Integrating information literacy and visual literacy programs in the university curriculum: a course proposal

Abstract

This study is based on the hypothesis that higher education in the 21^st century must be developed in the context of the semantic web and knowledge, for this reason the educational model must define precisely what knowledge is and what knowledge is needed, it must define what are the skills to generate knowledge and innovation, it must identify which are the way to developing the skills required by a rapidly evolving of Web to finally determine the best possible educational environment. The aim of the research is to present a proposal for an educational program in information literacy, but with a solid visual (visual literacy) and communicative dimension, consistent with the value that the image, in its different contexts, has acquired in knowledge on the web, such as demonstrates the success of data visualization.
The aim of the research, furthermore, is to present the didactic planning of a training course, based on a selection of visual literacy rules of ACRL (2011), the appropriate educational methods, the objectives and the teaching program. From a methodological point of view, the study uses a method based on the analysis of best practices to offer the development of a teaching unit for conceptual training, skills (illustrations) through the development of appropriate exercises, skills (practices) through the proposal of activities designed for classroom processing, a forum for the development of communication skills. The course also offers the development of a self-assessment system based on the type of skills to be assessed, a set of indicators and questions that measure the degree of achievement of the skills through a questionnaire. The result is the presentation of a course of education that can be carried out, as a model, by specialists and professionals.