The IVLA2022 conference I organized in August as Chair of the Local Organizing Committee just received the Special Mention as the Best Congress that took place in 2022 in Jyväskylä. Together with IVLA2022, only four events were awarded by the City of Jyväskylä and the Jyväskylä Convention Bureau. The press release from the award ceremony can be read HERE (in Finnish).
I am extremely proud of this recognition, especially that this was the first event of this kind that I was fully in charge of as a Chair. Enormous work was involved in planning and managing the whole event, and I would not make it without my wonderful team: Terhi, Rasa, Judit and Anne.
How to write about images without looking at them but only hearing about them from the study participants? How to analyze images without images? How to conduct “visual studies” if you end up only with verbal narratives as your data? – These were the challenges I faced when I completed data collection for the project What’s in the app? Digitally-mediated communication within contemporary multilingual families across time and space (2018-2022), led by Professor Åsa Palviainen. My work in the project ended in March 2021 and the article on narratives about family photography was submitted in May. After two rounds of reviews in three different journals, the article WhatsApp iconology: Narratives on in-app photographic practices in (transnational) family communication was finally accepted in mid-January 2023 by the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
I learned a lot while working on this article. Thanks to colleagues from the ECREA Visual Cultures Section, I was able to start the whole analysis as they guided me toward W.J.T. Mitchell’s ideas on imagetext and iconology. This theoretical framework helped me to look at images without seeing them (so having no visual data at hand) but hearing about them (so working on what participants told about their visual communication practices in mobile communication in transnational family context).
The study presented in the article lays at the intersection of visual culture studies, mobile communication, migration and transnationalism (transnational family communication). Hence, I also faced difficulties in finding the most suitable forum to publish it (and so, two journals rejected it in the second review round). However, I found the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies as the most welcoming and encouraging place for this article. And I am happy it will be published with all the elements I really wanted to keep there, including a personal, an ethnographic-like twist in the beginning, referring to my reading of R. Barthes’ Camera Lucida as a student, many years back.
EDIT: As of January 31, 2023, you can now read the article here (the link provides access to the free copy of the article).
Both events of the online book launch of “Visual Pedagogies in Higher Education: Between Theory and Practice” were a great opportunity to share the work included in the volume. It was wonderful to see many colleagues attending these events, asking questions and discussing. I was happy to see those of you who I know and have been collaborating with on various occasions, and many persons who I did not know before but who were intrigued by the work related to visual pedagogies. Let’s the ideas around visual pedagogies continue to evolve into new and further collaborations!
A visual summary of both events was captured visually by Iryna Molodecky, one of the contributors to the volume. She kindly agreed for this image to be shared here. In case you want to know more about her work, check Iryna’s website (of course, in addition to her chapter in “Visual Pedagogies”).
Come and get inspired by the ideas on how to implement elements of visual pedagogies in university education
Two events, on November 16th and 22nd, are organized to launch newly published book “Visual Pedagogies in Higher Education: Between Theory and Practice” which I edited. Each event will start with a short overview of the book (by me) and will follow by the introductions to four chapters (by the contributors). There will be time for questions, exchange of ideas and discussion.
You are welcome to attend both events or to choose one, based on your schedule and interest. Sign up HERE to get the Zoom link.
On 16th November at 2:00 – 3:00pm (EET / UTC+2) we will hear introductions to the following chapters:
As Visual as Possible: The Pedagogy of Visual Research Methods in a Finnish University (by Joanna Kędra and Rasa Žakevičiūtė)
Discipline-Led Thinking through Cultural Collections and Art (by Olivia Meehan)
Photomedia Literacy in Ruins? Student Attitudes toward Digital and Analog Photomedia When Creating an Archive for the Future (by Gary McLeod and Tad Hara)
Learner-Generated Video: Video Creation Process for Developing Visual Competencies (by Pınar Nuhoğlu Kibar)
On 22nd Novemberat 3:00 – 4:00pm (EET / UTC+2) we will hear introductions to the following chapters:
Teaching Photography Theory to Art Students: Three Case Studies (by Marianna Michałowska)
Using Visual Art Practices to Enhance Educators’ Professional Growth (by Karen F. Tardrew)
How Drawing Enhances Learning for Business Students (by Iryna Molodecky)
The Use of Freehand Drawing as a Means of Teaching Research Methods in a Business School (by Gyuzel Gadelshina)
My edited book “Visual Pedagogies in Higher Education: Between Theory and Practice” is already in the production process! The publication date is set up for October/November 2022, so very soon. It has been a great learning process for me and I am grateful to all contributors who make it possible to open the topic of visual pedagogies from so many different perspectives.
And here comes the table of contents for this volume:
Introduction: Visual Pedagogies in Higher Education Joanna Kędra
Part I:
Visual Pedagogies in Research Methods Courses
Chapter 1
As Visual as Possible: The Pedagogy of Visual Research Methods in a Finnish University Joanna Kędra and Rasa Zakeviciute
Part II:
Visual Pedagogies in Business Studies
Chapter 2
How Drawing Enhances Learning for Business Students Iryna Molodecky
Chapter 3
The Use of Freehand Drawings as a Means of Teaching Research Methods in a Business School Gyuzel Gadelshina, Rob Wilson, Paul Richter and McKenzie Lloyd-Smith
Part III:
Visual Pedagogies and Object-Based Learning
Chapter 4
Discipline-led Thinking Through Cultural Collections and Art Olivia Meehan
Part IV:
Visual Pedagogies in Photography Education
Chapter 5
Photomedia Literacy in Ruins? Student Attitudes toward Digital and Analogue Photomedia when Creating an Archive for the Future Gary McLeod and Tad Hara
Chapter 6
Teaching Photography Theory to Art Students — Three Case Studies Marianna Michałowska
Part V:
Visual Pedagogies in Teacher Education
Chapter 7
Learner-Generated Video: Video Creation Process for Developing Visual Competencies Pınar Nuhoğlu Kibar
Chapter 8
Using Visual Art Practices to Enhance Educators’ Professional Growth Karen F. Tardrew
Concluding Note: Measuring Success in Visual Pedagogies Joanna Kędra
The IVLA 2022 Conference is just a week ahead. I am so grateful to the whole local organizing team – I would not be able to make it without Terhi Paakkinen, Judit Hahn, Rasa Zakeviciute and Anne Pitkänen-Huhta. I have learnt a lot during this time, both the good and the bad about organizing a conference. I hope that the attendees, both onsite and online, will enjoy the event and get as much as possible from it.
This year International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) annual conference (4-6 November 2021) came with a surprise to me – I received the IVLA Research Award! It was presented to me in recognition of my active involvement in outstanding research that furthers the cause of visual literacy and my achievement in advancing knowledge within the field.
As it stays in the award description, it is given only when merited, to members of the Association who are actively involved in on-going outstanding research that furthers the cause of visual literacy, who have achieved a substantial, record of scholarly publication, and who have significantly advanced knowledge within the field.
I am very honored with this recognition of my research work. It truly motivates me to continue with research and pedagogical projects related to visual literacy in a higher education context. I also hope that my hope institution, University of Jyväskylä, will finally acknowledge the importance of cross-disciplinary visual education and I will have a chance to develop this area further.
And here is some information from the press release about the award:
Joanna Kędra was nominated for the Research Award for her heavy involvement in bringing consistency to how the term visual literacy is used within scholarship and her ability to arrive at concrete goals for the field of visual literacy through her own scholarly work. Kędra’s visual literacy scholarship within the last three years has resulted in editing a special issue of the Journal of Visual Literacy and a forthcoming book on visual literacy in education. These are just two examples of Kędra’s accomplishments within the field of visual literacy but there are many more.Gary McLeod, Kędra’s nominator and Assistant Professor of Photomedia and Visual Design at the University of Tsukua, Japan wrote that Kędra’s work is, “vital for future generations to identify and manage visual bias regardless of whether they are ‘reading’ images, making them, or even thinking in terms of visuals. It is difficult to imagine the current picture of VL studies without her contributions”.Joanna Kędra is one of ten people to be awarded the Research Award since its inception in 1989.
The 54th Annual Conference of the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) will be organized at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland on 10-12 August 2022. It will be hosted by the Department of Language and Communication Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in collaboration with the MultiLEAP (Multiliteracies for social participation and learning across the life span) profiling area of the University of Jyväskylä.
I am in charge of chairing the Local Organizing Committee. The call will be out in January 2022. Here is an overview of the conference theme (from almost ready CFP):
Connecting & Sharing – Envisioning the Futures of Visual Literacy
The past two years of ongoing restrictions caused by the worldwide pandemic have shown the importance of the visual in the everyday. Our lives have become more visual than ever before – from intense visual-sharing practices with relatives and friends, video conferencing and online education, to the visual presence of pandemic contexts in cityscapes, artistic practices in local communities, media feeds including charts and graphs, and creation of remixed images as a commentary to the crises. It has become clear that we increasingly need visual literacy in terms of image creation, reception and visual thinking. Therefore, in these current unpredictable (visual) times, we aim for the impossible – to envision the futures of visual literacy. We invite scholars, educators, students, and practitioners from all over the world to discuss theoretical insights and to share research, artistic, and educational practices around the concept of visual literacy and/or in dialogue with multimodality, multi-sensory experiences and multiliteracies. The concept of visual literacy has been used for over five decades in education, art, museum studies, information design, photography, and new literacies research, but currently we have reached the point when we need to (re)build and (re)discover the (new) connections between the variety of theories, disciplinary traditions and educational practices in visual literacy and beyond.
The view on the Jyväsjärvi Lake in the center of Jyväskylä with Ylistönrinne Campus in the background (photo source: Jyväskylän kaupunki promotional materials).
What motivates me at most in my academic work (and truly, motivation is really something that keeps raising my enthusiasm to what I do) is the peer-support and the kind of collegial and friendship atmosphere in doing something together. This is why, I have always liked to be a part of academic international communities, gathered in various thematic associations.
One of such groups is the ECREA Visual Cultures Section, formed together with colleagues that I know from various different contexts. This has been a place – or actually the people – from whom I could always get constructive feedback. Our discussions have been always enriching. From this day on, together with Dr. Patricia Prieto-Blanco (Lecturer in Digital Media Practice in the Sociology Department at Lancaster, UK) and Dr. Maria Schreiber (Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Communications at the University of Salzburg, Austria) I am taking a lead as a Chair of the ECREA Visual Cultures Section. We would like to continue the work that the previous chairs, Prof. Asko Lehmuskallio and Prof. Paolo Favero established in the Section, but we also want to add new. Foremost, however, we want to keep this Section as a place open for constructive discussions about and through the visual from many disciplinary angles.
I think that the most rewording aspect in teaching is my own learning, together with students. Such learning occurs on various levels — from the course planning and preparation of the learning materials and throughout the teaching process in the classroom. Due to the nature of the subject that I teach, that is, visual communication and the interpretation of the visual, there is always something new to discover together with students, even using the same image or the same activity in several courses. It is so fascinating that while teaching with and about visuals, you can never get bored.
If you would need to describe this course in three words, what would they be? – students’ course evaluation in a form of a word-cloud.
Just yesterday, I had the last class of an intensive one-week summer school course in visual communication, which I was co-teaching with my colleague, Rasa Zakeviciute. This was the first time we were teaching together in an online environment. What is more, we not only designed a completely new course, but we also designed it especially for an online teaching mode. In this sense, we were more lucky than many of our colleagues, who, under pressure of time (and often without sufficient knowledge and experience) moved their face-to-face courses online. We could plan the course from the start as a fully online experience.
We had two main goals when we were planning the ‘Visual Communication as a Way to Improve Working Life Skills’ course. The first one, built on the approach we have already implemented in the ‘Visual Research Methods’ courses, that is of visual pedagogy. The other was to create a balance between synchronous and asynchronous teaching, that is, to constantly keep in mind that we are planning an online course, not a face-to-face one (an aspect of which many teachers do not think). For that reason, students received all the learning material in a form of video-lectures, other videos and readings as well as individual assignments and group work. Thus, the two-hour online classes per day could have been devoted solely to activities and discussions, based on the learning material (which students could have explored beforehand in their own peace). That kind of approach can especially benefit students of various linguistic backgrounds (they can use dictionaries, or listen to lectures several times), from different geographical locations (we worked between time-zones of 8 or even 11 hours of time difference) and busy with other commitments (they can schedule their study time).
In this course, we had a really great group of students. It was so rewarding to work with all of them. Their ideas and ‘ways of seeing’ enriched my experience as a teacher and visual scholar. We also had fun all together in the course. The online teaching is any worse from the face-to-face classroom. Actually, when well planned (and with an intention for good online teaching), it can be a truly rewarding learning experience, both for students and for their teachers.
Joanna Łucja Kędra 