The images on this blog come from 3 main sources:

• Pixabay – my favourite site for CC0 images and content
• Pexels – a slightly more diverse range of images
• Me – the pictures and photos which I record

I saw this tweet from Mark Britz the other day:

I dislike the images used to show learning. It’s always someone gleefully looking at their computer or holding a book or sitting in a classroom. This is rarely learning. Learning happens in the doing. Figuring things out. Applying the content consumed. Reflecting on the work.

— ᴍᴀʀᴋ ʙʀɪᴛᴢ #SocialByDesign (@britz) December 7, 2019

I did a quick search of the two sites above for learning and he’s right. Learning, according to the image libraries, is:

• Books – libraries of books, reading on a rock, a beach, a roof, upside down, piles of books, words, letters
• Writing – notepads, lined paper, pens, paper, blank pages, pens, pencils, crayons
• Laptops – in combination with notepads, at meetings, in lectures, rarely turned on
• Light bulbs – drawn, lit, unlit, hovering over people’s heads
• Children – in classrooms, laughing, pointing, using crayons and pencils

A picture paints a thousand words; if all the pictures we’re using are pictures of education, we’re using the wrong pictures.

Or are we? If we use an image which bears little relation to people’s perception of what learning is, will they be engaged enough to click through? I’d love to know your thoughts.