Audio-visual Aids- Meaning,AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS ,advantages,Problems

Meaning of Audio-visual Aids

 Audio-visual aids are used to enhance the presentation. They can be handouts, photos, whiteboard, flip chart, OHT, power point-slide show, microphone, music. Be sure to focus your preparation on the speech more than the audio-visual aids.
Because we live in a time when communication is visual and verbal, visual aids that rein force your meaning can enhance any oral presentation. Research has shown that oral presentation that use visuals are more persuasive, more interesting, more credible, and more professional-i.e., more effective than presentations without such aids. Particularly if your presentation is long-20 minutes or more-visual aids can help your audience follow your ideas easily and with fewer lapses in attention.

They help your audience understand your ideas. You can use visual aids to announce each main point as you begin discussion of that point. You can also use visual aids to accentuate and illuminate important ideas. However, the message that the visual carries should be immediately apparent. If audience members have to study the visual to interpret its meaning, they will not be listening to you. They help the audience follow your argument, your "train" of thought. In both oral and written presentations, readers/listeners must perceive the pattern of organization to comprehend effectively. Even if you don't use formal visual aids, you may want to write the outline for the main body of your presentation on a board or use a transparency to let your audience see your plan and trace your movement from one section of your presentation to another.. Powerpoint is an effective tool for developing and presenting outlines to aid listeners. They make your presentation more memorable and thus increase the chances that what you said will be remembered.

SOME IMPORTANT AUDIO-VISUAL AIDS 

1. Overhead Transparencies 

Transparencies are easy to make. Take whatever you want to a photocopy center and they copy the information onto a transparency. Since they are so easy to make, revisions are relatively simple. The cost is minimal which helps presenters, and the turn around time on producing is relatively short.

The transparencies are very portable. They take up little space, even when cardboard frames are used to hold each. Presenters can write on the transparencies. This aids emphasis  of information, adding information, and with interaction with the audience by creating new transparencies.

Flexibility is easy since you can shuffle the transparencies and skip from one to another in any order.

The presenter can glance at the next transparency to see what is next, helping the flow of the presentation.

Overhead transparencies can be informal or professional. Presenters must be careful. The ease of producing overhead transparencies often leads presenters into the trap of convenience The overhead projector can also be a trap. Bulbs burn out, no spare is available. Often the projector does not focus, parts are blurred, or it is not bright enough to project a visible image unless the room is completely dark. 

As with any electronic equipment, the cords may be hazardous. Professionalism is destroyed when the presenter trips on the cord or pulls the equipment off the table tripping on the cords. This technology has become obsolete with the coming of high quality LCD Projectors.

2. Slides

Slides can look very professional. They also allow color photographs that may be very helpful in your presentation. The cost is relatively low, and you can get them produced (developed) in a short time (one hour photo shops or one or two day turn-around time).

For large audiences, projected slides are beneficial. Slides are best used when a standard presentation is needed such as sales presentations or information that does not change often. 

Once the presentation is developed, the slides remain in the proper sequence in the tray and there is little preparation when the same standard presentation is used again.

Problems with slides include the same difficulties with any electronic equipment: bulbs burning out, need for extension cords, focusing problems, and poor or no screen. Also with slide projectors, the projector may jam or not advance the next slide. 

Often, 35mm slides require professional help to make. That makes them expensive, and hard to revise. Flexibility is limited, since it is very difficult to rearrange the slides during a presentation.

Lighting during the presentation must be low to help the audience see the slides easily. This also tends to help your audience sleep. This technology is not being used much after the ease of technology offered by L.C.D. Projectors.

3. Flip charts

Flip charts, large tablets of paper on an easel, are useful for on-the-spot creation of visuals. This is quite helpful in interacting with your audience, clarifying information in more detail, or recording ideas generated during meetings.

Flip charts are cheap, easy to make in advance and easy to revise. Various colors can be used, aiding interest and visual impact.

If you are working with a large audience, however, flip charts are not good. Their size makes them less portable than slides or overhead transparencies. The paper is not sturdy. If you plan to reuse these visuals, you may have to transfer the information to another medium remake the flip chart sheets each time.

Presenters often must provide their own easel, since they are not always available in meeting rooms. Easels are easy to bump into, trip over or knock over, again destroying the professional image you need (placement, however, can be controlled). 

Flip charts are more informal than other visuals because they are usually hand written. If your handwriting is not neat and legible, get someone else to develop the flip charts (or practice and take your time). Writing during a presentation can be a pitfall. When presenters are trying to record information while keeping the flow and purpose of the presentation in mind can cause misspellings and incomplete thoughts. Writing while talking interrupts the flow of the speech. You can lose audience interest if you have many or extended pauses during your presentation.

There is equipment that can produce flip charts from computer generated images such as charts, graphs, or spreadsheets. Many copy centers have these capabilities as well. This may be relatively expensive, but does produce professional looking flip charts that could be reused.

4. Chalk Boards & White Boards 

 In classrooms, chalk boards are readily available; in conference rooms, white boards are more likely available. These offer many of the same advantages and disadvantages as flip charts. In addition, chalk dust is messy and can eliminate professionalism in the look of the presenter. Markers for white boards must be the erasable type. It would be advisable to provide your own chalk and markers-to make sure they are available and they are the correct type.

5. Posters & Pictures 

Posters and pictures can be used to show professionally developed photographs and other information. They must be backed by a sturdy cardboard to keep them from rolling or folding over during your presentation. Their size may limit their portability, but they are lightweight. Finding the right one to fit your presentation's needs could be difficult.

Using an easel is strongly encouraged; holding a poster while you speak is not easy and may cover your face; and having someone else hold it up is almost always much less than unprofessional (unless you have a professional model who is trained in such activities).

6. Objects & Models 

Objects and models of objects can be valuable additions to your presentation. When the object itself is too large or too small, a model of the object is an important substitute. Three dimensional items give the audience an easier opportunity to grasp exactly what you are talking about. They see the dimensions and other aspects firsthand instead of in their imagination. 

7. Handouts 

Handouts are sometimes used as visual aids. This is a mistake. Avoid handouts during your presentation if at all possible. You, the presenter, are the most important thing to focus on, and handouts are distractions from you. People look at it, flip through it, waiting for their copy, hand a friend a copy, point out some item to their neighbor, doodle on it, fold it, and wonder why it is taking you so long to cover so little information. They may also wonder why they have to sit and listen to you right now when they can take this information home and read it later. At times, handouts must be used, but it is advisable to keep it limited to just a framework of the presentation or to give some graphs or diagrams which are to be discussed. 

8. Computer Presentations

Computer presentations are shown on a large computer screen or monitor or projected onto a screen from a computer (often with the use of an overhead projector). They are generated by a wide variety of presentation software programs (PowerPoint, Persuasion and others).

Computer presentations have the potential for a very professional look. They include color, you can use graphics as well as text, it can be animated, and they can be interactive. The presenter can show only the information needed (one item of a bullet list at a time before the next). Most also allow the flexibility to go to any screen at any time, unlike the limited flexibility of 35 mm slides.

Once the presentation is designed and developed, revisions are simple. Standard formats can remain the same while changes in the details or particular information can be changed for various audiences as necessary.

Revisions can also be a part of the presentation itself. The presenter can demonstrate "what if situations by changing data and seeing the results "immediately" on the screen. Presenters can create a new slide during the presentation like using a flip chart, chalkboard or white board, but without the problem of sloppy writing (just the possibility of typos).

Difficulties with computer presentations are more than other technology when you consider the many more ways computers can go wrong (the more advanced the technology, the more potential for error). Even after you have confirmed that your computer operates properly, there are still drawbacks to consider.

The availability of equipment to show or project computer images is limited, due to its expense. It takes more time to set up the computer, the screen, the overhead projector with the LCD display unit or the image projector. It also requires more wires - more to trip over or not reach where they should. This additional time is considerable if you have to do it all yourself. Make sure you not only know your presentation program, but also how to deal with the other equipment (set up, trouble shooting, focusing). With the increased popularity and lower expense of this technology, many businesses have their conference rooms set up permanently for this type of visual aid. This lessens the hassle and potential for errors.

Computer projected images usually need a more intense light that normal overhead project as the one available may not be bright enough for your needs. The lighting in the room should be low, sometimes lower than for traditional overhead transparencies. The darkness in the audience could be a problem.

If you are using a different computer or projector during your presentation than the one used develop the presentation, test it out before the audience arrives. Colors, font size, spacing,alignment, additional graphics and clip art and other items may be "translated" differently or for some reason not shown the way you originally planned. This destroys what could be an impressive professional presentation. ("If he can't understand how to use the technology correctly, why be using it in this presentation? And why should we listen to anything else he says?")

9. Video tapes or Film clips

Video tapes or Film clips can be beneficial because they are usually produced professionally and add a high quality look to a presentation. They are often good examples of activities, actions, practices or places that cannot be paralleled by still pictures or descriptions.

Their drawbacks are many. Expense and time is very great if you plan to produce them yourself. Depending upon the specific use, some fee may be required to use the film or video. More often than not, the weakness in using video or film is their overuse. Presenters depend upon e video to convey what they want, then do little more than ask. "Any questions?" Even far from that extreme is the perception of audiences. If the video or film continues for any length of time, they begin to wonder, "Why do we have a presenter at all?" They can take the tape home and new it at their own leisure (just like a handout that is too detailed); and "Why have a presenter ad this meeting if all the information is already on this video?"

Main advantages of Audio-Visual Aids

1. Best Motivators- They are the best motivators. Students work with more interest and real. They are more attentive.

2. Fundamental to Verbal Instructions- They help to reduce verbalism which is a major weakness of our schools. They convey the same meaning as words mean. They give clear concepts and thus help to bring accuracy in learning. 

3. Clear Images- Clear images are formed when we see, hear, touch, taste and smell as experiences are direct, concrete and more or less permanent. Learning through the senses becomes the most natural and consequently the easiest.

4. Vicarious Experience- Everyone agrees to the fact that the first hand experience is the best type of educative experience but such an experience cannot always be provided to the Pupils and so in some situations certain substitutes have to be provided. For this we find a large number of inaccessible objects and phenomenon. For example all the students in India cannot possibly be shown Taj Mahal etc. In all such cases audio-visual aids provide us the best substitutes. 

5. Variety- Audio-Visual aids provide variety and provide different tools in the hands of the teacher.

6. Freedom- The use of audio-visual aids provide various occasions for the pupil to move about, talk, laugh and comment upon. Under such an atmosphere the students work because they want to work and not because the teacher wants them to work. 

7. Opportunities to Handle and Manipulate- The use of audio-visual aids provides immense opportunities to the pupils to see, handle and manipulate things.

Problems in the Use of Teaching Aids

1. Apathy of the Teacher- It has not yet been possible to convince the teacher that teaching with words alone is quite tedious, wasteful and ineffective.

2. Indifference of Students- The judicious use of teaching aids arouses interest but when used without a definite purpose they lose their significance and purpose.

3. Ineffectiveness of the Aids : Because of lack of proper planning and lethargy of teacher as also without proper preparation, correct presentation, appropriate application and essential follow up work, the aids have not proved their usefulness. A film like a good lesson has various steps-preparation, presentation, application and discussion.

4. Financial Hurdles- The Boards of audio-visual aids have been set up by central and state governments for chalking out interesting programmes for the popularization of teaching aids but the lack of finances is not enabling them to do their best. 

5. Absence of Electricity- Most of the projectors cannot work without electric current and so the non-availability of electricity creates a hurdle in the proper use of audio-visual aids. 

6. Lack of Facilities for Training-More and more training colleges or specialized agencies should be opened to train teachers and workers in the use of audio-visual aids.

7. Lack of Co-ordination between Center and States- Good film libraries, museums of audio-visual education, fixed and mobile exhibitions and educational 'melas' should be organised both by center and states.

8. Language Problems- Most of the education films available are in English and we need such films in Hindi and other Indian Languages. 

9. Not catering to the Local Needs- Most of the audio-visual aids being produced do not cater to the local needs and not in accordance with the social, psychological and pedagogical factors.

10. Improper Selection of Films- Films are not selected in accordance with the class room needs. Inspite of all these problems the future of such aids can be bright if there is proper planning of the on the part of the government and co-ordination between producers, teachers and students. Useful and effective aids can be produced after getting the reaction of the audience and doing research work in the field.