Image Generation Tools for Teaching and Communication

Image generation tools can be very handy to create images suited to purpose quickly. We’ve previously presented to librarian audiences our experiments using image generation tools for data illustration – as a supplement to data visualization, such as charts. Recently, we were asked to consider how image generation tools could support open educational resource creation. Although we have tended to focus on data communication, our broad interest has been to explore visual metaphors as a means to capture interest and illuminate concepts. We will demonstrate tools, use cases, prompting, and illustration types. We’ll consider how images can be developed as carriers of information. We’ll showcase the easiest-to-use, free tools currently available. We’ll explore some of the ‘fine print’ that might apply when using image generation tools, including some potential ethical or legal concerns underlying our interactions with AI, but our main hope is to inspire others to use image generation tools to support their teaching and communication.