Contemporary culture has become increasingly dependent on the visual, especially for its capacity to communicate instantly and universally. Advances in technology fueled this shift. Students must learn to cope with and intelligently contribute to a culture rife with easy access to the visually rich Web, photo dependant social networks, video saturated media, and graphically sophisticated entertainment and gaming. To address this challenge, some educators are transforming their school districts' and institutions' core curricula to include visual literacy requirements and preparing themselves for this shift from text to image by learning how to teach using new forms of media. In addition, educators are providing opportunities for students to be successful consumers and producers of new media by teaching them to analyze and interpret and to create and compose visual images and messages. Students must also learn how to make ethical judgments about a visual message's accuracy, validity, and worth. (Contains 2 tables and 1 note.)