Written and
designed by the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Reproduce with
permission only.
January 1992
Most university faculty don't use audiovisuals in their teaching. With a few notable exceptions, most of us rely on the blackboard as our sole means of visual communication. Many of us have been the victims of teachers who used media poorly and some may feel that these materials are inappropriate for college-level instruction. As a practical matter, however, there are three factors that tend to keep us from using more instructional media: lack of awareness about their benefits, lack of knowledge about how to use them, and lack of media equipment in our classrooms. In this FYC we will examine these issues and suggest ways that media can be used to enhance your instruction.
The terms "instructional media" and "audiovisual aids" generally refer to materials that teachers use as lecture support (e.g., slides and transparencies) or as an additional learning stimulus for their students (e.g., films and videos). The term "instructional technology" traditionally includes these materials, but nowadays applies more often to computer-based media and electronic hybrids such as interactive videodisc systems. As promising as some of these newer forms of media might be, their everyday application by faculty will only occur when classrooms are equipped with the appropriate technology. In this article, we are primarily concerned with the traditional forms of classroom media and their appropriate applications.
It is true that, in many fields, one can teach effectively with only blackboard and chalk, but instructors who do so may be missing an opportunity to be even more successful in their teaching. Blackboards have shaped our education from kindergarten through graduate school and we are loath to abandon an old friend, but as a lecture aid the blackboard has severe limitations. We spend valuable class time writing or drawing on the board, and if a lecture requires detailed diagrams, color-coding, or developmental sequences, the blackboard is inadequate to the job. The simplest audiovisual aids (slides or transparencies) can easily accomplish these tasks. Blackboards are still useful for simpler work such as recording student comments during a discussion or for illustrating concepts or questions that arise spontaneously during class, but many teachers prefer to use blank acetate on an overhead projector for these tasks because it is easier (and often more reliable) than writing on the board.
Researchers long ago settled the question of whether audiovisuals can improve learning--it is clear that they can--and current investigations focus instead on more complex questions, such as the ways media can stimulate critical thinking and help students develop a cognitive framework of the course material. The early research in media provides several good reasons for using audiovisuals in teaching:
The first rule of media use may seem self-evident, but is often overlooked in practice: To be effective, audiovisuals must be related to learning objectives. This criterion is more easily achieved for lecture support materials than for "stand alone" media such as films because we are usually more certain of the reasons for using a lecture aid. For example, one objective for a presentation on physical anthropology might be for students to distinguish between (and understand the implications of) the four different forms of primate locomotion. An effective visual aid (possibly a slide or transparency) would clearly illustrate primate locomotion, particularly the elements of movement that are most significant for understanding the concept. A better choice for the teacher would be a video clip that showed live examples of each type of primate locomotion. On the other hand, an overhead transparency that illustrates various forms of animal locomotion would not be as effective because it contains so much information irrelevant to the learning objective. Sometimes teachers use materials they have prepared for one course to illustrate lectures in another one. Unless the objectives are the same, this practice is usually counterproductive because students are confused by data or graphic material that is irrelevant to understanding the concept under review.
Similarly, to use feature films, documentaries, or instructional videos effectively, you should know precisely what students should be able to glean from them. For example, the objectives for showing the film "Killing Us Softly" (a documentary about the ways women are portrayed in advertising) in a Sociology class might include the following:
Students should be able to:
For more information about how to formulate and use objectives, consult the handbook Teaching at Carolina, a publication of the Center for Teaching and Learning. It also contains several pages of tips on using specific kinds of media.
Lecture support media should be simple in layout, wording, and should stress one main idea or illustrate one principle. Complex ideas should be broken into manageable pieces. In the example below, the teacher wanted students to see the relationship between the rates of black poverty and white poverty in recent years. In Figure 1, an overhead transparency showing tabular data on poverty, the main point is obscured by too much data. In Figure 2, only the two curves of interest are shown. If the instructor then wished to compare other data curves, they could gradually be added with transparent overlays (for contrast, the lines could be in different colors).
Insert figures one and two here.
Audiovisuals should not overwhelm the presentation, but support your key points. Teachers of subjects that require heavy media use, such as art history, should be aware of the problem of "media fatigue." Choose the visuals carefully and try to insure that each image you use contributes something significant to understanding the concepts being covered. Also, providing breaks for discussion or some other activity between viewing sessions will helps reduce media fatigue.
Audiovisuals should be appropriate for the students' needs, level of expertise, and knowledge. An instructor used the picture in Figure 3 for a lecture in an introductory Biology class, but found that his students did not understand the cell features they needed to know. When he replaced the slide with the diagram in Figure 4, they performed much better.
Most classrooms at UNC are equipped with projection screens, and many rooms also have lockers containing projection equipment. If you intend to use audiovisuals in your classes, it is wise to request an appropriately-equipped classroom, particularly if you wish to show many films or videos. Slide projectors and overhead projectors can sometimes be obtained from your department, and the Instructional Technologies center can supply them for a few instructors. However, some teachers prefer to use their own slide projectors and a few have even purchased portable overhead projectors.
Some instructors who have had one bad experience with a faulty or broken machine have sworn off the use of media altogether. Although problems are frustrating, they can be avoided with some forethought and planning. It is essential to practice with the piece of equipment you will be using so that you will understand its foibles and know how to make simple repairs, if necessary. A professor who used an overhead projector often in his class was stymied when the bulb burned out in the middle of a lecture and he had to continue without his charts and graphs. If he had been familiar with the machine he would have known that it contains a back-up bulb that is activated by a simple switch. Setting up the equipment and trying it out in the classroom prior to the beginning of the semester can help identify potential problems related to lighting, availability of electrical outlets, sound quality, and physical obstructions. If the problems cannot be solved, you can request a different room. Experienced teachers also test their machines before each class so that they are sure things are working properly. Often, simple problems can be corrected before class begins.
Audiovisuals can be used in many more ways than for lecture support. For example, one History professor makes transparencies of data such as changing trends of income over time or the movement from rural to urban areas, but he doesn't lecture on the material. Instead, he asks the students to interpret the data in class and discuss its implications for the historical issues they are studying in the course. Many imaginative teachers employ media as test materials, to stimulate class discussion, to enhance student presentations, in situations requiring instant replay, and to create simulations of real-life situations.
In a course on modern American history a professor uses oral history tapes as material that students must interpret and apply in their coursework. Before a tape is played in class, students are given a set of question to help them focus on the relevant portions of the interview. After listening to the tape, students engage in an interpretive discussion over questions regarding the content, the views of the speaker, the validity of the speaker's perspective, and similar problems. The teacher reports that students also seem to learn how to listen more carefully to each other.
In a course on school counseling, students are videotaped in simulated counseling situations that require spontaneous responses. The videotapes are played in class and critiqued by the whole group. The students, as counselors in training, must be able to give constructive feedback, so the technique provides relevant practice for those giving the critiques as well as for those who are being critiqued. Part of the final exam in the course is an evaluation of a 20-minute counseling session on videotape.
In another use of video technology, a Physical Education instructor videotapes her students' golf swings and requires them to analyze their own mistakes before she provides corrective advice. Since she also shows training videos in the class, students are accustomed to viewing tapes for models of appropriate movement. Action on both types of videos can be re-run as many times as necessary to study the action.
A professor of Anthropology uses many films in a course focusing on the Third World, but he assigns different viewing objectives to different groups of students for each film. One group may be asked to watch a film as members of a development agency, while another group would watch it as Third World peasants. Class discussion about the film is rich and varied because the different perspectives provide a fulcrum for debate.
Teachers in the social sciences may use "trigger tapes" to stimulate discussion. These taped vignettes are, in essence, case studies that illustrate a situation or problem for which there may be a variety of solutions (some of them mutually exclusive) or no clear solution at all. For example, a tape used in Sociology shows an interview with a welfare mother who is trying, apparently unsuccessfully, to get a job. The situation is sufficiently ambiguous that a variety of interpretations are possible. The objective is for students to identify the sociological principles that apply, decide whether these theories fully explain the woman's condition, and propose various ways the situation might play out.
There are many more ways that audiovisuals can be used to enhance teaching and learning, and many of these ideas are simple extensions of traditional teaching approaches. If you would like to explore the application of media to your teaching methods, please make an appointment to talk to one of the staff at the Center for Teaching and Learning (966-1289). Center staff can also create original audiovisual materials for use in the classroom. For lecture support materials, you can use the Self-Service Media Lab at CTL. The lab was set up to allow teachers to create slides or transparencies quickly and easily, and there is no charge for this service.
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