Presented by Alex Nichols at the Annual Conference of the Visual Resources Association, April 18th - April 21st, 2012, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Session: Visual Literacy Case Studies The term “visual literacy” was first coined in 1969 by Jack Debes of Kodak, co-founder of the International Visual Literacy Association. According to the Association of College and Research Libraries “Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education,” visual literacy “is a set of abilities that enables an individual to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use, and create images and visual media. Visual literacy skills equip a learner to understand and analyze the contextual, cultural, ethical, aesthetic, intellectual, and technical components involved in the production and use of visual materials. A visually literate individual is both a critical consumer of visual media and a competent contributor to a body of shared knowledge and culture.” The three case studies in this session will explore (1) implementing visual literacy standards and guidelines at Lewis & Clark College, (2) visual literacy among library and information science students at Wayne State University, and (3) curating and building a collection of image-based art history exam questions at Michigan State University. MODERATOR: John Taormina, Duke University PRESENTERS: • Joan Beaudoin, Wayne State University “A Case Study of Visual Literacy Among Library and Information Science Students.” • Stephanie Beene, Lewis & Clark College “Implementing Visual Literacy Standards and Guidelines at Lewis & Clark.” • Alex Nichols, Michigan State University “Curating Questions: Building a Collection of Image-Based Art History Exam Questions.”

1. Curating Questions
Building a Collection of Image-Based Art
History Exam Questions
Alex Nichols
Michigan State University

7. Q: In a large class, with limited
resources, how do you:
• Create meaningful assessments?
• Grade them efficiently?
• Minimize the potential for cheating?

8. Q: In a large class, with limited
resources, how do you:
• Create meaningful assessments?
• Grade them efficiently?
• Minimize the potential for cheating?
A: Expand the function of the VR
Collection to include dynamic
functions for testing and study.

11. LON-CAPA testing features:
• Communal banks of individual resources
(questions, images, metadata)
• Resources can be shared across multiple
exams, courses, instructors, institutions
• Resources within one exam can be
randomized

19. Positives
• Makes generating image-based
assessments easier in the long run
• Promotes resource-sharing among faculty
(maybe)
• Limits potential for cheating
• Expands utility of the VR database

20. Negatives
• Large time investment up front
• Steep learning curve for coding questions
• No established Art History resource bank

21. Going Forward
• Continue support as long as faculty are
interested
• Expand to one or more additional courses
• Explore tighter integration with MDID
• Try more advanced features (free text
answers, answers contained within
images, etc.)