I. Regulations
Davis Division Regulation 522 sets forth the Baccalaureate Degree Requirements in General Education. Literacy with Words and Images (522.C.1) is a component of Core Literacies and requires 20 units of work in specified categories. Coursework in Visual Literacy (3 units) forms part of that requirement.
Regulation 523 sets forth the Criteria for General Education Certification of courses, stating: “A course in visual literacy improves a student’s ability to understand ideas presented visually and to communicate knowledge and ideas by visual means.” (523.C.3)
II. Interpretation
The objective of Visual Literacy is to provide individuals with the analytical skills they need to understand how still and moving images, art and architecture, illustration accompanying written text, graphs and charts, and other visual embodiments of ideas inform and persuade people.
Courses that meet the Visual Literacy requirement must stress the skills needed to communicate through visual means and/or the analytical skills needed to be a thoughtful consumer of visual media.
Certified courses will instruct students in the analysis and structure of visual images, by teaching students how to communicate their ideas in visual messages and/or by providing students with the critical skills necessary for understanding the persuasive power of images.
Departments and programs seeking course certification must identify the ways that their disciplines use visual evidence to generate and to test knowledge; they should identify discipline-specific models of visual literacy in already existing courses and develop courses that meet the requirement in discipline-appropriate ways.
Minimum Elements Checklist
Courses in the Visual Literacy must:
ME1) Require students to communicate through visual means and/or to think critically about visual materials. These may include still and moving images, art and architecture, illustration accompanying written text, designed texts, graphs and charts, or other visual embodiments of ideas.
In justifying ME1, identify the type of visual materials or media employed in the course and specify how the course enables students to think critically about visual materials.
ME2) Assess students for competency in the Visual literacy.
In justifying ME2, describe how course assignments allow students to demonstrate competency in the Visual literacy. Provide specific examples of how student competency in the Visual Literacy is assessed.
ME3) Ensure that improving the ability to understand ideas presented visually and/or to communicate knowledge and ideas by visual means are learning objectives throughout the course.
In justifying ME3, describe how students develop Visual Literacy throughout the course and how Visual Literacy is addressed across student learning objectives of the course.
III. ICMS Submission Requirements
The Committee on Courses of Instruction (COCI) evaluates whether the course proposal satisfies the minimum elements checklist above. COCI uses the information provided in the answers to the General Education literacy justification questions and the Expanded Course Description. Departments requesting that a course be approved for this GE literacy must answer the literacy questions in the Integrated Curriculum Management System (ICMS). Where applicable, the italicized notes below the Minimum Elements above may help guide course proposers in drafting responses in ICMS.
Last revised and approved by Undergraduate Council
June 5, 2026