Through the enlightened eye and I – am I bringing creativity and visual literacy into Higher Level Education?

Eisner (1993) explained the need to extend the forms of representation in our understandings of educational research. This special issue of EJOLTs is intended to contribute to the knowledge-base generating a new understanding of the educational influences of educators who are using ICT in e-learning and values-based self-study to enhance their own and their students’ learning. In this introduction I show how the originality of my own contribution is in the relationally dynamic meanings of my value of responsibility for others. My value of responsibility for my students includes acknowledging safety, care, honesty, creativity, enjoyment and excellence. In this introduction I also point to the epistemological significance of clarifying these meanings in an e-Learning c curriculum in Higher Education.In this paper I will discuss what I mean by visual narratives. I will show how my learning in school and Higher Education has shaped my teaching. I will explain the importance of emotions in teaching and learning and how this has influenced my emerging pedagogy. Finally, I will describe the Masters programme at Dublin City University and how I am supporting students on the M.Sc. in Education and Training Management programme. This special issue comprises four papers by students I am supporting. The papers show the values, ethos and spirit of the course I run and the influence of my own research to introduce creativity and visual literacy into Higher Education studies for practicing educators.