When Are Visuals Useful
Visuals are useful in almost every learning situation, and in almost any stage of learning. Here are some ways visuals may help in the context of selected instructional events:
Motivation
As advertisers have learned, pictures are particularly good at getting and keeping people's attention. Visuals that aid in interpreting meaning inspire learner confidence. Moderately complex pictures, those that include novelty and drama, color pictures, and pictures that include people, seem to be most interesting to us (Keller & Burkman, 1993).
Advance organizer
Visuals are often used as advance organizers to help learners understand the context or know where they are headed.
Objectives
Showing learners what they will be able to do or make can help them visualize the process it will take to get to that goal.
Prerequisites
One way to enliven prior knowledge is to remind learners of what they already know by showing them visuals representing pertinent information.
Information presentation
Any type of information (facts, concepts, processes, procedures, and principles) has a visual component. To help learners understand and remember, use visuals in combination with other representations such as text or sound. Each modality serves to reinforce the learning that takes place in the other modalities. Later in this module, you'll learn to specify appropriate visuals for different types of information.
Practice and feedback
Visual feedback is an important element in many learning situations, particularly when acquiring psychomotor skills. Transfer is sometimes related to "fidelity" in simulations, including the visual fidelity of the representation.
Evaluation
Learners may analyze visual information, or use visual tools, such as concept diagrams or visual scenarios, to analyze a novel situation.
Enrichment and remediation
Visuals often elaborate on what is in the text, providing additional information or an alternative perspective.
Closure
Visuals such as timelines, picture collages, or diagrams may help summarize learning.
