Optics education increasingly requires students to reason not only about the physical behavior of light, but also about how optical phenomena are measured, represented, and communicated through digital imaging systems. This chapter examines how students develop a conceptual understanding of light and color through pixel-level analysis of refraction, diffraction, and color theory. The work is situated within a virtual exchange (VE) collaboration in 2023–2024 between students in the United States and Mexico, designed to support disciplinary learning in optics through technology-mediated inquiry. Students engaged with optical concepts using virtual laboratories, simulations, and applied media-based projects that required them to measure light behavior, interpret digital representations, and justify visual choices using optical models. Emphasis is placed on core outcomes in optics education, including model-based reasoning, representational competence, and the ability to connect physical properties of light—such as wavelength, intensity, and geometry—to their digital encodings. VE functioned as a pedagogical framework that enabled collaborative experimentation and interdisciplinary translation without displacing foundational optics content. Drawing on constructivist, social learning, and experiential learning theories, the chapter illustrates how students co-construct optical knowledge while developing digital competencies essential to contemporary optical science. Ultimately, the chapter positions virtual exchange as a strategic pedagogy for deepening conceptual understanding and epistemic accountability in optics education.