instructional effectivenes of video media

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Wetzel, C. Douglas, Radtke, Paul, H. and Stern, Hervey W. (1994) Instructional effectiveness of video media. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. USA.

• As indicated by annual training surveys (e.g Training Magazine), video technology is either the most frequently used medium in industry or second in use to instructor-led classrooms. Furthermore, video is also used extensively in education, Both K-12 and postsecondary. The use of video technology is probably the most prevalent in homes (e.g. TVs and VCRs). P ix
• A major impediment to the effective use of media technologies in education and training is the lack of a credible research-based synthesis of the media and learning findings. P ix
• The research that the authors review involves the following topics, visual learning, verbal auditor information, news broadcasts, the value of motion and animation in film and video, simulation (including fidelity) the relationship of text and graphics, computer-based learning using video and animated graphics, the role of effort in learning from media, and the concept of media symbol systems. P xi
• Media systems include educational television, distance learning and teacher education. Many of the benefits of video are practical ones, for example, convenience, access, standardization and efficiency. P xi.
• An accompanying trend toward the use of visual materials to supplement or replace traditional verbal forms of instruction (textbooks and lectures) results from a belief that students learn some material better from visual media. P 1
• The literature on instructional technology reveals a number or recurrent issues concerning video-based instruction. These generally concern whether television can be used effectively for learning, what features of this medium make learning easier or harder, and what specific techniques improve learning from video-based instruction. P1
  Concerns: One realm of concern has been that several characteristics of television might result in some loss in the quality of instruction. Learning might suffer as a result of distancing students from live and interactive classroom experiences or from television’s inherent limitations of being transient and limited in view and resolution. P2
• Benefits: Video has the capability to convey more forms of information than less enriched media such as radio, text, and drawings. This capability allows students to learn through both verbal and visual means, to view actual objects and realistic scenes, to see sequences in motion , and to view perspectives that are difficult or impossible to observe in real life. P2
• The potential benefits are reflected in popular claims for visual-based forms of presentations in meeting standing and learning re variously enhanced by bringing together a wide range of media forms that can present the viewer with simplified or concrete information as well as realistic and high-fidelity information. Such claims may be accompanied by arguments that confuse the instructional methods affecting learning with other practical effects or with the medium or technology itself. The recent emphasis on multimedia technology is clearly founded on the assumption that rapid access to large amounts of information, illustrated with visual and incorporating animation, motion video, and digital speech will either enhance the attractiveness of the material or possibly enhance learning. P2

Alberto Ramirez Martinell