Understanding Visual Power: The Benefits of Visual Learning
Which of the following is more appealing to a student?
- A textual account of a chemical process.
- A visual or video portrayal of the chemical process.
The majority of people will learn better with the second alternative. It’s simply because pictures are more appealing to those inquisitive and intuitive young minds than plain text.
Several studies have been completed to date that demonstrates the effectiveness of visual aids in eLearning. And they have produced some intriguing outcomes. For example, learners immediately respond to visual information than to text-only materials. Visuals also significantly aid learning on several levels. As a result, visual learners account for around 65 percent of the population.
Visual aids have various advantages. Let’s go over them so you can better comprehend the impact of images in eLearning:
- Make communication more efficient and straightforward.
Bulleted information is undeniably easier to digest. However, the same information in an image or a video is processed even faster. According to the Visual Teaching Alliance, 90 percent of information communicated to the brain is visual.
- Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than words.
- Humans can comprehend a visual scene in less than one-tenth of a second.
- The retina is connected to 40% of nerve fibers.
- Our brain is capable of seeing visuals that last only 13 milliseconds.
- Every hour, the human eye can register 36,000 visual messages.
As a result, eLearning programs that include appropriate pictures outperform text-only programs.
- Assist with Information Storage Longer
Images are the most basic and effective technique to ensure that information is stored in long-term memory. According to education consultant Dr Lynell Burmark, our short-term memory analyzes words and can only remember roughly seven bits of information. Images, on the other hand, are processed directly by our long-term memory, where they are forever inscribed.
- Improve Your Understanding
Visuals aid learners in understanding topics by activating their imagination and influencing their intellectual capabilities. Furthermore, visual language is believed to have the ability to expand ‘human bandwidth,’ which includes acquiring, interpreting, and analyzing additional information. The infographic below, for instance, depicts how we are pre-wired to instantly interpret relationships between items, ensuring instant comprehension with little effort.
- Motivate Yourself
Many students have difficulty with some subjects because they find them boring and thus lack the motivation to put forward the necessary effort. In such cases, visuals are your greatest bet. Captivating visuals, engaging movies, intriguing infographics, and so on help learners avoid boredom and push them to perform better.
- Act as Emotional Stimulators
Emotions and visual data are processed in the same area of the brain. In a simple sense, visual inputs and emotional responses are linked, and the two together produce what we call memories. As a result, vivid visuals and visual metaphors leave a lasting impression on learners.
- Unsatisfied learners are the result of inappropriate visuals.
The benefits of visuals are only realized when they are utilized correctly. The quality and relevance of pictures are extremely important. Assume you have the most meaningful visuals, charts and videos, making your online instructional far superior to that of your competitors. However, if the graphics are low resolution or pixelated, they fail to achieve their goal and the student loses interest. Aside from poor quality, visual aids that are generic and fail to communicate the subject in a precise and clear manner will not appeal to learners.
The photos that will add value to your course material and genuinely assist learners must match the following criteria:
- Simplify issues that are tough to comprehend or have a lot of text.
- Use real people, locations, or items to explain.
- Assist learners in connecting familiar and novel materials.
As a result, the idea is to think of images as eLearning course power enhancers. If they are irrelevant, they can generate distractions from the main issue and, in the worst-case situation, turn off your audience. However, when implemented correctly, it may add value to your online tutorials and attract more students to your online learning platform.
