La Fabrique du Regard - E-Tool for Visual Literacy

In 2013 we started a collaboration with a new partner in the field of media education in France –  LE BAL. Founded with support of acclaimed Magnum photographers, and chaired by Raymond Depardon, LE BAL is an independent venue in Paris, dedicated to the visual document, the image in all its forms – photography, video, film and new media – as a means of representing reality.

LE BAL has an extensive experience in media and visual literacy: thousands of students from schools all over France have participated in the workshops of La Fabrique du Regard, the educational arm of LE BAL. The goal of these workshops is to develop a critical view among young people and question the conditions in which images are produced, circulated and assimilated.

Together with LE BAl we decided to engage a joint reflexion on methodologies of media and visual education and to produce a teachers training e-tool in visual literacy.

The content of the tool is based on analyses of images and their cultural, social and political implications and will consist of pedagogical programmes, methodologies, evaluations, critical texts and images, as well as ideas and exemples of visual literacy projects to implement in classrooms. The objective is to raise awareness of the importance of visual literacy among teachers and propose them a practical toolbox to develop educational workshops and projects with their students.

An editorial committee composed of teachers and LE BAL trainers is responsible for the concept and the content development. The prototype is now tested by teachers and students of the partner schools in France.