Prof. Flavia Stara, Ph.D. is Full Professor in Philosophy of Education and Director of International Degree Course in Tourism and Cultural Heritage at the University of Macerata (Italy). Her education – both in Italy and in the USA (Harvard University) – concentrated on History of Philosophy and Education, Comparative Studies in Literatures and Cultures. Her present research focuses on how educational and cultural processes are challenged, in Western and Eastern realities, by contemporary social transformations referring to the times of inter-culturality, the scope of human rights, and the spaces of ethics. Furthermore she works on interdisciplinary research fields related to Tourism sciences: Human Resources Management, Creativity Skills Coach. In her research areas she authored a number of books and articles both in Italian and English. She is associated with international multidisciplinary research projects to investigate issues related to the growth and evolution of humanity in Europe, India, Brazil, and South Africa.
Visual Literacies and Education
In a world redundant of visual texts, it is reasonable to expect that many students may not be critical readers of images and visual information. Teaching visual literacy requires students and teachers to have a shared visual metalanguage (a shared, specialized terminology) that describes meaning. Access to a visual metalanguage may enable to accurately talk about how meaning is expressed in visual texts, in the same way that we use a language grammar system to talk about meaning created in written and spoken texts. A metalanguage requires a comparison of texts as well a discussion and identification of visual semiotic choices made to construct particular meanings. Visual literacy is an interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and multidimensional area of knowledge. Different kinds of visuals may be applied in almost all subject matter areas and in different media. One should rather talk about “visual literacies” than visual literacy. Similar concepts are created in different places and at different times, named with different terms: diagrammatic literacy, digital visual literacy, graphical literacy and visual literacy are all terms representing concepts concerned with the ability to understand and work with visual representations. Visual language is not universal because pictures are not self-explanatory. Visual language usually needs verbal support. Images often function as information, but they are also aesthetic and creative objects that require additional levels of interpretation and analysis. Finding visual materials in text-based environments requires specific types of research skills. The use, sharing, and reproduction of visual materials also raise particular ethical and legal considerations. Visual literacies education challenges students to develop a combination of abilities related to information literacy, visual communication, interpretation, and technology and digital media use.