Dr. Kirk St.Amant, Eunice C. Williamson Endowed Chair and Director of the Center for Health and Medical Communication in the School of Literature and Language at Louisiana Tech, delivered the keynote address at the inaugural Visual Technologies for Teaching, Learning and Inclusion Conference Oct. 29.

The event was sponsored by the European Union-based Comics for Inclusive English Language Learning (CIELL) project. Conference details are available online at https://ciell.eu/conferenceeng/.

St.Amant’s keynote, “Sketching Literacy: Teaching Through the Cognitive Connections between Literacy and Design,” examined psychological processes affecting how individuals use different technologies when reading and writing. In discussing these topics, St.Amant focused on how health literacy—how individuals communicate about health and wellness—is connected to psychological processes that influence reading, writing, and the use of communication technologies. The talk included examples from Tech’s Center for Health and Medical Communication to highlight work the University is doing in these areas.

“The conference organizers have been working with members of the Tech faculty—Nick Bustamante in Art, Dr. Jamie Newman in Biology, and myself in Technical Communication—for several years now,” St.Amant said. “This event recognizes Tech’s dedication to innovative, international research and teaching collaborations essential to success in the 21st Century.” 

Over 1,000 persons have registered for the event; attendees include K-12, college, and university educators and administrators from around the world. Originally scheduled to take place in Athens, Greece in May of 2020, the conference was moved to an online venue due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

The CIELL project is a collaboration between comic artists, language teachers, and learning technology researchers to create innovative open educational resources that enrich teaching practice and support dyslexic learners.