Visual literacy in the online environment

Visual literacy combines words and graphics to enhance learning. Students are immersed in digital literacy and multimodal learning; therefore, it is important for educators to embrace visual literacy and strike out beyond printed text, PowerPoint slides, and discussion boards. This article describes the use of visual literacy as a tool to enhance student learning. An example demonstrating the application of visual literacy to teach transcultural nursing in an online environment is provided. The Web site containing a copy of the visual literacy teaching tool is also available to readers.