Visual Literacy Skills for Enhancing Students’ Agency and Ethical AI Engagement in the Digital Age

Abstract

The widespread use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) within educational environments has substantially changed how learners develop visual literacy skills. Traditionally, visual literacy- the ability to interpret, evaluate, create, and analyze the form and function of visual information- has now grown considerably because of the development of generative AIs. Through this study, I will discuss how AIs can assist learners in increasing their ability to utilize visual literacy while fostering learner agency and engaging ethically in a digital age. Systems such as DALL·E and Midjourney are helping students create, alter, and evaluate visual information, thus helping to promote both creativity and collaborative/interactive learning. In order to highlight this relationship between visual literacy and the use of AIs, a conceptual framework will be presented that merges both AIs and visual literacy development by displaying skill acquisition, critical thinking, feedback, and ethical awareness as overlapping components. Literature supports the use of AIs to increase participation in student learning, while requiring students to engage in critical thinking to evaluate the authenticity, bias, and ethics associated with visual information. Directly, the results of this study suggested that Artificial Intelligence is a force for redefining visual literacy by empowering students as creative producers and critical evaluators in an online learning environment.