What is visual literacy?

• We live in a world where visual images are becoming increasingly important as most information is presented as a combination of words and images.

• If you can read a map, draw a diagram or interpret symbols then you are visually literate.

• Visual literacy is the reading and writing of visual texts. http://k-8visual.info/whatis_Text.html

What is seen with the

eye and what is “seen”

with the mind.

PERIODIC TABLE OF VISUALISATION METHODS

http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html

Hover over the elements on this table to see a de range of ways to display thinking visually using charts, graphs, symbols, maps etc. This is a great resource to introduce new

visualization methods and to ensure you aren’t always relying on the same old ones.

PERIODIC TABLE OF VISUALISATION METHODS

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TEACHING IDEAS BLOG http://great-teaching-ideas-weblinks.posterous.com/

This blog is full of animations and examples of visual literacy that can be used by teachers. It comes with the full animations AND ideas on what to do with each animation. It even

includes ideas for writing that may be inspired by each video. Well worth a look at this blog. (Follow @redgierob on twitter for updates.)

BUBBLR http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr

Search for images using tags. Find an appropriate photo and add thought bubbles and speech bubbles. Use a single photo or create a series of photos. Students can show what people in photos may be thinking or saying based on what they see in the image. Give the

photos a name and share the unique URL. (No login required)

PHRASR http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr

Type in a sentence and click ‘Start.’ This site will find an image for each of your words to create a visual representation of your words. You can change the image for each word until you find an image you are satisfied with. When you are finished you can watch a mini cycle of your images and words. You can easily share the unique web address of your finished

piece. (No login required)

STORYBIRDwww.storybird.comStorybird 'reverses the process of visual storytelling by starting with the image and "unlocking"

the story inside. Choose an artist or a theme, get inspired, and start writing.' This website provides you with a range of beautiful illustrations that require an author to turn them into a

story. The end product is an online picture book that can be shared with anyone. Another great aspect of this site is the ability to collaborate on a story- invite someone else to make the book

with you.

VOICE THREADwww.voicethread.com

A VoiceThread is a collaborative slide show that can hold images, documents and/or videos and lets people interact and comment on the content in 5 ways; using voice with either a

microphone or telephone, text, audio file or video. The people's comments appear around the edges of the image/document/video.

ACMI- 15 SECOND PLACEhttp://15secondplace.acmi.net.au

Fifteen second films capture the mood of a location in a short 15 second video. Students can upload their videos. These videos can be geolocated. There are very

helpful prompts and tips included at the site. Big bonus: It is an Australian site!

Searching for images

Toondoo provides you with everything you need to make a comic strip- the layout, the images and the speech bubbles. Just select your background and your characters and add text! You can also make online books. Share them online or embed them in a blog once completed.

TOONDOOwww.toondoo.com

WORDLE www.wordle.net

Paste your text into this website and have it transformed into a colourful word cloud. Words that are repeated more often will be larger in size.

You can type a list of words in manually or copy and paste an entire word document in here. This is useful to demonstrate keywords.

Are you looking to create a timeline on any subject? Create as many timelines as you want and add maps, images, video and sound. You can even set up an account just for your

class.

TIMERIMEwww.timerime.com