The following study, “Using Digital Images in Teaching and Learning,” was commissioned by Wesleyan University in collaboration with the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE).
The
study focuses on the pedagogical implications of the widespread use of
the digital format. However, while changes in the teaching-learning
dynamic and the teacher-student relationship were at the core of the
study, related issues concerning supply, support and infrastructure
rapidly became part of its fabric. These topics include the quality of
image resources, image functionality, management, deployment and the
skills required for optimum use (digital and image “literacies”).
This
report is rooted in faculty experience in “going digital,” as shown in
four hundred survey responses and three hundred individual interviews
with faculty and some staff at 33 colleges and universities: 31 liberal
arts colleges together with Harvard and Yale Universities. Two-thirds
of the survey respondents worked in the arts and humanities, 27% in the
sciences and 12% in the social sciences. These faculty were
self-selected and mostly convinced of the digital promise of abundant,
fluid resources. They wanted to communicate both their enthusiasm for
their endeavor and their frustration at the pace and quality of their
transition to teaching with this new format.
Full Report (1.1 mb .pdf)
Executive Summary (.4 mb .pdf)
Recommendations (<.1 mb .pdf)
As part of an ongoing conversation around the report, Academic Commons is publishing a selection of interviews with faculty who participated in this project.
Digital Image Interview Series
In addition, we have established two spaces for readers to interact with the author David Green, and with one another.
Image Project Forum (requires membership in Academic Commons)
