The influence of visual media in strengthening the learning process

visuals are images or pictures that are considered appealing to understand. Therefore, visual media refers to the graphics, images, and pictures that are used in teaching and learning. Visual media is a broad spectrum that involves drawing, illustration, color, animation, and signs that are used in conveying ideas and information in a form that they can be seen (Robinson, 29). The visual presentation is considered as the actual presentation of information via a visible media such as images and texts. There is a range of visual aids that are used to help understand and take the information or topic being presented. Ideally, there are many types of visual aids that range from power points to handouts. Thus the type of visual aid to be used depends on the information being displayed.

The internet age leads to greater connectivity, flexibility, and interactivity to disseminate and create visuals. Individuals in every part of the sphere are able to produce animations, short films, and podcasts about various learning topics that can be freely given to an individual who is linked to the worldwide web (O de Sousa and Luiza, 25). Social media and video sharing platforms have catalyzed the emergence of visual aids. This has now become a communal practice for the tutors and educators to use the visual supports to deliver information about various subjects in a more effective and efficient way. The use of visual media as beneficial tools to deliver complex ideas and concepts in an interactive and interesting means as well as enhancing the learning experience through procedural demonstration has been considered essential in schools. The established visual media have facilitated the learning process in various ways through aiding routine learning and teaching in classrooms.

Visual media can be relied upon any discipline to heighten the process of learning in both out of class and out of class assignments. Written articles, television clips, and short films, as well as blog posting, can be considered important in reinforcing the concepts in learning as well as sparking discussion. Research has suggested that people learn new, abstract and novel concepts faster and easier when they are provided in visual and verbal form (Robinson, 19). Other empirical researches have indicated that visual media is essential in making concepts more accessible individuals as compared to text media. The reason as to why students fail to remember all that is lectured and remember all that is on television is the fact that visual media enables the students to retain ideas and concepts. Technology has played a major role in creating better learning environments that have increased the capabilities of one-way communication media such as television shows, documentaries, and movies into interactive learning such as student and visualization created content.

Most of the students in this generation of change and technology are visual learners. They are able to learn better through seeing it as an example such as an image, picture, graph, map or video. The students have been considered excellent in visualizing plans, objects, and outcomes in a spatial way by drawing out their answers from the objects they see. Despite the fact that spatial learning has not been developed in many school systems, it has been an extremely powerful tool and beneficial for the students. Visual media provide direct experience to the learners due to a range of possible experience. This is because visual media is able to cut through the physical limits of space and time in a more efficient manner. When students see the visual images, pictures or videos, they form clear images in their minds through direct application of the visual materials.

Visual media makes it easier for the teachers to enhance the content for presentation by easy integration of a wide range of materials within the lesson (Felten, Peter, 62) For instance, they are able to obtain a picture from the internet or any teacher annotations pertaining the objects. Existing media sources can be used within the classrooms to stimulate interest and develop more knowledge of the subject being taught. Ideally, the traditional teacher-centric approach and information being pushed to learners have been over through by visual media since it enables the instructor to transfer more knowledge to the learners. Relatively, instructors have been able to create their own media efficiently and effectively thus conveying more knowledge to the students thus a greater understanding of the concept.

Visual media offers a referent idea that facilitates active learning thus promoting deeper learning. The integration of visual elements helps the students to comprehend and clarify information since they are able to develop their own content thus avoiding misinterpretation. Visual media re-surfaces memories and shape perceptions which facilitative creativity. Through the use of images and pictures, complex ideas are simplified as well as stimulate imagination (Ayres, 698). In addition, in teaching kids, visual media enhances the liveliness thus making learning more interesting and fun.

Visual media allows students to look into a concept or problem more differently in a way that they easily comprehend. This leads to abstract ideas to be concrete. For instance, a student may find it hard to understand a concept in math through the use of numbers but after visualizing the same concept in an image or pictorial format, they are able to understand better and effectively convert their answers back. Images are considered to be the most effective and simplest way to make sure the information is stored longer. Arguably, an individual’s mind only processes words but rarely retains the bits of information whereas images are processed directly thus hard to forget. With regards to this, information listed in the form of bullets simpler to process but the same information is processed quickly in the form of a video or image. Visuals enable learners to understand a concept more easily through stimulation of imagination as well as influencing their cognitive capabilities (Considine, 472). Relatively, it increases the memory of the student about important information since a large number of students are likely to remember visuals rather than words. This technique is essential since it facilitates the improvement of student’s memory in school work as well as in their life situations.

Visual media motivates learners through creating an engaging environment for the students. Most of the students have nee seen struggling with some subjects because they find the subjects to be less interesting hence they lack the motivation to put enough efforts in their studies. Visuals have been considered the best in such scenarios since they motivate and inspire the students (Shabiralyani and Ghulam, et al 234). Through the use of visual media, students are able to open up their minds and think in a far more creative dimension as well as an open-minded manner. With this, it is expected that the students will be able to create ideas of their own over time. Engaging videos, captivating images and interesting infographics enable the students to fight boredom as well as motivate them to work better. This means that visual media help to increase the interest of students in learning various subject matters. Additionally, when a student gets to learn in such a way that they like or feel comfortable, they tend to pay more attention which results in a more obvious way of learning.

Visual learning enables directing the attention of students to essential ideas points. Majority of students increase their ability to remember and interest through visual media. Considerably, it builds the understanding of students. They will increasingly be better at summaries, overviews and being able to visualize outcomes. Interest and involvement are considered important aspects of visual materials since they improve the engagement and interaction of the student with their teachers (Plass, 32). Since attention is a true factor in any learning and teaching process, the visual media offer a proper environment for sustaining and capturing the interest and attention of the students in the class. Through this, visual media ensure increased involvement and engagement of students during learning. Students are observed to be very attentive when visual media are involved. Relatively their interest and ability to recall contents is motivated by the visual media.

Visual media has reduced the learning effort by lowering verbalism in class. Ideally, the visual media materials are considered as a complete basis for conceptual thinking in class work. This is because they have contributed to meaningful associations among the students and the teachers. Thus, they have been considered to provide the best antinode solution for verbalism in class. It is acceptable that words are wonderful and express meaning but the excessive overuse of words results in a serious problem. The problem of verbalism has been a significant issue in the learning process. This is because it constitutes to boredom and theory rather than practicality. Thus through visual media, areas of learning and teaching have considered visual learning essential in enabling students to learn more effectively. The visuals enable the student’s process, understand and retain information into manageable pieces that they can directly absorb.

The visual media enables the students to think better through supporting the conceptual thinking procedure. Ideally, the quality of teaching and learning experience highly affects student performance. Visual materials have provided the power of impression and vividness to students (Considine, 472). These tools have made the students more organized due to increased understanding. Relatively, the continuity of thought is raised when the verbal teachings are combined with visual explanations since the visual media have an attention-getting power. This has helped students to think consecutively about the subject in their area. Visual learners are likely to arrange their work not only in their class work but in their daily life in terms of appearance and scheduling.

Visual media have played an enormous role in teaching and learning since students and teachers have taken full advantage of the visual materials to aid comprehension. While most of the education systems evolve, visual media have been evident in most school systems due to their acknowledged benefits to the students. Visual learning material such as videos, pictures and images, videos, short films, and PowerPoint presentations have effectively improved the learning experience in classrooms. It has been mentioned that visual media has aided comprehension, effective learning, increased the student’s interest and inspired students, increase their memory. Students are able to recall prior learning by seeing new concepts and examples while watching. Thus, integration of visual media has been essential in improving the learning process in education.

References

Ayres, Paul, and Fred Paas. “Making instructional animations more effective: A cognitive load approach.” Applied Cognitive Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition 21.6 (2007): 695-700.

Considine, David, Julie Horton, and Gary Moorman. “Teaching and reaching the millennial generation through media literacy.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 52.6 (2009): 471-481.

Felten, Peter. “Visual literacy.” Change: The magazine of higher learning 40.6 (2008): 60-64.

O de Sousa, Luiza, and Elize S. Van Eeden. “Clear-cut to high-tech: History teaching and learning support material (TLSM) drawing on information and communication technology (ICT).” Yesterday and Today 4 (2009): 17-40.

Plass, Jan L., Bruce D. Homer, and Elizabeth O. Hayward. “Design factors for educationally effective animations and simulations.” Journal of Computing in Higher Education 21.1 (2009): 31-61.

Robinson, Rhonda, Michael Molenda, and Landra Rezabek. “Facilitating learning.” Educational technology: A definition with commentary (2008): 15-48.

Shabiralyani, Ghulam, et al. “Impact of Visual Aids in Enhancing the Learning Process Case Research: District Dera Ghazi Khan.” Journal of Education and Practice 6.19 (2015): 226-233.