DAN PRIEST

Digital language arts is the modern realization that reading and writing does not function without the imaging of ideas, stories, and words through graphics and design. Employing concepts of good graphical design thinking will help to aid comprehension and build new meanings between students and information. While students are writing more than any other generation before, they are doing this through many modes of communication—they are thinking and writing in color, fonts, music, and film.

 

The process of explaining a complex idea through a combination of text, images, videos, and other media is a far richer challenge (and much more shareable) than a standard essay. Looking at curriculum through the lens of a graphic designer opens up several possibilities for teachers to engage students in the reading and writing process—no matter what content area. Creating digital content, like infographics or videos, that aid and expands upon the text is how modern learners (young and old) will find the innate value in the text.