Visual Punctum – Pedagogical Punctum

This proposal is based upon a case study of a pedagogical-visual process, which developed in the course: Visual Literacy: Foundations of Visual Education. The question I posed to myself as a lecturer was: How to create dialogic instruction based on a personal connection.

Due to the fact that I was a lecture in front of 65 student, I decided that the assignments I will give and the management of time outside of class hours will serve as the basis for dialogic instruction and personal connection, using a digital platform and sharing tools. The assignments were based on using the terms and, moving from the personal into the social, politic and cultural experience.

In first assignment the students learned certain terms from Roland Barthes' theory, like Punctum, Studium, and the Structure of a Myth. They were asked to analyze a photograph out of their private "photo album" which had Punctum for them. Next, they were required to use the picture as a search image on Google Search Pictures. From the image page they received they had to analyze visual patterns, e.g. personal as opposed to generalized, schematic, as opposed to unitary. In the third stage, they were required to associate the photograph with a visual myth. The students uploaded their assignments to a shared blog.

I term this process "Pedagogical Punctum" – a kind of initiation that stabs, that is relevant to the learner. Dialogic learning was established between us in which knowledge is built together, through sharing and with the utmost relevance, as suggested by Critical Pedagogy. Students were satisfied from the process which allowed them to return to their private photograph, encounter the "Visual Punctum", analyze it in a reflective manner: – from a personal experience to a generalized experience and knowledge – to form a "Pedagogical Punctum".