Image Description in Digital Learning Materials

Educators create and collect digital learning content across a range of curricular areas, some of which, like Arts Education, may emphasize social and cultural interpretation as much as objective understanding. In British Columbia, the K-12 Curriculum emphasizes that students should “describe and respond to works of art,” including the visual arts, as early as Grade Two and continuing through to Grade Twelve (BC Ministry of Education, 2016). Therefore, K-12 educators will need to author image descriptions that accounts for the interpretation and understanding of visual art in digital learning content, or collect and share learning materials that contain these descriptions.

The sections that follow examine common image description guidelines and how these may need to be re-interpreted in the context of visual media in art-based learning materials

Subjectivity in Image Description

In short: All image description is subjective. Strict objectivity in describing visual art for blind and low vision students may disadvantage students in terms of equity and engagement in the learning experience.

Most guidelines for effective image description highlight the importance of objectivity – the description should be confined to the content and function of the visual media (WebAIM, 2021). However, objectivity reflects a certain set of values and may reinforce existing power structures (Coklyat & Finnegan, 2020). This concept is firmly rooted in Western positivism and limits social and cultural contextualization (Roberts, 2005). In fact, the practice of description must rely, to some extent, on a subjective determination of what information is important enough to convey, the words used to represent that information, and how much information is necessary (Kleege, 2018).

Media Type in Image Description

In short: Consider the importance of the medium of the image in the description.

Another common guideline for effective image description is to avoid unnecessary information by identifying the type of object being described. This helps to keep image descriptions short and efficient while also informative. For example, guidelines suggest that beginning an image description with “An image of…” is unnecessary since the user would already be aware that they were interacting with an image.

However, when describing works of art, the object type and its medium (e.g., photograph, painting, sculpture) may be essential to the student’s understanding and interpretation of the piece (Lewis, 2019). For example, distinguishing between a photograph of an apple and an oil painting of an apple will be important, depending on context and the purpose of the learning content.

Centring Student Perspectives

In short: Gather feedback from students on the image descriptions they encounter in their learning materials. 

The quality of an image description is ultimately determined by how effectively it communicates meaningful information to the user, in this case the student. Consulting with students on their preferences related to arts-based image description will help educators to write more effective image descriptions and be better able to evaluate descriptions in learning content. Further, educators can clarify the use and volume of descriptive language in their image descriptions based on students’ feedback.

Authorship is important. Be transparent with students about who authored the image descriptions if this information is available. Image descriptions are often unattributed and assumed to be indisputable fact(s) (Kleege, 2018). Knowing the source of the description gives students the information to reflect critically on the content of the description.

Next: A Worked Example of These Guidelines In Action