Week 5: Part 2 Activity 2 – Designing Audio-Visual Instruction

When the designer of instruction is given the opportunity to use both audio and visual components, the design process has some differences than when using these components in isolation. From my own experience, this project took much more time to create than what I expected. Using multiple media make the designer have to really plan on how to use each media. By using the audio and the images together, the amount of text needed to instruct the student is decreased. But probably most importantly is that putting the audio and images together allows the designer to add a more personal touch to the presentation.

So is this type of instruction more efficient? For the designer, I feel that it is not more efficient because of the amount of time needed to create the presentation. On the other hand, I do feel that for the student, using audio-visual instruction because the students can quickly go through the images, using the audio files only when they are needed. Although it may take more time to create, I think that it is a very good way to instruct students.

The designer has to have the student in mind when creating audio-visual instructions. One must know the intent of the lesson that will be taught. This can drive the type of media that will best enhance the lesson. The designer must also think about the type of devices that the students will use to access the instructions. This will determine how the instruction set will have to be published. And finally, the designer must take into consideration the learning styles of the students and make sure that the instructions will benefit each of them.

There are always pros and cons to developing good instructional sets. For the project this week, I was very limited in my knowledge of the application to create the instructions and this really set my frustration level at a very high rate. I realized how difficult it can be for students to have to learn something completely new to them. But apart from me, there are limits to building audio-visual instructions. The designer has to be careful to not let one media distract from the other. Balancing them together can be difficult if not well planned out in the beginning. Also, the designer must realize that files play differently depending on the type of file being used verses the device that the students will use to access the instructions. On the contrary, there are certainly benefits as well. For student to be able to see an image of what should take place can definitely enhance the learning for the student. Also, the student’s learning becomes more mobile when they can access the information whenever they need it. But I feel the greatest benefit is that the instructions comes alive for the student as they are able to interact with the presentation sparking more interest for the student.