Learning to See Complexity: Teaching with Visuals in Text-based Disciplines

Peter Felten, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, Elon University

Cultural theorists and undergraduates agree: We live in a highly visual world. However, being surrounded by images does not mean students understand how to look critically at visuals. And many instructors from text-based disciplines have little expertise with visual sources, complicating the task of teaching with images. This workshop, facilitated by a historian who has moved from text-heavy toward image-intensive teaching, will explore the theory and the practice of helping students learn to see complexity. We will consider both instructor-constructed visual exercises and more ambitious assignments that require students to compose multimedia projects. Sponsored by the University Teaching Fellows Program.