While framing research has centered mostly on the evaluations of media texts, visual news discourse has remained relatively unexamined. This study surveys the visual framing techniques and methods employed in previous studies and proposes a four-tiered model of identifying and analyzing visual frames: (1) visuals as denotative systems, (2) visuals…

The so-called millennial learners who currently populate college classrooms are purportedly digital natives whose repeated exposure to a host of new technologies has allegedly resulted in enhanced skills in several areas, including those related to technology and visual communication. By extension, the argument has been made that digital natives…

This exploratory study investigated student reaction to the use of cartoons as advance organizers for online discussions in an online course. A convenience sample of 15 students participated in the study by contributing cartoons, participating in online discussions, and completing a survey. Overall, survey results indicated student reaction to the…

We present here the findings of an ethno-visual research study involving the creation of a mental map of images, artifacts and practices in Tel Aviv's New Central Bus Station. This huge and complex building, part bus station, part shopping mall, has become a stage for multicultural encounters and interactions among diverse communities of users.…

The goal of this study was to gather data on US elementary school teachers' (K-5) instructional practices with graphical representations. The results revealed high percentages of usage for graphical representations but with varying levels of frequency. Overall, the most frequently reported instructional practices by teachers included 1) pointing…

This research describes how eight pre-service teachers interpreted and analyzed instructional visuals, defined visual literacy, and assessed the effectiveness of four instructional images. A phenomenological procedure was used to collect, organize, and analyze the data. Findings suggest that pre-service teachers in this study were able to define…

The purpose of this study is to compare an instructional designer's intentions with the learners' perceptions of the instructional functions of visuals in one specific e-learning lesson. An instructional designer created each visual with more than two purposes related to the psychological, cognitive, and affective aspects of learning. Contrary to…

Describes a study of undergraduates that investigated the tendency of television news viewers to use visual information to interpret ambiguous verbal passages. The use of simulated television news stories is explained, free recall and cued recall responses are discussed, and sentence recognition data is studied. (26 references) (LRW)

Describes a study that was designed to explore the effects of two teaching presentations (parsed and whole cartoons) and cognitive style (field dependent and field independent) on undergraduate students' ability to understand editorial cartoons. Use of the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) is discussed, and hypotheses tested are explained. (32…

Describes a study of undergraduates at Ohio State University that examined the relationship between drawing performance and cognitive abilities related to visual perception and analysis, drawing strategies, type of stimulus, previous experience with visual studies, and gender. Related studies are reviewed, and implications for instructional design…