VISUAL PRINCIPLES

The Roles Of Visuals In Instructions :

1. Visual can also motivate learners by attracting their attention, holding their attention, and generating emotional responses.
2. Visual can simplify information that is difficult to understand.
3. Visual provide a redundant channel.

Visual Literacy

Consider the sorts of visuals that are used everyday for important communication purpose, such as the emergency information card in airplanes or highway signs that warm of dangerous curves or obstructions.

They work only to the extent that you are "literate" in the conversations of that medium. Whereas the term literacy once was used only to refer to reading and writing of verbal information, today we use the term visual literacy to refer to the learned ability to interpret visual messages accurately and to create such messages.

Visual Literacy can be developed through two majors approaches :

1. Input strategies : Helping learners to decode, or "read" visual proficiently by practicing visual analysis skills (through picture analysis and discussion of multimedia and video programs).
2. Output strategies : Helping learners to encode, or "write" to express themselves and communicative with other (through planning and producing photo and video presentation).

➤Decoding : Interpreting Visuals

    ➣ Developmental Effects

         Prior to the age of 12, children tend to interpret visuals section by section rather than as a whole, tend to summarize the whole scene and report a conclusion about the meaning of the picture.

           Hence, abstract symbols or a series of still pictures whose relationship is not clearly spelled out many fail to communicative as intented with younger viewers.

    ➣ Cultural Effects

      Different cultures groups may perceive visual material in different ways. Let's say your instructions includes visuals depicting scenes typical of the home life and street life of inner-city children. It is almost certain that students who live in such an area will decode these visual differently than will students whose cultural (and socioeconomic) backgrounds don't include firsthand knowledge of inner-city living.

     ➣ Visual Preferences

            People don't necessarily learn best from the kinds of pictures they prefer to look at. Research on picture preferences indicates that children in upper elementary grades tend to prefer color to black and white and to choose photographs over drawing, younger children tend to prefer simple illustrations, whereas older children tend to prefer moderately complex illustrations. (Myair & Carter, 1979).

➤Encoding : Creating Visuals

       Children who have grown up constantly exposed to movies and television may expect the visuals they encounter in school to be similary packaged and sequenced. They may need practice in arranging visuals into logical sequence, which is a learned skills, like the verbal sequencing in reading and writing. This chapter focuses on understanding visual design and doing visual displays into creative activities.

Visual Literacy Education

     Media production, computer design and critical thinking skills can enhance students' abilities to work and succeeded in an increasingly visual world, ( diagram, hidden pictures, memory games, and video clips) to work alone or together on visual learning activities and develop communication, organization, and reporting skills in the process.

Goals Of Visual Design

1. Ensure Legibility : The goal of good visual design is to remove as many obstacles as possible that might impose (spesific guidelines on, for example, the size of letters appear later in this chapter).
2. Reduce Effort : You will see how establishing an understanding pattern (alignment, shape, balance), putting like things together (proximity), and following a regular pattern in your treatment (consistency) contribute to this goal. Using harmonious color combinations and figures that contrast with their background also play roles.
3. Increase Active Engagement : Choosing a style appropriate for your audience and using appealing color schemes also will help you gain and hold your audience.
4. Focus Attention : The overall design pattern plus spesific directional guides (woven into the design and color cues) are your means for achieving the goal of focusing attention.

Processes Of Visual Designs

1. Elements : Selecting and assembling the verbal/visual elements to intercoporate into the display.
2. Pattern : Choosing an underlying pattern for the elements of the display.
3. Arrangement : Arranging the individual elements within the underlying pattern.

➤ Elements

    We have grouped the following design suggestions according to the various elements or components of the display; the visual elements (choosing the type of the visual), the verbal elements (lettering style and location), and the elements that add appeal ( surprise, texture, interaction).

      ➣ Visual Elements

           Realistic visuals show the actual object under study. Analysis visuals convey a concept or topic by showing something else and implying a similarity. Such visuals help learners interpret new information in light of prior knowledge and thereby facilitate learning.

      ➣ Verbal Elements

               Most displays incorporate some type of verbal information in addition to visuals. At a minimum, you have to be sure that the lettering is legible in terms of size and spacing and of a style that is consistent with your intended message.

• Number of Lettering Styles : A display-or a series of related visuals, such as a slide series-should use no more than two different type styles, and these should harmonize with each other.

• Capitals : For best legibility, use lowercase letters, adding capitals only where normally required.

• Color of Lettering : As discussed later in the section "Figure-Ground Contrast", the color of the lettering should contrast with the background color both for the sake of simple legibility.

• Size of Lettering : Displays such as bulletin boards and posters are often meant to be viewed by people situated at a distance of 30 or 40 feet or more.

• Spacing Between Letters : The distance between the letter of the individual words must be judged by experience rather than on a mechanical basis.

• Spacing Between Lines : The vertical spacing between lines of printed material is also important for legibility. 

        ➣ Elements That Add Appeal

          Your visual has no chance of having an effect unless it captures and holds the viewer's attention.  

➤ Pattern

       The idea to establish pattern is to decide how the viewer's eye will flow across the display. The major factors that affect the overall look are alignment of elements, shape, balance, color, scheme, and color appeal.

➤ Visual Planning Tools

• Storyboards : Several related overhead transparencies, a slide set, a video sequence, or a series of computer screeens. This technique, borrowed from film and video production, allows you to creatively arrange and rearrange a whole sequence of thumbnail sketches.

• Types of Letters : The simplest is freehand lettering with markers and felt-tip pens, which come in an array of colors and sizes. You also may use an available dekstop publishing system to prepare lettering in various styles and sizes.

• Drawing, Sketching, and Cartooning : There are many sources of these in magazines, textbooks and advertising. Those are sources that can help you communicate effectively using those graphic media.

• Digital Images : As a computer technologies advance, creating visual images has moved into the digital camera to created original or may transfer images onto digital formats using scanners. Digital images allows users to capture, edit,display share and network still and video images.

• Digital Cameras : Digital cameras  are small and lightweight with fewer moving parts than traditional cameras. Instead of aquinting thought a tiny optical view finder, most all cameras permit you to see a large images display on the back of the camera before you take the picture.

• Scanners : Scanners work with computer to transfer easisting visual images, such as drawing or photographs,students may quickly inscoeporate scanned images into a word processing file or enhance or change them using software.

Source : Heinich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino et. All. 2002. Instructional Media and Technologies For Learning Volume 7. California: The University of California.

THE ASSURE MODEL

          The ASSURE model is a procedural guide for planning and conducting instruction that incorporates media and technology-assumes that training or instruction is required. The ASSURE model focuses on planning surrounding the actual classroom use of media and technology.

Actually the name of The ASSURE model is stands from :

1. Analyze Learners
2. State Objectives
3. Select Methods, Media, and Materials
4. Utilize Media and Materials
5. Require Learner and Partisipation
6. Evaluate and Revise

ANALYZE LEARNERS

The audience can be analyzed in terms of :
1. General Characteristic
2. Spesific Entry Competencies (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes about the topic)
3. Learning Styles

1. General Characteristic
     General characteristic include broad identifying descriptors such as age, grade level, job or position, and cultural or socioeconomic factors.

2. Specific Entry Competencies (Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes about the topic)
            Preassessment measures, such as discussions and pretests, are also given before instruction but are used to measure the content to be taught-the target skills. If learners have already mastered what you plan to teach, you are wasting your timeand theirs by teaching it.
         By analyzing what your audience already knows, you can select appropriate methods and media. For example, if you have a group diverging widely in entry competencies, consider self-instructional materials to allow for self-pacing and other aspects of individualization.

3. Learning Styles
        Learning style variables discussed in the literature can be categorized as perceptual preferences and strengths, information processing habits, motivational factors, and physiological factors.
➤Perceptual Preferences and Strengths
        Learners vary as to which sensory gateways they prefer using and which they are especially adept at using. The main gateways include auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic.
➤Information Processing Habits
        This category includes a range of variables related to how individuals tend to approach the cognitive processing of information.
➤Motivational Factors
         A helpful approach to describing student motivation is Keller's (1987) ARCS model from the instruction. Keller describe four essential aspects of motivation :
1. Attention refers to whether students perceive the instruction as interesting and worthy of their       consideration.
2. Relevance refers to whether students perceive the instruction as meeting some personal need or goal.
3. Confidence refers to whether students expect to succeed based on their own efforts.
4. Satisfaction refers to the instrinsic and extrinsic rewards students receive from the instruction.
➤Physiological Factors
        Factors related to gender differences, health, and enviromental conditions are among the most obvious influences on the effectiveness of learning.

STATE THE OBJECTIVES

An objective is a statement not of what the instructor plans to put into the lesson but of what learners ought to get out of the lesson. An objective is a statement of what will be achieved, not how it will be achieved.

➢The ABCDs of Well-Stated Objectives

    1. Audience

           A major premise of systematic instruction is to focus on what learners are doing, not on what 

         the teacher is doing.

    2. Behavior

           The heart of the objective is the verb describing the new capability that the audience will have 

        after instruction. Better words include define, categories, and demonstrate.

    3. Conditions

          A statement of objectives should include the conditions under which the performance is to be

        observed.

    4. Degree

          The final requirement of a well stated objective is that if indicates the standard, or criterion, by

        which acceptable performance will be judged..

➢Classification of Objective

        Classifying objectives is much more than an academic exercise for educational psychologist. Three categories of learning are widely accepted :

    1. The cognitive domain is learning involves an array of intellectual capabilities that may be

        classified either as verbal/visual information or as intellectual skills.

    2. The affective domain involves feelings and values.

    3. The motor skill domain is learning involves athletic, manual, and other such physical skills.

➢Objectives and Individual Differences

        Objective in any of the domains just discussed, of course be adapted to the abilities of individual learners. 

SELECT METHODS, MEDIA, AND MATERIALS

The selection has three steps :

1. Deciding on the appropriate method for the given learning task.

2. Choosing a media format that is suitable for carrying out the method.

3. Selecting, modifying or designing spesific materials within that media format.

➣Choosing a Method

       First, it would be overly simplistic to believe that there is one method that is superior to all others or that serves all learning needs equally well.

➣Choosing a Media Format

       A media format is the physical form in which a message is incorporated and displayed. Media formats include, for example, flip charts (still images and text), slides (projected still image). audio (voice and music), video (moving images on a TV screen), and computer multimedia (graphics, text, and moving images on a monitor).

➣Selecting Available Materials

      The majority of instructional materials used by teachers and trainers are "off the self" that is ready-made and available from school, district, or company collection or other easily accessible sources.

➣Modifying Existing Materials

       If you can't locate entirely suitable materials and media off the self, you might be able to modify what is available. This can be both challenging and creative terms of time and cost, it is a more efficient procedure than designing your own materials, although the type and extend of necessary modification will, of course, vary.

➣Designing New Materials

      It is easier and less costly to use available materials, with or without modification, than to start from scratch. There is seldom for reinventing the wheel.

Certain basic elements when designing new materials :

1. Objectives

2. Audience

3. Cost

4. Technical Expertise

5. Equipment

6. Facilities

7. Time

UTILIZE MATERIALS

Use of media and materials for the students and teachers by using 5P :

1. Preview The Materials

       Always preview instruction materials before using it, the materials should be appropriate for your audience and objectives.

2. Prepare The Materials

      You need to prepare the media and materials to support the instructional activities you plan to use.

3. Prepare The Environment

      Whenever the learning is to take place in the class room, in a laboratory, or whatever the facilities will have to be arranged for proper student use of the materials and media.

4. Prepare The Learners

      A proper warmup, from an instructional point of view, may be similar to one of the following :

    1. Give a broad overview of the content of the lesson

    2. Tell how the lesson relates to the topic being studied

    3. Give a motivation statements that creates a need to know by telling learners how they will profit 

        from the lesson

    4. Give cues directing attention to spesific aspects of the lesson

5. Provide The Learning Experience

       Instruction should be able to direct attention in the classroom. Showmanship is part of the facilitators' job.

REQUIRE LEARNER PARTICIPATION

Educators have long realized that active participation in the learning process enhances learning. In the early 1900s John Dewey urged reorganization of the curriculum and instruction to make student participation central. Later, in the 1950s and 1960s, experiments employing behaviorist approaches demonstrated that instruction providing for constant reinforcement of desired behaviors is more effective than instructionin which responses aren't reinforced.

All perspectives also emphasize the importance of feedback (productive critical evaluative response):

     ➧Behaviorists, because knowledge of correct response serves as a reinforce of appropriate

        behaviors

     ➧Cognitivists, because information about results helps to enrich learners' mental schemata

     ➧Constructivits, because meaning (and knowledge) is enhanced with each personal experience

     ➧Social Psyhologists, because interpersonal feedback provides both corrective information and

        emotional support

The implication for designers and instructors is clear. The most effective learning situations are those that re-quire learners to practice skills that build toward the objective. The form of the participation may include practicing new spelling or vocabulary words, solving math problems on a worksheet, rehearsing a basketball play, or creating an original product, such as a term paper.

In all cases, learners should receive feedback on the correctness of their response. The feedback may come from the teacher or students may work in small groups and give one another feedback.

EVALUATE AND REVISE

➤Three purposes of evaluation :

1. Evaluation Of Learner Achievement

    ➢The method of evaluating achievement depens on the nature of the objective

    ➢Objectives that focuseson cognitive skill, for example, distinguishing adjectives from adverbs,

        describing a company's absence policy lend themselves to conventional written tests or oral

        examination.

2. Evaluation Of Media and Methods

    ➢Evaluation also includes assessment of instructional media and methods.
    ➢Particulary after first use, instructional materials need to be evaluated to determine if future use.
        with or without modification, is warranted. The results of your evaluation should be entered on
        your personal file form.

3. Evaluation Of The Instructional Process
    ➢Although ultimate evaluation must await completion of instructional unit, evaluation is on going
        process.
    ➢Evaluation are made before, during and after instruction.

➤Revision
1. The final step of the instructional cycle is to sit back and look at the results of your evaluation data
    gathering.
2. If your evaluation data indicate shortcomings now is the time to go back to the faulty part of the
    plan and revise it.
3. The model works, but only if you use is to upgrade the quality of your instruction constantly.

Source : Heirich, Molenda, Russell, Smaldino et. All, 2002. Instructional Media and Technologies For Learning Volume 7. California: The University of California.