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VISUAL
DESIGNERS AND ARTISTS IN SERVICE TO THE UNIVERSITY: EDUCATING THE EDUCATORS
OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH COMPOSITION COURSES
Paula
Curran
Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Katherine Hannigan
Assistant Professor, Art & Design Foundations
Iowa State University
As visual communication educators we understand that form and content are inextricably linked. We demand artifacts from our students that demonstrate this interaction. We also recognize that, by teaching students to develop both visual and verbal texts, we place them in positions to set strategies to better control and direct messages. But what about students who receive no visual training? On college campuses we witness texts created by students untrained in visual communication. The proliferation of pamphlets, rŽsumŽs, posters, web sites, and the like, that are poorly designed, confirm this lack of training. Most first year undergraduates study rhetoric and composition in English courses that were designed originally to develop critical reading and writing skills. Because our culture is becoming an increasingly visual one, Iowa State University recognizes the need to educate all undergraduates in visual communication principles, as well. To address this need, ISU has funded our interdisciplinary team of professors from the Departments of Art & Design and English to design strategies that will develop students' visual literacy and communication skills. Visual rhetoric skill development will be built into First Year English Composition courses. To accomplish this goal, however, the team must first educate the educators. In August 2002 our team will direct workshops to teach principles of visual communication to First Year English Composition instructors. We will also create, for instructors to use in their courses, visual assignments that complement the writing assignments. Our assignments will develop students' understanding of visual principles and assess their ability to critically observe and analyze visual texts. Later in the fall, we plan a web site that instructors can use as a resource during the semester. Our presentation will discuss how we developed the workshops. We will outline strategies to teach First Year English Composition instructors' principles of visual communication, including: topics discussed, methods for facilitating learning, assignments developed, as well as assessment techniques.