visual culture, visual art “can certainly have an impact on visual culture by exploring novel ways of seeing and representing the world.”
In education, a premium is placed on the spoken and written word. We have yet to learn that visual images, when properly interpreted, enables man to confront reality captured by another human being, albeit, from different time and space because “the human spirit, in all its manifestation, is central to the arts (Fowler, 1994).
A study I conducted on the use of visual aids in college teaching in the Philippines, which involved 45 teachers from six institutions, show an increasing use of visual elements in the classroom. Ninety-seven percent of the participants use visual aid in class at different times of the lesson. These visual images come in the form of film (68%), acetates (63%), illustrated books (40%), PowerPoint presentations (35%), and slides (20%).
The use of visual aid benefit the teachers in many ways: (1) they make it easy to elicit responses and draw out insights from the students; (2) they facilitate presentation of concepts; and (3) there is less use of the blackboard.
The teachers think it helps the students (1) understand abstract ideas in more concrete ways; (2) participate actively in discussions; (3) raise their level of curiosity; (4) relate the subject matter to other subject areas; (5) avoid boredom; (6) have a better appreciation of images; and (7) remember lessons better since they can visualize historical settings and events.
Although this study tells us that teachers do use visual aid in teaching, there is no assurance that these materials are used to maximize learning and develop the desired competencies for college students.
The method
The use of approaches such as pre-iconographical description, iconographical analysis and the use of theories in psychological and social patterns of looking may be effective in teaching art as a specialized field. However, for college teaching in general, a method of reading that requires observation may suffice. Having in mind the need to read visual images that communicate messages, I prescribe a method in this paper. This method involves three basic things that make up art: the form, the artist and the milieu.
Form refers to the physical aesthetic qualities of the image. Just as a writer uses words, sentences, and paragraphs in order to put across a meaning, the artist uses color, lines, space and other elements to create visual images. The teacher must understand how the artist uses elements of arts and principles of design—the dominant colors, lines, texture, medium, etc. Knowing these lead to an appreciation of the aesthetic qualities of the visual image.
The artist can never be separated from the artwork. Art making is not a purely technical process. The material that has been put together creatively has been transformed by the human artist into an image that is to be decoded by human minds.
Pope John Paul II (1999) speaks of the artist’s role in his letter to artists. “Society needs artists, just as it needs scientists… who ensure the growth of the person and the development of the community by means of that supreme art form which is ‘the art of education’… Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favor of the common good.”
The milieu is another basic aspect of art. The visual image is a window to a specific time and space, to culture or a social condition. Images can serve as a record of events, revealing people, customs, and way of life.
All of these things constitute the meaning-making in which students can get engaged in the learning process. Much of the description and interpretation is done when the form-artist-milieu are tackled. The educator completes the package by designing discussions that allow the students to analyze the visual image in relation to the subject matter as well as integrate ideas with concepts and examples found in other disciplines.
Conclusion
The use of visual images can enhance our students’ learning. Thus, college teachers need to learn how to read these images. Visual images must be determined with care and read properly. I do not suggest a separate curriculum devoted to visual images but the use of the form-artist-milieu method in the inclusion of visual images in the courses we teach. I also recommend that researchers study how visual images can be used in the more technical courses and how students’ learning develop as a result of reading visual images.#
Banner photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels.
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