Why are visuals important in e-learning?

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The era of visual importance is thriving. The present is where visual content plays a role in every part of life. Researchers say that 65 percent of the population are visual learners and therefore the images are clearly the key to engaging people in eLearning.

The technology advancement has created a niche where any platform gives the pinch of empowerment to the learner. The merit is that we are no longer stringed to any kind of policies that will show us how to further our education. With generations going forward, the factors of faster broadband, cellular networks and high resolution screens boost up the visual appeal in e-learning. Text books cycle down in the lane of a decreasing graph with visuals taking charge through digital learning.

Visuals stick to your memory:

“A picture speaks a thousand words” – unknown Well, generations have kept quoting this famous proverb attributing it to an ancient chinese saying. The developing neuroscientific studies reveal that there is indeed a scientific factor attached to it. Visuals are effective. One of the incredible ways to make that learners (students or teachers) store information in their long-term memory is to combine the concepts with meaningful visuals.

Presentation Aafter 3 hoursafter 3 days
 Spoken lecture25%10-20%
 Written (reading)72%10%
 Visual and verbal (illustrated lecture)80%65%
 Participatory (role plays, case studies, practice)90%70%

Adapted from : Research conducted by Dale 1969. zeropathy at its best For example, down the memory lane of your schooling, think about having to learn a new set of english words every week. Now think back to the scene of your first presentation in school. Most probably, you had to put great effort in remembering the english words and in contrast, while you were presenting, I bet you weren’t trying to commit them to memory. Yet still, it comes effortlessly and this says that your brain memorizes these events naturally because it gives a higher visual data.

Visuals are better transmitters: “When words and visual elements are closely entwined, we create something new and we augment our communal intelligence. Visual language has the potential for increasing ‘human bandwidth – the capacity to take in, comprehend, and more efficiently synthesize large amounts of new information.” – Robert.E.Horn

Image Courtesy: Google Did you know that Visuals are processed 60,000X faster in the brain than text? That is just why we, developers utilise more of  visual designs to merit e-learning courses, such as, timed graphics or a sequence graphics to provide immediate and fast understanding as well as to reduce the time taken for explaining the text.

Visuals trigger emotions: Visuals have a stronger impact than words. It tends to increase the information retention through details. Our brain grasps things in a way such that the visual stimuli matches with the emotional response. Depending on circumstances, people say that negative visuals leave a stronger reminder in the minds of the people because of its deep impression.Visual metaphors are added by us into courses to give an impact that will stay in the minds of students and through which they can understand even abstract concepts through picturisation.

Image Courtesy: Google The above is a print advertisement that voices against smoking and depicts the way it will kill one’s life. It displays a very effective comparison that instantly makes our mind comprehend the dangers of smoking! Learners respond 40% more through visual representations that just plain text. And that is why a storytelling approach is every student’s personal favorite when it comes to academics. Teachers also save time in detailed explanations and spend more time interacting with students. The courses enriched with videos and images stick to their memory enhancing their knowledge and succeeding their educational career.FacebookTwitterWhatsAppShare

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