Considering visual literacy when designing instruction

Abstract

Technology has made it increasingly easy to include imagery into printed and online teaching materials, yet it seems that less imagery is used, not more. A recent survey conducted on a limited number of teaching materials, produced by one of Australia’s leading distance education universities, found that over 87% of these materials contained no photographic image, while 58% of contained no form of illustration or image of any description. The intention of this paper is to draw attention to the need to use images in teaching materials, both to aid and enhance the learning process.