A Visual Design Framework and Assessment to Inform Instruction

As evidence of meeting program criteria required by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), engineering technology (ET) students are expected to both read and create graphical communications. Academic librarians’ visual literacy (VL) instruction can support ET students’ ability to communicate through graphics. Under comprehensive VL instruction, teaching visual design principles is an area of VL that supports graphical communication. An adaptive comparative judgment (ACJ) assessment was given to 115 ET students to inform visual design instruction and future research. A visual design framework supplemented the assessment to familiarize students with visual design principles. ACJ offers an alternative assessment model because instead of grading against a rubric of learning outcomes, it uses context to judge the quality of a work. The assessment results outline specific areas to focus visual design instruction for students to effectively navigate and create graphical communications.