The Truth About Visual Learning

To quantify the value of visual learning in our schools, we can cite the following findings:

1) Learning occurs 38-70% faster than with traditional (stand-up and lecture) instruction.
2) Course content is mastered 60% faster than with traditional instruction.
3) Studies show that participants increase understanding by more than 50%, resulting in greater learning gains than with traditional instruction.
4) Participants also demonstrate 25-50% higher content retention and 50-60% greater consistency in content understanding than with classroom instruction.

Moreover, visual-based media 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. The payback to the local community is inestimable, both in economic and in civic terms. And, where applicable, the renewed involvement of parents with their children’s education will continue to pay dividends for decades to come.

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. At the very least, a lack of familiarity with PC skills will leave the majority of Americans ill-prepared to maximize their own economic opportunities throughout their lifetimes. 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 more than 30 million working adults are functionally illiterate – that is, they cannot read above a third or fourth grade level.

Visual learning equips individuals with marketable skills, which allows them to free themselves from public assistance rolls and gives under-employed adults the tools to gain promotions. When located in schools, visual learning centers are helping teachers and students acquire new computer application skills and are enabling local businesses to retain a more knowledgeable workforce. With public assistance programs or prison populations, marketable skills are acquired – making it more likely that these individuals can become more self-sustaining.

For most individuals today – adult workers and students alike – knowledgeably designed media with full motion video and optional audio is the best way to go.

— Bill Walton, Founder of ITC Learning
bwalton@itclearning.com

“AMERICA WILL CONTINUE TO BE BUILT BY THE HANDS OF ITS MEN AND WOMEN”