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by Joe Savrock (October 2006)

Human beings are visual animals. We are much better at remembering images than we are at remembering text.

As learners, we can more easily grasp educational materials that are supported with illustrations, photos, and other graphics. Images grab our attention; they add a reinforcing dimension to any communication. It is no surprise, then, that the most effective learning materials are those that include visual aids.

Francis Dwyer, Penn State professor of instructional systems, has done extensive research on visual aids. He has systematically examined the use of visual elements commonly found in a variety of teaching materials—textbooks, slide/tape presentations, and computer programs.

This research effort is known as the Program of Systematic Evaluation (PSE), an initiative he introduced in the mid-1960s. Dwyer’s work has spawned a comprehensive battery of PSE studies—some 160 of them—by other researchers over the past four decades.

Dwyer emphasizes that the sequential learning process is the same across all disciplines. To successfully progress through different levels of learning, students must take part in different levels of information processing. Dwyer identifies the four basic levels as the learning of facts, concepts, rules and principles, and problem solving techniques. He has developed tests that measure each of these four levels.

Dwyer's work has produced a number of interesting findings:

Time Is Everything

The amount of time that is required to interact with visualized instruction varies from student to student. Factors such as a person’s learning style, reading comprehension level, intelligence, and prior knowledge of the lesson’s material come into play.

An illustration is much easier to comprehend when a student has prior knowledge of the lesson’s content, says Dwyer. The more terms, facts, and definitions that a person is familiar with in a content area, the better able he is to form concepts. The more concepts he possesses, the easier it is to form generalizations and rules.

A naïve student who interacts with unfamiliar content must first learn the basic terminology and facts that compose the basic components of the language of the discipline. “On the other hand, a person with a high IQ who has prerequisite knowledge of the learning material is likely to grasp a visual’s essence quickly,” says Dwyer. “Without the prerequisite knowledge, that same intelligent person may still decipher the essence of the visual, but in a longer time frame.”

Dwyer’s research has shown that students who are exposed to self-paced modules (such as the Web) perform better than those who study in a structured-time frame format. Students being taught over an asynchronous medium like the Web can take adequate time to interact with the images, to study things out, says Dwyer. In real-time formats—television and live presentations, for example—the pace is the same for all the learners. They all see the same thing at the same time, but the learning capacity from student to student is not the same.

Details of the Image—Realism and Color

When learners meet up with an image that offers too much information, they sometimes scrutinize the wrong information in the image. Dwyer’s research has shown that images with highly realistic details take longer to interpret. “Probably my most surprising finding is the ineffectiveness of realistic images,” he says. “The very polished, most highly sophisticated visuals don’t always work.” Some learners choose to completely overlook the image and instead rely on the printed text for their information.

Dwyer has also found that the use of color graphics in instructional modules, as opposed to black and white, helps promote achievement. “You’ll notice that today’s instructional materials are rarely illustrated in black and white,” says Dwyer. “They’re usually in color.”

Fast-Paced Visuals

Aesthetically pleasing visuals may not be of significant instructional value, especially when they are on the verge of being too entertaining, says Dwyer. If the instructional treatments containing visuals are no more effective than text alone, he encourages that the visuals be omitted.

Dwyer recommends that instructional designers weigh the effectiveness of materials against the efficiency and economy of producing them. Instructional designers should not take the lead of computer software and video game developers, “who use all the bells and whistles,” he says. “More and more, we’re being shaped by fast-paced television action. Television viewers can easily process an image being broadcast. But when a person reads, he must create the image in his mind.”

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The Penn State College of Education serves approximately 2,800 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students each year. The College prepares administrators, counselors, psychologists and researchers, as well as K-12 teachers in 21 different specialty areas. All of the College of Education graduate programs, that are ranked by the U.S. News & World Report, appear at least in the top 15, with six programs in the top ten.The College's Higher Education Administration program is ranked 1st and the Workforce Education and Development program is ranked 2nd. The College is known nationally for its education research and outreach, housing such centers as the Center for the Study of Higher Education, the Center for Science and the Schools, the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, and the Regional Education Laboratory--Mid-Atlantic.

For more information on Penn State’s College of Education, contact EdRelations@psu.edu, call 814-863-1192, or visit www.ed.psu.edu.