Visual vs Audial vs Textual Learning
We humans have managed to achieve great success in creating technologies.
These successes have almost always had some practical reasons behind them, therefore they have been openly integrated into all parts of our lives. Almost every human activity today depends on one form of technology or the other. The process of learning is no exception.
Great changes have been seen in the processes of learning. From primitive systems of communal-location based learning to introspective learning via printed materials such as books, to the development of modern classrooms with their tools to audiobooks, films, and the recent explosion of ebooks and visual learning — the changes have been fascinating. But what has been more fascinating is that every change has brought more and more opportunities for concise, systematic and even personalized learning.
All this makes one wonder — What might man achieve in learning as years pass by! One intriguing piece of imagination might be the one presented by Issac Asmiov in his story Profession.
However, what I want to do in this writing is very briefly express my experiences with three types of learning we have today — Visual, Audial and Textual. I have referenced no scientific material nor have I taken hints from any other kind of resource. I just want to share my experiences with all three of them as they stand.
Visual Learning — Any learning that fundamentally depends on visualizations (not on paper-texts) to convey or explain the material can be called visual learning.
Gestures and speeches of the teachers, drawings, shapes, figures, animations, pictograms, graphs, etc. can be called the tools of visual learning. The difference between this type of learning and textual learning (which we will come to later) is that in this method, eyes are the most active organ of learning in that they do more than see the text and learn more than by merely acting as a gateway.
I have experienced visual learning firstly through my presence in this world and observations of its activities, and then through classrooms, photographs, drawings, illustrations, paintings, films and various forms of videos.
It’s purest form exists without either audio or text. Such scenes, drawings, paintings, sculptures, symbols, photographs and videos have independently provided me with pure visual learning — with a little desire to learn of course. But they are rare. They always come in combination with either audio or text. Our natural observations too don’t get that privilege unless we decide to deafen ourselves.
I found Visual Learning to be most effective in scenarios where we are to learn by directly observing descriptive actions of physical things and finding patterns in them. In other words, if we are to learn the description of something physical then visual medium is the epitome. The reasons are self-explanatory. This is where, see it for yourself applies.
One may learn as much as one likes about the might of tigers through words or sounds but nothing beats that knowledge than through a sight of a tiger, either through the naked eyes or through some form of medium. Seeing changes the whole game. Similarly, one may teach about the material mega structures of China through economic-mathematical figures, literatures, but the most effective measure will always be to show the sights.
I have had no better experience of visual learning than from the legendary film — Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance. Accompanied by a minimalist soundtrack, it perfectly manages to teach a lot about life, humans, technologies without a word. That film made me realize how important it is to visual learn/teach. Irrespective of what the filmmaker might have wanted to show, we can recognize different patterns each time we watch it. This is because the filmmaker has allowed the camera to do the talking.
Visual learning then is effective when we are to learn the description of something or infer changes and patterns. Learning about physical patterns and phenomena is where visuals are effective.
Educational lectures and presentations are also a form of visual learning. Although heavily supported by speech, such lectures are predominantly visual in nature. Gestures of the lecturer, illustrations provided in the board or such all play an essential role. I consider today’s ever advancing presentation technologies and internet teaching videos the advanced versions of lectures.
Lectures are dependent on the lecturer. Most effective lectures or presentations are the ones where the lecturers with their ability provide and improvise according to the current matter and requirement at hand. The things they write, illustrate and the gestures they make are very important.
Such lectures are used to convey conceptual information along with descriptive ones. But since it depends on speeches too, and speeches are a floating, fleeting phenomenon, and we do not have much control over the texts. complex concepts cannot be effectively and comprehensively conveyed through them. This is where lectures have to aim to provide intuitive basic understanding until further mastering by the learners. Apt gestures, tones and even effective visual tools such as animations must be used for fulfilling the purpose.
I found animations to be the best and greatest tool for visual learning if properly used. It is largely due to the fact that they are completely human controlled and can be moulded and shaped in a manner that can convey any type of complexities.
Audial Learning — Audial Learnings can be categorized into two forms of audio: sounds and speech.
With this type of learning, where audio is dominant, it is clear from the outset that the purpose is to trigger imagination and is most suitable in things we have to learn by imagining.
Music is the best example of audial learning tool as we comprehend and understand our complex feelings and even thoughts through them. While music is mostly used as an entertainment providing medium, each time we are experiencing some sort of manufactured and controlled sounds, we are learning about our own feelings and emotions.
As we have said earlier, visual descriptions are best with visuals. Sounds and isolated speeches come in to play when we are to describe and understand feelings, emotions, thoughts, concepts, ideas, events, theories and contexts — those things that cannot be seen with the eyes. Although visual tools are used to describe them, they are not inherently physical existences and are created by human thoughts and imaginations, they may be best left to imagination. Animations can be one exception.
Hence, sounds and speech become mandatory in learning such things. You can teach about physical-earth by pure visual sight of earth taken from the satellite, but won’t be able to do the same without the aid of words if you are to teach about the political-earth.
Speech — We don’t have control over the words which are constantly flowing. Even if we record them, we don’t have the same amount of intimate-control over them as we have with static texts. But it has to be said that stories (narratives) can be effectively conveyed through speeches since they do not require us to grasp and control each sentence and function more holistically.
What I found then was — to intake a narrative or grasp the general concept, speeches are effective. They are more effective for conceptual grasping than visual tools and less than textual ones. They are also effective for light and humorous conversations.
Textual Learning —
If anything can be accredited to have single handedly advanced and enhanced humanities intellectual capacity which allowed us to raise ourselves from intuitive and impulsive beings towards rational, ‘planned’ ones, it has to be the use of written texts.
Evolution from symbolic, pictorial representations to concrete textual, alphabetical writings allowed the ancients to interpret the workings of the world and people better. It opened doors to categorize things by assigning such an improvisable tool as words to them (generalization) which gradually gave birth to the ability to analyse them. Written text provided greater grasp-potential and control over the subject at hand for the writer and reader.
Written texts opened doors to conceive, analyze, record and disseminate complex concepts and ideas: technological, political, economic, philosophical, etc. which may have been impossible with the limited ability of pictorial representations and speeches. It is all due to its static nature. The text doesn’t fly, float or run away. It stays — in our grasp, for us to grasp!
We all may have noticed how much control written words give us over the subject we are treating in contrast to spoken words that exist in floating, dynamic form. Underlining, noting or repeating through recurrent reading helps us grasp the complex concepts better and in a more effective manner.
Along with reading, writing of the texts also provides the writer with more space, time and opportunities to test and retest the ideas provided. It takes one away from the domain of all-is-understood thoughts towards ‘what about this?’ reality. Writing as such is an invaluable tool of learning.
Conclusion
I have very roughly, vaguely and briefly tried to provide my experiences with three mediums of learning — Visual, Audial and Textual.
I have found visual tools to be effective in learning about physical objects and phenomenon: Their morphology and dynamic descriptions. For more complex matters, visual tools must be used for general intuition. In regards to lectures/presentations in the form of classrooms or videos, the lecturer is very crucial. Timing and improvisation is the key. Photography is also a very powerful tool and so are films. But, animations hold the most opportunities and capabilities.
I divided audial learning into sounds and speeches. Music, I believe is the most effective tool for learning about feelings and subtle thoughts. Although used for entertainment, everytime we create or listen to music, we are already learning about our own feelings. In regards to speeched Audial learning, I find it to be best for narratives/story-telling. Since, words are what allowed us to enter into the domains of abstract and conceptual thinking, speech can provide the lessons well. However, due to its fleeting nature, it can only be effective as a general teaching tool before the learner ventures further, but it is more effective than visual tools for that end.
Textual tools are what actually provided human beings the wings to fly into the furthest and deepest domains of intellectual thinking. Their static nature makes them very effective to grasp and provides the reader most control over the ideas and concepts presented. If I am to seriously understand some seriously difficult concept or idea,I go for the written form.
None of these tools exist in isolation though. They have been, are being and will be integrated to provide the best learning experience. It is not about preference of one over another, it’s about how effective they are for learning. With the exponential nature of technological growth we have going around, we are sure to see new forms of learning emerging.
