More than a Picture: Leveraging Visuals in Advocacy and Outreach in Higher Education

Visuals and images are ubiquitous on college campuses and with the lives of students, faculty, and staff. Increasingly students, administrators, and faculty have access to the means of creation, production, and distribution of images. While particular images are crafted by institutions to communicate particular messages, the use of visuals and visual methodologies within higher education contexts should expand beyond what institutions create and produce. Visuals and visual methods in higher education research include analysis of existing images or artifacts as well as participant-generated visual methods such as photovoice. The goal is to use images to create new understandings about particular experiences and topics.