“The graphics teaching tool for non-technical students” by Tenneson and Spalter

Just as basic grammar skills underlie writing in all fields and basic math skills underlie virtually all the sciences, so an understanding of computer graphics fundamentals is becoming a basic “literacy” requirement for a wide range of tasks in IT-based jobs and beyond, from graphics and industrial design to engineering and business. George Lucas has said,“If students aren’t taught the language of images, shouldn’t they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?” [Daly 2004]. The Graphics Teaching Tool (GTT) is a Java-based program designed to address this need for graphics concepts literacy by offering a pedagogically- driven, constructivist environment for non-Computer Science majors. It has been used in a university course on visual literacy and aims to be integrated into courses from business to multimedia to Web design.

1. Daly, J. 2004. Life on the screen. Edutopia Maazine (Sept./Oct.).