Digital Visual Literacy

Our website has moved. Please go to http://mcli.maricopa.edu/dvl/

What is DVL?

A modern, literate person is one who is not only able to read and write but is educated in all the basic means necessary to thrive in a digital, networked world.

An important aspect of this general literacy is a digital visual literacy, the ability to critically analyze visual materials, create effective visual communications, and make judgments and decisions using visual representations of thoughts and ideas.

Digital visual literacy is a set of skills that enable students to function in an increasingly digital and visual workplace. These skills are based on concepts from a range of established disciplines but are not simply a collection of modules from courses in, say, computer science and graphic design; they build on basic concepts in such disciplines but are modified with awareness of related skills in other disciplines. The basic DVL skills are informed by original sources in single disciplines and interdisciplinary projects. Ideally, students should learn DVL skills in authentic contexts, such as learning how to make a business presentation, rather than study them solely in the abstract.

For more information, please see
DVL Overview
About the NSF Grant
Sponsors and Advisors
Contact Information

Downloading DVL Modules

If you or your institution is interested in incorporating some or all of the DVL modules into some of your classes, we welcome you to do so. In order to download the modules and associated Instructor Guides you will need to visit our new website where the Digital Visual Literacy (DVL) modules are now available for access and downloads:

http://mcli.maricopa.edu/dvl/

The NSF Grant

As international culture and commerce become increasingly reliant on visual communications, visual literacy is becoming an essential skill for college graduates. Supported by a three-year, $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, Mesa Community College (Mesa, Ariz.) and Brown University (Providence, R.I.) set out to develop pioneering curriculum modules for teaching digital visual literacy.

Participation by Brown University ended early in 2007. The Maricopa Community College District continues to focus on evaluation and dissemination activities.

This grant draws on work done in the experimental Brown University CS course CS24:
Visual Thinking/Visual Computing.

In October 2006 and 2007 the DVL Project team participated in the Showcase Events of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technology Education (ATE) National Principal Investigators Conference in Washington, D.C.

Among the many visitors to our booth were several NSF representatives, pictured below. More information on the 2007 conference can be found at Conferences.

Florence Martin, Co-PI of the DVL Project and Elizabeth Teles of NSF.

John Gibson, Co-PI of the DVL Project and Steve Cooper of NSF, the DVL Program Director.

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant No. 0501965.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).