Presentation skills – How to make use of videos
When preparing a lesson online or offline you need to identify the visual resources that best support your story.
If you are a storyteller you might get the attention of the students only with your imagination, tone and body language, and you will be able to create images in their mind.
But you need to also use visuals: a presentation, charts, graphs or videos in your lesson in order to:
- highlight the concepts
- clarify notions
- feed the visual memory of the students
- keep students focused
However, visuals need to be used carefully and adequately. Here are are some tips you might find useful in selecting the visuals and preparing online presentations:
Online teaching needs visual support more than face to face teaching. Here are some of the many reasons.
According to a Harvard study (5), 82% of students are visual learners.
Your Audience are Visual Learners
More than that, people remember 80% of what they see, compared to 20% of what they read and only 10% of what they hear. Also, a person processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text.
Also, the percentage of information retained highly increases if you show AND tell something at the same time. (6)
Visuals are not a distraction, on the contrary - they are a powerful support for learning. A dynamic, well-done, presentation can drive away the boredom and frustration of your students.
So… why would we use visuals? Because …
✅ They add clarity
✅ They grab attention of students
✅ You can highlight the most important contents
✅ They look nice
✅You use students’ sight, not only their listening skills
✅You can use memorable photos (which can appeal to emotion) and visual tricks
✅They can guide attention through a good structure, graph, scheme
A few tips and tricks while you build your presentation are (7) :
- Simplify contents - highlight important parts and repeat relevant info;
- Use novelty and surprise elements - use new elements, engage them into guessing what you mean by an image you used…
- Be human and connect with students - positively use students’ emotions so that they relate to the important parts of the contents;
- Use audio and dynamic parts as well - why not, you can insert any elements that make the presentation dynamic (but not too many, because the focus on learning will be lost)
- First interest, then attention - intrinsic motivation of students and their interest in any part of the presentation will bring their attention to what you are teaching them.
- Make room for students’ involvement, from time to time - do not talk for minutes without giving them the chance to get involved.
5 - Quoted in Kaagapay Teacher Support Group’s ”Effective presentations for teachers”, 2022 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywngcrB5B84
6 - Kaagapay Teacher Support Group, ”Effective presentations for teachers”, 2022 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywngcrB5B84
7 - From “Delivering engaging virtual workshops through leveraging Presence and Visuals” - by Trainers’ Toolbox