Combining Visuals and Text to Instruct More Efficiently

     I believe that instructing someone on how to accomplish a particular goal or objective is absolutely made more efficient by combining text and images Text by itself, as a means of instructing is sufficient and can lead to good transfer of knowledge and skills, however, the level of informational acquisition is contingent upon the learner’s knowledge of the language the text is presented in and the learner's level of vocabulary and other technical nomenclature associated with the topic. In the end, if the designer wants to convey a set of goals and objectives to the learner by way of text, the instructional practitioner must belabor to be as specific as possible, sparring no exceptions and providing a full dictionary of applicable vocabulary.

     Instruction by the use of visuals is a bit easier to convey, as imagery makes assimilation and mimicking of desired goals, objectives and behavior easier to accomplish. The instructor need not labor and write extensively in order to specifically apply a special and less-known instrument or tactic, the designer can simply display what he wants to get done. Visual instruction by itself is limited and gets cumbersome when trying to explain the order of how things must get done, however this can be remedied by the use of other appreciate visuals.

     The use of visuals and text combined makes for more efficient instruction, since both modes can be properly utilized to compliment and supplement each other’s, otherwise singular mode of instruction. For example, the instruction becomes more efficient, as learners need not read long instructions and refer to dictionaries and appendices, the students can just view the diagrams and follow the provided examples. Text will supplement the visuals, by properly delineating the order of how the events must be completed and emphasizing items that are not immediately noticeable in the pictures or diagrams.

     When trying to assemble a newly bought product, or when trying to configure a new electronic product, most of the time, the instructional manuals are in both picture and text. The pictures portray the goals, or objectives and the text shows the order of how things must get done. Having assembled and configured an array or items by this mode of instruction, I can attest to the efficacy of combining text and visuals to get something done. As an instructor, if a video is not immediately available, I would rely on visual and text to effectively deliver instruction.

     The only drawback that I see from this mode of instruction would be when trying to instruct a bind person. A blind person obviously could not see the instruction. Therefore, in this case, it would be useless. Otherwise, the use of visuals and text combined, makes for a great way to design and implement instruction.