Video and visual media in classroom - Essay Example

Phanish Chandra Q. Farooqui English 344 March 2006 Video and Visual Media in room Knowledge is an active relationship between an agent and the environment, and learning occurs when the learner is actively involved in a complex and realist instructional context (Young, 1993). Visual media - particularly video films - has been long been a popular choice of teachers and educators for instructional objectives. This medium has an awesome appeal for motivating students to think about a topic before it has been discussed thoroughly.

Moving the students from passive observers to active thinkers, it sparks interest for more complicated observations, analysis and questions. Because most visual media are temporal and active, rather than static, they can be used to show change and dynamic qualities. It is very much useful in teaching the sciences, technology and even performing arts. With the new technological advancements they are now more accessible, cheaper and flexible to use. Most important, the new generation students have grown up watching television and are highly oriented to visual learning.

Slides, overhead transparencies, filmstrips, and movies are important aid to their learning. The Edgar Dale Cone of Experience summarizes how learners retain information. A person remembers 10% of what they read, 20% of what they heard, 30% of what they seen and 50% of what is seen and heard. Learning experiences at the bottom of the 'Dale's Cone of Experience' tend to hold student attention longer and involve active student participation. Media at the top of the cone are said to be more passive but are suitable for transmitting large amounts of information quickly.

The first visual media for learning was the blackboard itself and has become inseparable part of any classroom. Besides the overhead projector, VCR had the biggest impact on the pedagogical practices as the "introduction to film course" became common in most American universities (Lovell, 1987). Slightly newer technology was the interactive videodisc (IVD). The 1986 study of IVD classrooms, IBM reported a 30-to-50% increase in learning scores and a 300% increase in the number of students reaching mastery level.

Active learning is the latest buzz which involves providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk and listen, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues, and concerns of an academic subject. (Meyers & Jones, 1993, p. 6). In a paper on 'Media Aids to Classroom (Marilla D. Svinicki, and Karron G. Lewis)' the author discusses the advantages and disadvantages of all the current visual aids in most classes today. However, in recent times, market has been flooded with educational software having immersive and interactive environment catalyzing active learning.

Visual Media such as software and computer games provide an immense opportunity for the learner to actually interact with and experience the actual scenario. Also, with the ever-expanding network of World Wide Web with decreasing cost of PC and increasing availability of internet bandwidth, the distribution of audio-visual content in digital format has become cheaper, popular and faster. Even in the developing countries like India, companies like Hughes Escorts Communications Limited (http://www.dwge.com) are creating virtual classrooms beaming multimedia course contents from leading universities all over the country.

In conclusion, we can say that the importance of visual/video media in classroom has increased exponentially and the rally will continue in the future. Teachers should always strive to improve on the existing teaching techniques by accepting and integrating the new technology. Works CitedLovell, Jonathan H. "Where we stand." In Report on Film Study in American Schools. Report by the NCTE Committee on Film Study in the English Language Arts, 1987. 23 ppMarilla D. Svinicki, and Karron G. Lewis.

Media Aids for the Classroom.Center for Teaching Effectiveness. The University of Texas at Austin. 1 March 2006. Meyer, C., & Jones, T. B. (1993). Promoting active learning: Strategies for the college classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Young, M.F. (1993)"Instructional Design for Situated Learning." Educational Technology Research and Development 41/1: 43-58.