Short and to the Point

Short and to the Point!

The Art of Audio – Visual Impact

Have you ever been to one of those seminars, which, at the time seemed good:  but afterwards you could only remember the jokes?

The problem with your average hour of information is that the average audience will only remember four or five facts.  If you open and close with a good joke, half of your window has been squandered.

This is even more evident using audio-visual presentations.  If you try to use a nice long clip that conveys the feel and context of the topic, as well as specific information, you run the risk of the students remembering only a few of the funnier quotes.

Personally I recall an excellent short film from my high school years about a prisoner revolt in early Tasmania.  The information was exciting, and the acting was acceptable, but the point of the exercise was lost through a simple distraction in the presentation.  Wherever I went in the school for the next three days, students where discussing how the convict had set fire to a haystack – with a cigarette lighter!

Audio – visual teaching

The truth is that good audio-visual information can greatly enhance teaching, to the point of affecting teachers, their classes, and their entire schools.

Extensive experimentation during our medieval and ancient history incursion programs, reveals how vital it is to make a video clip so concise and focused that it is virtually impossible for the students to miss the point.  Some of our sessions are built around up to four very short video clips (from thirty seconds to three minutes max), which can feed into a superb fifty to eighty minute discussion featuring a series of role plays. 

Thus it is possible to set a scene with one or two minutes of video, and then break off to talk about the living conditions of the people – countryside, climate, buildings, clothing, crops, livestock, building materials, sanitation, wealth, trade products, etc – with the students handing the information back to you as they analyse what they have seen.

Returning to a thirty to ninety second action clip from the same video will allow another discussion about the difficulties these people face, and how they are coping with their environment.  Follow this with a two minute clip, which might lead into a discussion of how their culture might be changing to deal with new conditions or economic activities. And finally another sixty second clip which puts an amusing end to the sub story, and allows a concise summary of how we can compare their society with ours.

In our experience four or five minutes of well chosen video can not only structure and stimulate a 50 to 80 minute discussion and activity session; but it underpins the facts you want the student to take away.

Focused Learning

The key here is multi-sensory stimulation.  Memorable clips, backed up with well led questions and analysis, then reinforced with an active role-play: preferably one where the students vote on the logical solution (naturally they always choose the path most likely to be followed – if you ask the questions the right way…)

The teacher or presenter needs to ensure that the focus of the lesson remains exactly where it is supposed to – on the images chosen by the teacher, and the concepts discovered in the carefully directed discussion afterwards.

Sessions must also be designed to use the minimum amount of material to achieve the maximum effect.

Attention Grabbing Media

An important point to remember is that it doesn’t matter whether the video clip is ‘serious’ or not.  Elegant documentaries can make excellent points (and often include detailed explanation and discussion), but so can good dramas, and well designed comedies.  The effect will be highlighted if the students attention is grabbed, and this works best if they recognise the film, or realise that it is funny or entertaining.

Some of the documentaries we have used – particularly about the Spartans, the Roman army, or medieval buildings – have been superb.  But they are the sources that have to be most carefully edited.  Your window of student attention with an obvious documentary is going to be much shorter than the equivalent window with a recognisable blockbuster movie.

Short scenes from blockbusters are much better.[i] Gladiator, Troy, Braveheart, even A Knight’s Tale (watch the beautifully detailed background shot in Czechoslovakia, and ignore Hollywood’s ‘modern’ hero and heroine).  These are films that get a “that film’s great!” response from the instantly recognisable component.  If you direct students to pay attention to a specific element of the scene – buildings, clothing, the way someone is being treated – then you can guarantee an enthusiastic response afterwards.  We find this works particularly well with the class ‘cool kids’, who will automatically try and demonstrate their better knowledge of a genre which can only enhance their status with their peers.  This is particularly valuable, as these are the students who often let their cool factor hold them aloof from class interest in, or discussion of, what they consider to be beneath their image.

Even better are short clips from easily recognisable comedies.  Monty Python has both medieval and ancient films available – Monty Python & the Holy Grail and Life of Brian.  Other good comedy sources include Black Adder, the Story Teller series, a fair selection of Hallmark films, and some of the lesser known Robin Hood films. 

We find you cannot show a whole film and expect the students to retain any serious point.  Instead we choose short and extremely entertaining sections, which can be readily analysed to demonstrate and important point.  Monty Python’s infamous two minute scene of the black knight having all his arms and legs chopped off for instance, can easily be divided into three sections on its own.  This allows three separate discussions about medieval tournaments, feudalism, and trial by combat – each of which can take several minutes.

Impact

You can also get a lot of mileage out of surprise.  The medieval world did many things for reasons which seem nonsensical to modern eyes.  Catch your students with something that seems ridiculous or fantastic, and they will not be able to help being interested.  We find this one works particularly well with the rowdy boys.

My favourite example of this is from a brilliant European film called The Advocate, which was released in the United States as The Night of the Pig (strangely it did not go on to mass release after that little marketing gem).  The Advocate has a minor disadvantage – it is rated MA for an extremely good reason, and is definitely not something which should be shown in its entirety.  However a few scenes in it are so unusual and confronting to the students’ sensibilities, that it can be used with devastating effect.  One court room scene in particular fascinates students.  They find it hard to believe that the criminal on trial for murder of a child is in fact a pig… (you know, oink, oink – that sort of pig).  The wonders of part of the French legal code at certain periods!  We can get a very good discussion going from that premise.

The true test:  Retention

Again, I want to emphasise the impact of making the session multi-sensory and interactive. It is useless to try and build an entire period around even the most exciting video and general, ad hoc discussion.  The session may flow well, and you may come out feeling excited and stimulated, but the follow up is almost certain to be disappointing.  Retention will not be high.

If the film clip is followed by a discussion of it’s meaning, which is reinforced by a role play of the concept, which is reinforced by the class taking a vote on which of two or three options people would most likely follow, which is reinforced by a joke about what happens to those who don’t follow the sensible path:  then we can virtually guarantee that the students will retain the concept we intended.  Notice the sequence here.  Audio-visual input à question and answer discussion à active role play à physical movement (even from those just voting) à then humorous conclusion.  Sight, sound, cognitive reasoning, locomotor input, gross motor response, vestibular processing, emotional feedback.  (In some of our sessions students may also feel and/or smell the materials being used to demonstrate the concept.)  All possible senses and learning processes are involved.[ii]

Helping students with different learning styles

The advantages of such learning are not restricted to a deep experience for some individual students, they also extend the breadth of students who can be reached.

Those of you who have read my articles or heard me speak before, know how concerned I am about the students who do not cope with normal ‘blackboard’ (actually whiteboard) learning.  Tactile learners are scarcely catered for in the modern classroom.  Nor is enough distinction made between those who prefer aural learning and those who cope better with visual learning.  Thus even the best-structured lesson will often not reach several of the students.

Well designed multi-sensory lessons will reach all students.

The best of these are those I mention above, use video clips to focus the discussion and activity.  However any combination of audio-visual interaction will work.

At the HTAV conference two years ago I related the story of one of our Ancient history presentations to the ‘difficult’ Year 7 class at a particular school.  It was an all boy class, at a co-ed school.  Two of the students needed special assistance and attended with aides.  Most of the other ‘difficult’ boys seem to have been assigned to the class presumably to benefit from the extra resources available in that group.  Three separate teachers approached the presenter (who just happened to be my wife Michelle Spencer – herself well known for expertise in early child education), and reassured her that if she could get the boys to sit without throwing the furniture, the session would be considered a success.

Michelle looked at her half dozen colour overheads, bag of wool fleece, six drop spindles, and two weaving frames.  She uttered a silent prayer.

It should surprise no one to learn that these boys were tactile learners.  Put new and interesting things in their hands to do, and you had their full attention.  Reinforce this with simple colourful images and concepts (video may well have been TOO STIMULATING!!! – emphasis added), and they loved the class: and probably got excellent value from the discussion.

Flexible teaching

The above is obviously a special case study, and Michelle’s solution will not work for all teachers.  Michelle was experienced enough to assess the group and adapt the flow of her lesson to the strengths and weaknesses of the students.  It probably helps that she lectures internationally on child-centred learning for 2 – 5 year olds, with particular emphasis on how teachers can recognise the needs behind the behaviour.  She is aware that unusual behaviour may be a reflection on unusual learning, rather than an indictment of her ability to control classes.  Follow the child is the key to her background.

Unfortunately, too much focus (from the untrained observer of classes) seems directed to whether the teacher appears ‘in control’.  The best of these sessions can, and possibly should, be raucous and enthusiastic.

One of the strengths of this sort of multi –sensory and interactive presentations is that it can become lively and interactive to the point of students starting discussions and arguments among themselves.  We believe that this is a good thing; ifthe presenter or teacher has the confidence to direct it, and the experience to know that they can call they class back into focus at any time. 

However many less experienced teachers lack such confidence, and tend to avoid such scenarios.  They are missing the joy of a self-motivated group experimenting with their own discoveries.  I believe, this is usually because they are afraid of how the uninformed may judge their classrooms.

Most teachers will need practice to be comfortable with this style of presentation.  Some will never be happy with it.[iii] We have our presenters practice scripts at home, and then in front of small and helpful groups; before exposing them to regular classrooms. We also try and get them started with ‘easy’ schools, where we know the students will be co-operative, before moving to ‘more challenging’ environments.

But don’t get the wrong impression.  Once a teacher or presenter becomes good at this stuff, they can take on any class!

This teaching works – for any school

The techniques we are discussing will work for almost all students, and should be attempted by all teachers.  Use of multi sensory learning will get attention from those you thought you could not reach.  It will get interaction in the most difficult classes.  It will focus the learning to a few critical points that all can master (while leaving plenty of speculation room for those who need more stimulation).  It will lead to a higher level of retention by the students – particularly those who usually have problems.  As a by-product, the teacher who can do it successfully will get a reputation as one whose classes are interesting and fun.

Most importantly this sort of teaching will help any and all students.

The fascinating thing from our perspective at Medieval Education, is which schools embrace our incursion programs.  We do hundreds of schools per year.  The fifty‑six we did last term were evenly divided between Private schools and Government schools.  Where they were not evenly divided, was in their placing on ‘league’ tables.[iv]

You may not be surprised that we visit many of the top Private and Catholic schools in Victoria:  they have the money, and value the addition that incursions make to their programs.  We also do many of the smaller or struggling private and Catholic schools: they aim to provide exceptional value to parents, and so make sincere efforts to add to their students’ learning experience.  Yet many of the ‘middle rank’ of Private and Catholic schools seem disinterested in such additions.[v]

This is even more evident when we look at Government schools.  Many of the biggest and best – the ones who have to check if potential students are really in their zone – have our programs (and others like us), for multiple days per year.  Hardly surprising.

But we are also doing many of the government schools that have a reputation for being ‘difficult’.  Those with integration issues.  Those which try to keep their class sizes below twenty.  Those which regularly confiscate weapons.[vi] Those which, in many cases, have undeservedly poor reputations.

We can work with such students.  We want to work with such students.  We like to work with such students.  We get a real buzz out of interacting with them, involving them, and often getting through to them.  We cannot make any guarantees about the results, but our top presenters actually request these schools over the ‘easy’ ones.  They find them more challenging, more enjoyable, and more satisfying.

Perhaps that is why we find it so sad that the single group we cater very little for, is the ‘middle ranked’ Government (or Private, or Catholic) schools.  These are schools that can probably afford, but haven’t really got the interest.  Schools where parents could pay, but who can’t be bothered.  Mid ranked schools which, to our very biased perspective, seem to believe that value-added education is of little value.

My concern is that such schools not only ignore outside resources, but probably also have a low opinion of their own teachers who experiment with such approaches inside the school.  Is there a culture that disapproves of multi sensory learning?  Does the hierarchy fail to recognise that video, and other resources, can be used to learn, not just to keep students quiet? 

Price issues we can understand.  Not making the best use of your own keen teachers, and not encouraging them experiment with appropriate and guided use of video and other multi-sensory learning, is more worrying.

The essence of multi - sensory

Good teachers know that the same principles apply for teaching any group.  The buttons to push in every session designed around multi-sensory learning are:  multi-media, multi-sensory, interactive, and enjoyable.

Video/DVD footage is not vital.  It is exceptionally effective – when used correctly – but it can be replaced with other imagery.  Use overheads.  Use props.  Use whiteboards.  Whatever you use, as long as it is incorporated into a pattern of learning that includes visual, auditory, tactile, emotional response, gross and or fine motor co-ordination, vestibular processing, and possibly smell:  you will get good results.

Do not try to make every class the same.  Impact and effectiveness is quickly lost.  In a full day incursion program at a school, say six periods, we can have no more than two based around video (one of those will have role play follow up, and the other gross motor/vestibular ie juggling); another two may make use of combinations of props and overheads; and the other two will have to be active and moving sessions – preferably outside and with everyone involved.  The rotation has to be something like: outside active, inside passive, inside active, repeat.  If we tried to do six sessions based around video, we would not get very far at all.

So video clips must remain an irregular addition, for impact.  Not a weekly or (horror) daily ritual which quickly lose their meaning.

Multi-sensory learning can be fun, for teacher and student alike.  Clever, well-directed audio-visual material such as video and DVD clips can be brilliantly effective.  If you practice with it, it will improve your effectiveness in the classroom.  If you enjoy it, it can alter your relationship with the students.  If you excel at it, it can alter both the internal dynamics, and the external perceptions of your entire school.

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Nigel Davies (B.A., M.A. (Melb.), G.C.Bus.Ad. R.M.I.T.), used to work in Arts and Education faculties, and is now a private consultant on multi-sensory learning.  One of the programs he and his partners offer (see profiles at www.medieval.com.au), is a school incursion company called Medieval Education.