Visual literacy involves not only interpreting but also constructing signs, signals, codes and other non-verbal materials. Students must learn to interpret and use basic visual elements as they create multimedia products and, since they live in a mediacentric world, they must become literate about the conventions used by each of the media to convey meaning.

The Seeing-Thinking Activity (STA) is useful strategy to practice DRTA behaviors and encourage keen attention to graphic elements and visual arrays. STAs range from revealing an object in stages through examining graphic evidence, predicting, and reasoning through wordless picture stories.

You can encourage the development of visual literacy through not only encouraging students to create their own visual messages, but also through steering them toward online art activities and lessons as well as having them examine online cartoons and comic strips, museums, and photographs or other graphic elements.

Students can develop increased visual literacy while they study existing web sites and when they create their own web pages and sites. You can help them learn basic web design features such as balance, emphasis, and harmony as well as layout and typography considerations. Students can learn to use graphic messages effectively in any multimedia presentations they create, making the presentations both verbally and visually rich.