Audio-Visual and Multimedia Instructional Design

I must say that as a student, I’ve always taken for granted the times I’ve been effectively taught with the use of multimedia.. Thus far I’ve learned that in order to develop meaningful and effective multimedia instruction, one must first start with a master plan, then work backwards from the desired end goal. Having said that, it was easier to brainstorm particular projects, than it was to create them. It has been a laborious, yet rewarding experience learning programs to help me reach my instructional goals. Thus far, I’ve learned how to properly use Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, InDesign, Dream Weaver and Audacity to create effective and efficient multimedia instruction.

Audio-visual instruction is a very powerful means of conveying information. It activates several parts of the brain and has the potential of eliciting powerful emotions, cognition and previous knowledge from the learners, Audio-visual instruction facilitates and far extends learning from students. From a classroom perspective, the visual and audio instruction increases the probability of student engagement and lends for better learning to occur.

Potential issues with the use of audio-visual instruction include the time it takes to plan and develop the instruction. The process of planning, writing a script, gathering/developing the visuals and then putting them all together it quite a process. Bookmarking, linking and connecting the audio-visual instruction into a visually stimulating, color coordinated message conveyer is not something one can conjure up quickly.

If as an instructor, one plans to utilize audio-visual instruction, then time allotment and planning ahead is of the essence. Once the instruction has been created, teaching students a particular goal, or objective with the use of this audio-visual instruction will be very effective. From my experience, the use of multimodal forms of multimedia instruction has more often than not, been extremely effective at engaging students and greatly facilitating their learning process.