| Pedagogical
Guide to using images in lectures
Introduction
The role of images in student learning
Annotated Bibliography on using images in lectures
and seminars
Websites containing dedicated pages on the pedagogy
of using images in lectures and seminars
Additional related books and articles
Guide to tourism specific images on the Internet
Practical tips of using images in lectures and presentations
Introduction
In an age of extraordinary visual
stimulation, higher education has remained remarkably text-bound and can
appear dull to students compared to their normal world. Tourism students,
attracted to the subject by its promise to investigate place and space,
can be disappointed by the lack of visual engagement and concentration
on mainly text-centred teaching strategies (Tribe 2006)
Research into the use and effects of illustrations in learning (e.g. Levie
and Lentz, 1982) supports the case that images can strongly aid learning.
Specific benefits include:
a) Images are readily stored in the long-term memory creating information
as a coherent "chunk" or concept. (Erdelyi and Stein, 1981).
b) Images provoke a range of responses, but particularly imagination (Buzan,
1993). They are therefore generally more evocative than words, triggering
associations, enhancing creative thinking and memory.
c) Users prefer material which is illustrated (Levie and Lentz, 1982)
and regard it as being of higher quality.
d) The use of pictures with text with is particularly efficient in enhancing
levels of comprehension (Levin 1989) and exceeds the power of text alone.
e) Images may help aid understanding and learning of concepts that are
difficult to explain verbally (Myatt and Carter (1979).
f) Images are useful aids or for learners with a low degree of verbal
understanding (Myatt and Carter (1979)
The use of images has been proved to have a strong positive impact. If
the delivery method is taking place via the Internet or via the classroom
the employment of relevant images alongside text materials became indispensable.
The role of images in student learning
The lecturer’s role is the creation of those conditions which support
and promote discrimination and judgement on the part of their students.
Just as the lecturer will require students to communicate with accuracy,
concision and facility in relation to the production of textual materials,
so too those lecturers will expect and require students to use visual
materials appropriately and tellingly. Images can be used to stimulate,
arouse and motivate, to illustrate and consolidate. Sankey (2005) argues
strongly for the development in students of a sophisticated understanding
of the nature of visual communication.
The case for visual literacy, defined as the ability to understand, interpret
and produce visual messages, is gaining in credibility. Sankey (2005:
1) advocates a broader notion of literacy, which “…in the future will
include the ability to read both text and image, together and separately.”
Schirato & Yell (1996: 209) suggest: "...increasingly an argument
can be mounted that a literate person in contemporary western cultures
is, first and foremost, someone who is able to recognise, read, analyse
and deploy a variety of visual genres and mediums."
Drawing on the work of Griffin and Schwartz (1997) Sankey (1996: 9) sets
out a strong rationale for the inclusion of visual material into the learning
process referring to the mismatch in universities between the reluctance
perhaps aversion almost, of students to read textual material and the
traditional reliance on this format of their teachers.
Herein lies part of the problem which the inclusion of visual material
into mainstream curriculum incurs, since it would appear to imply a pedagogy
which is somewhat at variance with that traditionally associated with
university teaching. The inclusion of visual representations, particularly
in the form of photographs, can convey more than textual media alone.
Images, claims Muffoletto (2001: 7), engage the observer in the construction
of meaning. “Existing somewhere between the constructed image and the
historical and social reality of the reader is the meaning of the image-text.”
Currently education in all sectors is faced with challenges, expectations
and concomitant changes which are perhaps epitomised by the struggle of
teachers and curriculum designers to adapt to an information-rich context
in which nothing, it seems, is fixed, or certain – an age of ‘super complexity’
(Barnett, 2000).
One feature of this changed context is the shift from an emphasis on
knowledge of content to the development in the students of meta-cognitive
skills frequently referred to as the skills of lifelong learning. At the
same time the development of the internet has brought with it opportunities
for students to access a bewildering range of sources, along with the
real dangers of confusing information with knowledge, (Barnett, 2000).
Whilst some claims for the predominance of the visual might be inflated,
it is increasingly acknowledged that many learners welcome the inclusion
of visual material in order to support and enhance textual material (Sankey,
2005). More recently the introduction into classrooms of interactive whiteboards
has had a profound effect upon both learners and lecturers; with the former
clearly enthused by the immediacy and relevance of illustrations and visual
representations in all forms and the latter equally enthused by their
ability to pull in data and images from a range of relevant sources as
and when required.
References
Barnett, R (2000) Realizing the university in an age of super-complexity.
Buckingham: SRHE/OU.
Buzan, T. (1993). The Mind Map Book. BBC Books, London
Erdelyi, M.H. and Stein, J.B. (1981). Recognition hypermnesia: the growth
of recognition memory over time with repeated testing. Cognition, 9: 21-33.
Goleman, D (1996) Emotional intelligence. London: Bloomsbury.
Griffin & Schwartz, (1997) Visual communication skills and media literacy.
In Flood, J. Heath, S & Lapp, D. Hanbook of research on teaching literacy
through the communicative and visual arts. New York: MacMillan.
Levie, W. H. and Lentz, R. (1982). Effects of text illustrations: a review
of research. Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 30: 195-232.
Levin, J. R. (1989) A transfer of appropriate processing perspective of
pictures in prose. In: Knowledge acquisition from text and prose. Eds
Mandl, H. and Levin, J. R. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers
Muffoletto, R. (2001) An inquiry into the use of Uncle Joe’s representation
and meaning. Reading Online, 4 (8).
Myatt, B and Carter, D. (1979). Picture preferences of children and young
adults. Educational, Communication and Technology Journal, 27: 43-45.
Sankey, M. (2005). Considering visual literacy when designing instruction
[online] University of Southern Queensland. Available from: www.usq.edu.au/users/sankey/Resources/article0602.pdf
[Accessed 15.07.2006]
Shirato, T. & Yell, S. (1996) Communication and cultural literacy:
an introduction. St Leonard: Allen & Unwin.
Tribe, J. (2006) Image Enriched Learning in Tourism. In CAUTHE conference,
February, 2006 Melbourne, Australia: CAUTHE.
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Annotated Bibliography on using images
in lectures and seminars
Elliott, D. and Lester, P.M. (2002) Visual Communication and an Ethic
for Images, "Ethics Matters." News Photographer. Available at:
www.commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/writings/nppa.html.
Some relevant chapters:Theory of visual communication; A brave new visual
world; The syntax of symbols; The effect of mediated words and pictures;
Pictures as symbolic representations; Aesthetics; Etiquette; Ethics; Utilitarianism;
Hedonism; Golden mean; Golden rule; Veil of ignorance; 132 references.
Griffin, A. & Schwartz, C. (1997) Visual communication skills and
media literacy. In Flood, J. Heath, S & Lapp, D. Handbook of research
on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts. New York:
MacMillan.
Griffin and Schwartz state that, by the mid-1980s the notion that images
are more potent than words, and that given a lack of congruence between
visual and verbal information the visual will win out, had been repeated
often enough to become accepted wisdom’ (p. 40). ‘While young people today
may be less inclined to read and thus less verbally literate than the
previous generations, it has become a cliché that they are more visually
facile and skilled. This increased visual literacy is attributed to children’s
copious exposure to and experience with television, video games, and computers’
(p. 41).
Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. 1996, ‘Reading Images: The Grammar of
Visual Design’, London & New York: Routledge,
It is explained that visual communication is coming to be less and less
the domain of specialists, and more and more crucial in the domains of
public communication. They state that inevitably ‘this will lead to new,
and more rules, and to more formal, normative teaching. Not being ‘visually
literate’ will begin to attract social sanctions. ‘Visual literacy’ will
begin to be a matter of survival, especially in the workplace’ (p. 2-3).
As education no longer simply caters to the elite but is more so for those
with a desire to learn, the appropriate response of educators is to apprehend
these notions, and provide as many avenues as possible for the transfer
of information.
Messaris, P. (2001). New Literacies in Action: Visual education. Reading
Online, 4(7). Available at: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/action/messaris/index.html
Is the introduction of visual media into our schools redundant and futile?
While the argument for more attention to visual literacy has become a
commonplace in public discussions of education, there is also a widespread
belief that young people today are highly knowledgeable about visual media
as a result of growing up on a steady diet of TV shows, video games, computer
images, movies, and, of course, advertisements. If kids are indeed becoming
more “media savvy,” do arguments for visual education lose their force?
Mowat, E. (2002) Teaching and learning with images. VINE Volume 32 Number
3 pp. 5-13
Illustrated by examples from the SCRAN digital library, this article describes
some of the ways in which images can be used to support innovative and
effective learning and teaching in further and higher education.
Schirato, T. & Yell, S. (1996) ‘Communication & Cultural Literacy:
An Introduction’, Allen & Unwin, St Leonard: Pty Ltd.
Visual genres and mediums now dominate communication; photographs, television,
film, video, the internet, cartoons, posters, t-shirts, comics, multi
media presentations and computer simulations. Therefore, ‘increasingly,
an argument can be mounted that a literate person in contemporary western
cultures is, first and foremost, someone who is able to recognise, read,
analyse and deploy a variety of visual genres and mediums’. In contemporary
western culture, particularly the youth culture, visual mediums and genres
are becoming increasingly popular at the expense of other mediums, in
particular the written word.
Sankey, M. (2005) Considering visual literacy when designing instruction.
www.usq.edu.au/users/sankey/Resources/article0602.pdf
Some of the chapters: Communication in today’s culture; Cognition and
retention; Analogy, Metaphor and Metonym, Visual literacy; Enhancement
of educational methods; The response of educators. Sankey argues that
a combination of visuals and text would achieve more effective learning
outcomes. It is incumbent upon those who design teaching materials, particularly
those designing materials with no other form of instruction, to take into
consideration the changes occurring in our culture and particularly, in
the learning styles of present day students.
Walker, J. A., & Chaplin, S. (1998) Visual Culture: An Introduction.
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
This book is about the expanding realm of visual culture: in architecture,
art, design, advertising, photography, film, television, video, theatre
performance, computer imagery and virtual reality. It is also about Visual
Culture Studies, a relatively new academic discipline, or rather range
of disciplines, that scholars employ to analyse visual artefacts.
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Websites containing dedicated pages on
the pedagogy of using images in lectures and seminars
Bristol Bio-Med images.
The Bristol Biomed Learning and Teaching (BB-LT) site contains resources
which have been created "to help teachers and practitioners from
the biomedical community make the best use of images in learning and teaching
through real-life, practical, examples". In particular, see the How-to
guides which give advice on all stages of finding and using Bristol BioMed
images. http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/bblt/
DACS - the Design and Artists Copyright
Society http://www.dacs.org.uk/ - is the UK's copyright and collecting
society for artists and visual creators. The aim of DACS is to promote
and protect the copyright and related rights of artists and visual creators.
Department
of Earth Sciences image library
The Department of Earth Sciences maintains an image library available
at http://www3.open.ac.uk/Earth-Sciences/image-library/image-library.shtml
based on photographs created by members of the department. As well as
earth sciences it covers world travel, with images of different cultures,
architecture and views from around the world. Images can be used free
of charge for non-commercial purposes.
FILTER (Focusing Images for Learning
and Teaching: an Enriched Resource) at http://www.filter.ac.uk/ This JISC-funded
project between 2001 and 2003 created and hosted at the Institute of Learning
and Research Technology at the University of Bristol aims to encourage
the use of digital images in pedagogy through example tutorials.
International Visual Literacy
Association. IVLA was formed for the purpose of providing a forum
for the exchange of information related to visual literacy. We are also
concerned with issues dealing with education, instruction and training
in modes of visual communication and their application through the concept
of visual literacy to individuals, groups, organizations, and to the public
in general. http://www.ivla.org/index.htm
SCRAN (Scottish Cultural Resources
Access Network) resources at http://www.scran.ac.uk/ particularly relevant
for Scottish history and culture. Access is offered to a wide range of
learning materials, case studies and how-to guides to facilitate the use
of SCRAN images within learning, teaching and research. Although a subscription
service, non-subscribers can search the whole resource base for free and
see thumbnail images. Please check with your institution or centre, as
they may be able to give you an Athens password for full log-in access.
TASI (Technical Advisory Service
for Images) at http://www.tasi.ac.uk/ is a JISC-funded service offering
advice on all digital imaging issues. The Use of Images to Support Instruction
and Presentation
The Learner Guide at http://www.learnerguide.co.uk/ developed by the X4L
‘Maps and Learner Guides' project allows images to be embedded into digital
learning materials. Promotes awareness and use of existing educational
digital image collections and invite you to check out the links below
for further information. There are now a number of projects funded through
agencies like JISC to use existing digital image collections and to incorporate
them into online learning materials. Exemplars embedded within good pedagogical
practice show how technology and images can be used to facilitate learning.
The Open University Learning Resources Centre http://library.open.ac.uk/waltonhall/lrc/index.html
within the OU Library provides access to and advice about OU course materials
in all their formats. The extensive slide collection is available for
browsing, but the Learning Resources Centre advises using their expertise
to fulfil specific requests.
The
LTSN (Learning and Teaching Support Network) site for History, Classics
and Archaeology provides some advice on how to acquire digital images
and integrate them into your teaching material. Although these are subject-specific
guides, the information is generally applicable: http://hca.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/Briefing_Papers/bp3.php
and manipulating images for teaching http://hca.ltsn.ac.uk/resources/Briefing_Papers/bp4.php
The
Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) makes available a guide to Using Digital
Resources in Teaching, Learning and Research in the Visual Arts. This
includes a glossary and bibliography. http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/guides/using_guide/contents.html
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Additional related books and articles
Biederman, I. (1987) "Recognition-by-Components: A Theory of Human
Image Understanding." Psychological Review, Vol. 94, no. 2, pp. 115-147.
Bolton, R. (ed.). (1992) The Contest of Meaning Critical Histories of
Photography. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Bromley, K., Irwin-De Vitis, L & Modlo, M. (1995) Graphic organizers:
Visual strategies for active learning. New York: Scholastic, Inc.
Buzan, T. (1993) The Mind Map Book. London: BBC Books
Davies, D., Bathurst, D., & Bathurst, R. (1990) The Telling Image:
The Changing Balance Between Pictures and Words in a Technological Age.
Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Dondis, D. A. (1973) A Primer of Visual Literacy. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Dwyer, F.M. and Joseph, J.H. (1984) The effects of prior knowledge, presentation
mode and visual realism on student achievement. Journal of Experimental
Education, 52: 101-121.
Eisner, E. (1993) Forms of understanding the future of educational research.
Educational Researcher, 22 (7). 5 – 11.
Foss, S. K. (1992) "Visual Imagery as Communication.'' Text and Performance
Quarterly, Vol. 12, pp. 85-96.
Hoffman, D. (2000) Visual Intelligence: How We Create What We See. New
York: W.W. Norton and Company.
Hutchinson, B. (1991) Using illustrations to improve communication: back
to basics. British Journal of Educational Technology, 22.
Jenks, C. (1995) ‘Visual Culture’ New York: Routledge
Levie, W. H. and Lentz, R. (1982) Effects of text illustrations: a review
of research. Educational Communication and Technology Journal, 30: 195-232.
Messaris, P. (1994) Visual Literacy: Image, Mind, and Reality. Boulder,
CO: Westview Press.
Messaris, P. (1997) Visual persuasion: The role of images in advertising.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Messaris, P. (2001) Visual culture. In J. Lull (Ed.), Culture in the communication
age (pp. 179-192). London: Routledge.
Mirzoeff, N. (1998) ‘The Visual Culture Reader’, London: Routledge
Peeck, J. (1987) The role of illustrations in processing and remembering
illustrated text. In: The Psychology of Illustration. Eds Willows, D.
M. and Houghton, H. A. Vol 1: 115-151.
Race, P. (1999) 2,000 tips for lecturers, London: Kogan Page
Smith, B.K. and Blankinship, E. (2000) ‘Justifying imagery: Multimedia
support for learning through explanation’ IBM Systems Journal, vol. 39,
Issue3/4, pp. 749 – 767.
Tidhar, C. (1984) Children communicating in cinematic codes: Effects on
cognitive skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76(5), 957-965.
Walther, J.B., Slovacek, C.L., Tidwell, L.C. (2001) ‘Is a picture worth
a thousand words?’, Communication Research, Feb, Vol. 28, pp 105-135.
Weidemann, B. (1989) When good pictures fail. In: Knowledge acquisition
from text and pictures. Eds. Mandl, H. and Levin, J., Amsterdam: Elsevier
Science Publishers
Zakia, R. (2001) Perception and Imaging. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
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Practical tips of using images in lectures
and presentations
-Present images that could engage feeling. Consciously or unconsciously
we want to influence the feelings of our students.
-Motivate students to want to learn by using interesting images.
-Present an image in such a way as to create the skill of being able to
recognise similar images in the future.
-Use images to create interaction.
-Inform by asking students to find out where and when a picture was taken.
-Make students understand by making them to ask questions.
-Present images which will help the student to find out
-Encourage the gathering of information rather than just its absorption
- the student is engaged with a process of exploring a visual universe
(which may be random or hierarchical) understanding the association of
concrete objects or ideas by discovery.
-Engage students in responding to questions such as:
-True/False
- Identify
-Label
-Supply the missing word/phrase
-Select an Option
-Analyse
-Compare and Contrast
-Calculate
-Divide pictures into sections - background, foreground, middle ground
and question students about features they can see;
-Focus on people in the image, then objects, then the whole scene;
-Be aware of stereotypes and bias; Pictures can be used to challenge existing
ideas
-Ask students to give a title to a picture
-Ask why they think a photograph was taken
-Ask students to annotate a sketch or line drawing of a picture
-Provide students with a camera (digital or single-use) and ask them to
make images for different purposes
-Ask closed questions: A closed question can be made more open and "student-friendly"
by inserting the words "do you think". This changes a closed
question which demands a right answer into one which asks for an opinion
or view - for example, what do you think the men in the picture are doing?
-Ask interpretive questions: Visual literacy is as much about making inferences
and deductions from visual evidence as it is about giving a title to a
picture based on what it shows. Interpretive questions are ones which
encourage children to make deductions from the visual evidence - for example,
what do you think is being carried in the containers? Why are so many
people gathered in this place? What do you think the climate in this place
is like?
-Ask evaluative questions: Two types of evaluative questions could be
asked: empathetic questions and questions about the reliability and/or
bias in the image. Questions which require empathy involve students’ imaginative
response to the image - for example, how would you feel if you were one
of the people in the picture? Questions about the reliability of the visual
information and the bias that may be evident are particularly important
to the development of critical understanding - for
Basic technical tips of using images for presentations
-Decide upon the final size for your images before taking them into PowerPoint.
Do your scaling and cropping in a photo editing application, not in PowerPoint.
This insures that the image file provides only as much information as
in necessary; thus only as much file size as is necessary.
-When using multiple images in a presentation, attempt to maintain consistent
image size and shape throughout. This gives the presentation a neat, consistent
appearance and saves you the trouble of rethinking the variables for each
individual picture.
-Be aware of the unique image requirements of various output media. Resolution
varies considerably: 72-100 dpi for on-screen presentations and anywhere
from 144-300 dpi - or higher -for laser, inkjet film and thermal output.
-Clarity and simplicity are very important. One large picture is easier
for the audience to see and understand than several smaller ones. Just
because you can use images in your presentation doesn't mean you should
go overboard.
-For large or image-intensive presentations, consider the possibility
of converting pictures to indexed colour (256 colours). This generates
a smaller file which, obviously, will increase the speed at which frames
paint up. Of course, it will also require less storage space.
-Keep in mind that simplicity is essential. Busy, involved images can
be confusing and don't provide the immediate visual recognition necessary
for good speech support.
-Use drop-shadows or borders to add dimension and emphasis to your images.
You can do these special effects in your photo-editing application or
in PowerPoint itself, though the variety of options in PowerPoint is more
limited.
-Always keep your original image file intact. When it becomes necessary
to scale down, crop or otherwise manipulate your image, save the modified
version as a new file. In this way, you can always go back to the original
if you need more resolution, for example, to output a print. IELIT provides
files of 80-100 Kb/ 800/600 pixels
-After cropping and re-sizing your images, be sure to save them in a separate
folder as BMP, TIF or JPEG files. -PowerPoint can accept a variety of
formats, but these three are the most commonly used.
Use “Guides” to establish the position for images. This supports the consistent
look of the presentation and the pictures will not appear to "move"
when going from one frame to the next.
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