Technology Aids Visual Learning
Visual learning is a proven teaching method where ideas, concepts, data and other information are associated with images and graphical representations to enhance thinking and learning skills. Students today have grown up watching television and are highly oriented to visual learning. With the aid of technology, they become more responsive to interactive ways of teaching.
Visual learning nowadays is no longer limited to images drawn on chalkboards, objects pasted on cardboards, flash cards, and other unanimated visual aids. Teachers have discovered more mediums such as television, slides, overhead projectors, filmstrips, and movies to aid their lesson plans.
Moreover, recent technologies such as camcorders, VCR and IVD are taking classroom learning to a whole new level.
The availability of camcorders makes it possible for students to produce their own videos as an alternative to written reports. Teachers may also produce videos as lesson presentations.
On the other hand, teachers can take advantage of the stop-rewind-play capability of the VCR. They can pause the film at any crucial point and discuss the importance of each scene. They can also stop right before the ending and explore with students the possible conclusion. These enhance the anticipatory and participatory learning among students, which are both critical in the educational process.
IVD or interactive videodisc, on the other hand, combines lectures, slides, films, videos, and computer-based instruction into one system. It can hold 54,000 frames or slides on each side, 30-minute video, and two 30-minute audio tracks. It can be accessed using a videodisc player and a television monitor or a personal computer. One of the most recent developments in interactive video for learning is Geographic Television or GTV, which offers interactivity and instant access to National Geographic pictures.
Did you know?
In partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd, National Geographic Society developed GTV or Geographic Television. The subject of the first program is US history with emphasis on its geography.
Sources:
Dickinson, Dee. “Technology that enhances visual-spatial intelligence”. America Tomorrow, Inc.
http://www.america-tomorrow.com/ati/mi4.htm
“Visual learning”. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_learning
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