VISUAL LEARNING

August 12, 2015

To quantify the value of visual learning, we can cite the following:

♦ Learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional (classroom lecture/reading) instruction.

♦ Course content is mastered 60% faster than with traditional instruction.

♦ Participants increase understanding by more than 50%, resulting in greater learning gains than with traditional instruction.

♦ Participants also demonstrate 25-50% higher content retention and 50-60% greater consistency in content understanding than with classroom instruction.

Moreover, visual-based courseware is affordable. Learning while using visual-based media can be accomplished for only a fraction of the cost of other training delivery methods, including stand-up instruction.

Three factors, among many, stand out as contributing significantly to the major changes facing society: income inequality, education, and computer technology. Moreover, these three factors are inextricably bound, for the first (income inequality) is directly influenced by access to the other two (education and computer technology).

Currently, nearly two-thirds of our citizens are at risk because of the changing job requirements in America. Print materials, live-lecture instruction, computer-based training (CBT), and integrated-learning systems (ILS) have generally failed to address the learning needs of this majority.

In terms of literacy, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress issued by the Department of Education, only 25 percent of this nation’s fourth graders and only 34 percent of our high school seniors are able to form opinions from what they read.

It is also not insignificant to note that nearly 40 million working adults are functionally illiterate — that is, they cannot read above a third or fourth grade level.

In addition, as I read this week in a TrainingIndustry.com post: “Psychologists agree that typically, boredom exists at the intersection of participants’ proneness to boredom and their dissatisfaction with available stimuli.

The good news is that the brain does not want to stay bored for too long. So why not take charge and be the source of the stimulation your audience craves?”

For most working individuals today, knowledgeably designed media with full motion video, graphic animations and optional word-for-word audio is that best answer.”