Contributions of Media in Education (Notes)
- Support the sensory organs to maximize effective communication
- Use of an amplifier and a microphone supports effective hearing.
- Enlarged images of small objects help the learner to see details otherwise impossible to be seen with naked eyes.
- Enhance retention.
- Stimulate and sustain interest in learning.
- Provide first-hand experience with the realities of the physical and social environment.
- Encourage active participation by learners.
- Save time (i.e. explaining concepts etc.).
- Discourage rote learning.
- Make abstract ideas more concrete.
- Develop the power of imagination, observation, reasoning and creativity.
- The content of a topic can be carefully selected and organized.
- Delivery of instruction becomes systematic and standardized.
- Improve the quality of learning (i.e. involve more senses)
- Teachers’ instruction can be accessed at any convenient time and place
- Change chalk and talk instruction to interactive instruction.
Speech
Meaning of Speech
- It is an oral communication, a medium in which valuable information (skills, knowledge, values and experiences) are passed from one person/authority to others.
- It is in the form of songs, proverbs, sayings, face-to-face story telling.
- It dominated a time before the discovery of print and electronic media
- Currently with modern media, it can be taped, stored, retrieved and reach many people via teleconferencing, radio and TV.
Effectiveness of speech depends on
- The presenter’s ability to present (i.e. never talk while moving fast, maintain eye contact with students etc.)
- Learners’ ability to comprehend
- Power of memory
- Both (teacher & learners) to be in the same place and same time (in previous time)
- Commonly used in teaching and learning situations
Traditional Visual Media in Education
Traditional visual media include:
- Three dimensional materials: realia, models and specimens.
- Printed materials: textbooks, workbooks, newspaper, journals, handouts etc.
- Chalkboards
- Drawings
- Graphics: charts, graphs, maps, posters, etc.
Realia
- Refer real things or objects.
- Teachers use them in teaching and learning situation to bring in reality of what he or she presents.
- Examples: cheques, Bank statements on financial management lesson, a tree, house, a hoe, cooking utensils, soil, live animals and plants, equipment and apparatus for Science, musical instruments, shells etc.
Advantages of Using Realia
- Learners can easily relate them.
- They provide a clear and true experience.
- They capture the learners’ interests, thus making learning more effective.
- They are readily available and their use encourages the teacher to refer to the immediate environment.
- Their use motivates and stimulates learners.
- They enhance development of manipulative skills.
Disadvantages of Using Realia
- Bringing things to class may be difficult especially if they are very big or dangerous.
- Living things may amplify the learners’ excitement and cause disruption of their learning in the same lesson or another lesson.
- Some objects may not be safe for the learners to handle (ie: dangerous chemical & animals)
- Collecting some types of realia may have a negative effect on the environment.
Specimens
Refer to objects which are representative of a group or a class of similar objects. Can be a whole thing E.g. flower, leaf, fish, frog, and insect OR a part of an object (e.g.: wing of a butterfly, the head of a grasshopper, the bark of a tree etc.) Specimens are usually preserved.
Advantages of Using Specimens
- Learners can easily relate them.
- They provide a clear and true experience.
- They capture the learners’ interests, thus making learning more effective.
- Their use motivates and stimulates learners.
- They enhance development of manipulative skills.
- They are portable.
- They can be used for a long time of properly handled and stored.
Disadvantages of using Specimens
- With time, depending on the method of preservation, some parts or characteristics that the specimen represents, such as colour, may be distorted.
- As they are to be handled with great care learners may not be able to manipulate them as they study them.
- Some of the liquid preservatives have an offensive smell which may make the learning environment uncomfortable.
Models
A model is a three dimensional recognizable representation of a real thing.
It may be reduced or enlarged reproduction but it is made into size convenient for detailed study.
Models are used if the real thing is not available, too large to take to the class, or too small for the naked eye to see, or too dangerous for the students to manipulate. E.g. the skeletal system of man, the human eye and motors of machines.
Advantages of Using the Models
- When learners are involved in making the models, they internalize the concepts.
- Models can be assembled or dissembled when the need arises.
- Concepts and special features can be easily explained.
- Being the 3-dimentional, models give the feeling of substance and depth of the real object.
- Models can be manipulated by learners.
Disadvantages of Using Models
- Since models are not always made to size, they may give the wrong impression of the real thing.
- It is difficult to involve learners in making models of things they have never seen.
- They may be oversimplified which may cause misinterpretation of the real situation.
Print Materials
- Print established around fifty century BC
- It came in to facilitate the function of speech and not to replace the speech
- Speech and print supplement each other
- Enabled spread of knowledge, skills, information, events, attitudes and experiences via notes, books, journals, varieties of documents to a much wider public.
- Has made teacher’s notes available to students
- Printed materials are publications. They Include: Textbooks, worksheets, teachers notes, maps, photographs, posters, newspaper, journals, handouts etc.
- Are instructional materials mostly accessible and easy to use in most schools
Comments of some scholars on Print as a medium
- Print will continue to dominate in the teaching and learning situations (Careen, 1984).
- Print is an intellectual superior medium as it provides foundation for intellectuals and scientific thought
Merits of Print Materials
- Present words, numbers, musical notation, diagrams and signs.
- Easy interpretation and imagination of issues and situations if literate persons
- Bring up interaction between the text and reader(s)
- Have made teacher’s notes, books etc. available to students at their home, schools or a wider public.
- Easy to read, search, scan and cheap to deliver
- Are the most found instructional materials in many schools (ie: duplicated copies, the predecessors materials, textbooks etc.)
- Easy materials to use by teachers and students.
- Convey information quickly.
- Provide learners with the opportunity for independent study.
- Save valuable time for teachers as they contain recommended activities, readings and review question.
- Provide the necessary basic knowledge for a particular topic.
- Provide a common experience for the whole class.
- Ensure continuity of learning in case there is a change of teachers.
- Last long if properly cared for.
- Easy to store.
- Can be conveniently used at the learners’ pace.
- Can be used by learners of all ages.
- Review questions enable learners to do self-evaluation.
Factors to Think About when Choosing Print Materials for your Students
> Who are my learners? (i.e. age, level, interests).
> What is the material about or content? (i.e. appropriateness, up-to-date etc.)
> Is the material well structured? (i.e. logical arrangement, clarity of message, completeness of the material etc.)
> Language used (i.e. easy to understand? Difficult? etc.)
> Is it readable? (Will student enjoy reading it?)
> Font size and spacing (small or big words? Closeness of words?, Lots of space between rows? A lot of pictures?)
> Layout (i.e. page attractive? Will you be able to photocopy it?)
> Number of illustrative materials such as photographs, charts, diagrams and drawings
- Use captions and explanatory notes for diagrams and pictures.
- Often a few large diagrams and pictures are better than many small ones.
- Consider the visual literacy competencies of the readers.
> Durability (Is the material durable?)
Graphics
Are materials that communicate facts and ideas clearly and vividly through the combination of drawings, words and pictures.
Examples are
- Charts
- Posters
- Pictures
- Graphs
- Diagrams
- Maps and globes.
Points to note when a teacher plan to use graphics
- Graphics present facts in summary
- Displayed information should be mistakes free
- Should be removed after they have served their purpose and replaced with new ones
Charts
- Are used to display summaries of data using histograms, pie charts, graphs, maps and other concept maps, diagrams.
- Building charts’ materials: sugar paper, thin card, manila paper, cloth, or wrapping paper.
Characteristics of Good Charts
- Big and clear print that can be seen by all the learners.
- Labeling that is horizontal and in straight lines.
- Accurate and if there are maps, drawn to scale.
- Attractive enough to capture and hold attention and interest of the learners.
- Accurate and authentic use of colors in its representation of people, events and things. (i.e: water masses should be blue and not any other color.
- A neat layout with margins that makes important information stand out.
- Suitable for the age and level of maturity of the learners.
A poster
- Is a symbolic design or picture
- Tells a story or convey information attractively to people or learners.
- Highlights subject matters and or stimulate interest
Effectiveness of Posters in teaching and learning Process
Depends on these factors:
- Must be placed at a straight point
- Must be dramatic and simple
- It carries few words as possible
- Visually attractive in terms of color, design and letters used.
- Must be clear and simple for message
- Must aim at one main purpose
- Must be large enough
Picture and Photographs
Pictures
- Does not need a certain language in order to interpret message of a picture
- Easy to understand
- Can have different interpretations depending on past experiences of learners.
- Can be used to:
> Introduce a lesson
> Develop vocabularies
> Conclude a lesson
Maps and Globes
A Globe
It is a spherical representation of the earth’s surface
A Map
- Is a visual scaled-down representation of a flat surface or some portion of the earth on paper
- Both have symbols (to easy read, use and interpret)
- Globes are more accurate than maps as represent the true shape of the earth
BOARDS
Are used as teaching and learning resources
Examples of boards are:
- Chalkboards
- Flannel boards
- Bulletin boards
Two types of boards are:
- Wallboards
- Portable boards
i) Chalkboards
A chalkboard is a reusable writing surface on which the teacher writes and draws using chalk.
- Colors of chalkboards (i.e. black, blue, grey, green or any other color that provide good legibility).
- Often called a blackboard
- A traditional, most frequently medium available in classrooms
Types of chalkboards:-
- Fixed chalkboard
- Portable chalkboard
- Horizontal sliding boards
- Vertical sliding boards.
Effective use of Chalkboard
- Write the date, class, subject and topic at the start of the lesson.
- Divide the blackboard into 2 or 3 more fields which are each similar in size.
- Erase any written material on the chalkboard after each use.
- Always keep the chalkboard clean.
- Write horizontally and straight.
- Keep the handwriting neat, legible and uniform.
- Make sure that all the learners can see the chalkboard.
- Use underlining, encircling or framing to focus attention on important details.
- Leave the space around diagrams
- Avoid overcrowding the board to avoid confusion.
- When the teacher needs to talk while writing, he or she should make sure he or she talks to the class and not to the chalkboard.
- When pointing or explaining something, always stand at the side and use a pointer to avoid obstructing the learners’ view.
- Organize work systematically on the chalkboard.
- Develop the summary on the chalkboard as the lesson develops.
- Develop illustrations as you teach. Prepare complicated ones before lesson to avoid time wastage and indiscipline
Uses of the Chalkboard
- For introducing a lesson
- For presenting a skeleton plan for the lesson
- For recording the main points of a lesson.
- For writing questions to be worked out
- For defining technical terms, keywords or concepts.
- For developing sketch maps or drawings.
- For writing a lesson summary.
- For mounting charts and other teaching and learning resources.
ii) Flannel or Cloth boards
- A board covered with cloth such as flannel or felt.
- Cloth need to be plain to allow material displayed on it.
- Information is prepared and then fixed using masking tape.
Construction of Flannel Board
- Take either a plywood or hardboard and cut it into required dimensions.
- Cover one side of the board with flannel or felt, stretching it tightly as you pin it on the other side of the board with drawing pins. If flannel is not available, an old blanket tacked very tightly will do the trick.
- Materials for use on the flannel board can be cut out from magazines or they could be drawn by you. By backing these materials with flannel, sandpaper, ink blotters, paint, felt pens, sponges or sacking, they will adhere readily to flannel or felt.
Note: Have a look on bulletin boards and its uses
A bulletin board (pin board, pin board, noticeboard, or notice board in British English) is a surface intended for the posting of public messages, for example, to advertise items wanted or for sale, announce events, or provide information. Bulletin boards are often made of a material such as cork to facilitate addition and removal of messages, or they can be placed on computer networks so people can leave and erase messages for other people to read and see.
Resource Centres
Are classified building(s) or room(s)
Aim: update people with information, data, knowledge, research findings, reports or new technologies (Mwakyikyeli, 2003)
Channels of communication facilities:
- Technicians, coordinators and experts
- Textual, visual, audio-visual media
Is made up of two terms: resource and centre
Resources means resource persons and non-resource persons.
Resource persons:
Include subject experts, teachers, coordinator, technicians, researchers, program developers etc.
A person becomes a resource only if she or he is flexible to assist learners in learning difficulties.
Non-resources persons:
Comprise of aids, technologies and other media.
They are used by teachers, educators and students
Centre
- Refers to a gathering place (i.e. room, building etc.) for learning purpose.
- Also a place where resources are kept.
Major types of resource centers:
RC that favour different disciplines
- They cater general needs of people
- Examples: libraries and historical buildings
Resource Centres that favour specific discipline purposes
- They are professionals ones
- Examples: Teacher Resource Centres (TRCs), Resource centre design (RCD),etc.
Goal of Resource Centre (RC)
To make valuable knowledge, information and technologies available to people (i.e. scholars)
Functions of Resource Centres
- Provision of facilities or guidance for production of materials.
- Guiding application of learning materials
- Ensuring systematic arrangement of resources
> To attract users of the centre
> To easy the retrieving system.
- Procuring and storing educational materials or resources (suitable ones & cater different disciplines)
- Collect books, research reports, useful documents, data and information as well as non-textual media for users of the centre
- Coordinate activities of different users or institutions to ensure optimal use of available resources
- To run seminars or workshops
- To advertise and motivate individuals, groups, organizations and institutions maximize use of the centre
Teacher's resource centre (TRC)
TRC is a community of well - trained people, adequately equipped with educational facilities located in attractive places to encourage and help students and teachers communicate, investigate and learn together as a team (Henderson, 1972).
Essence of Teacher's resource centre
Is traced back in1950s-UK (Mushi, 2003) and in Britain-1960 (Khaisa, 2011).
> In UK - aimed to make a vital contribution to curriculum development
> To identify teachers’ training needs after they met together to share ideas and experiences
On-going hindrances were:
> Top - down programmes in its running How? – lack of collegiality among teachers
In Britain - aimed to enable teachers come together to exchange ideas and experiences among themselves focusing on their subjects
Issues addressed by Teacher's resource centers were:
- Lack of resources
- Limited access to materials and equipment (teachers and rural schools)
Roles of TRC
> Major role: to enhance professional development (conducting seminar or workshop; tackling difficult topics, designing modules and aids for teaching and learning; promoting innovation and improvisation - in methods)
> Raise academic qualification of teachers upgrading teachers i.e. 3B/C into 3A; 3A into diploma etc.
> Serves as a deports for educational materials and distribution
> Serves as teachers’ meeting places and also with their management.
> Link positively the school and community
> Centre for qualitative improvement of education
> Provider of useful update library services for teachers (i.e. data bank of education performance records)
> Training of teachers (refresher training, to exposure teachers to training possibilities like distance learning; reference books)
> Encourage action research by teachers
> To build and sustain professionalism
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