The Visual Literacy Standards include:

• an introduction to and definition of visual literacy
• a brief discussion of visual literacy and higher education
• a brief discussion of visual literacy and information literacy
• suggestions for implementing the Standards
• key sources and bibliography
• 7 standards, 24 performance indicators, and 90 learning outcomes

The Visual Literacy Standards provide, for the first time, a common framework for visual literacy learning in higher education. The learning outcomes included in the Standards provide new opportunities for visual literacy teaching and assessment, and support efforts to develop measurable improvements in student visual literacy.

The Standards were developed over a period of 19 months, informed by current literature, shaped by input from multiple communities and organizations, reviewed by individuals from over 50 institutions, and approved by 3 ACRL committees and the ACRL Board of Directors. For a history of the Standards development process, please see the Standards project blog.

The Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education are a project of the ACRL Image Resources Interest Group, and were authored by the Visual Literacy Task Force – Denise Hattwig (chair), Joanna Burgess, Kaila Bussert, and Ann Medaille.

Thank you very much to all of you who have taken an interest in the Standards and provided input and feedback throughout the development process. We feel this was a true community effort, and the Standards reflect the great ideas of many individuals.

We will be posting official links and more information about implementation and support plans in coming weeks.

The Standards have now been forwarded to the ACRL Board of Directors for review and final approval.

We’d like to extend a sincere thank-you to the many ACRL committee chairs and members who carefully reviewed the Standards drafts, offered suggestions and edits, and acted quickly to move the Standards forward. We appreciate your help and contributions!

The draft Standards have been approved by the ACRL Information Literacy Standards Committee (ILSC)  (6/26/3011, ALA Annual).

The draft Standards have been sent to the ACRL Standards and Accreditation Committee for review.

Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education: Introducing a new interdisciplinary information literacy standard for 21st century learners

ACRL/IRIG ALA Program planning committee: Joanna Burgess (co-chair), Ann Medaille, Kaila Bussert, Denise Hattwig (co-chair)

Handouts available on the IRIG website

The draft Standards have been approved by ACRL Image Resources Interest Group Convener Joanna Burgess (4/22/2011), and Information Literacy Consultant Jill Gremmels (5/4/2011).

The draft Standards are now being reviewed by the ACRL Information Literacy Standards Committee.

Thank you very much to everyone who has commented on the draft, provided us with feedback, and contributed to the standards development process.

Speakers:
Virginia Allison and Holly Tomren, University of California, Irvine
Jodi Kearns and Lizette Royer, University of Akron
Emily Nelson Decker, University of Georgia
Robin Miller, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
Shilpa Rele and Gilda Santana, University of Miami
Joanna Burgess, Reed College (moderator)

Speakers will be describing their experiences testing implementation of the draft Standards, and will provide ideas for activities, learning objects, and assessment related to the draft ACRL/IRIG Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education.

ACRL/IRIG ALA Program planning committee: Joanna Burgess (co-chair), Ann Medaille, Kaila Bussert, Denise Hattwig (co-chair)