The main purpose of audiovisual
technology is to improve communications, improve the way you want to impart your
information and the way you deliver that information to your audience. This
technology can be particularly beneficial to the education sector. Audiovisual
technology doesn't have to be over the top expensive or flashy technology, which
you're never going to use. The technology you use to do this can vary from
projector equipment, interactive white boards, plasma screens, LCD screens
through to digital signage.
The primary benefits of AV technology is all down to good communication, AV is
there to support what you say, it doesn't distract from what you're saying, it's
just there to help you impart that information. The other element to think about
is productivity, effective communication means that everyone should be doing
what they need to do better, either in a shorter time or more accurately. Its
just trying to improve the whole communication process, improve the
productivity, and just to impart what you're trying to say, either on a one to
one basis or through a workshop, as accurately and clearly as possible so
everyone knows where you're coming from.
Universities have been investing in AV technology for a number of years. A
lecturer, lecturing to a room of about 150 students cant just be done from a lap
top, you need good quality audio visual equipment to enhance both the visual
impact, and also the audio as well. If it is made interactive, students are more
likely to take it on board and engage in the lesson that much more, so it's
really a case of using audiovisual to assist the lecturer and for the students
to enjoy it and learn more.
One of the key benefits of AV technology in primary and secondary schools would
be interactive white boards, over the last two to three years, the Government
has recognized that AV technology is raising the standard of the classroom in
terms of the equipment which in turn help the children learn more. The teacher
can then really demonstrate the curriculum with learning software and the
information they need to impart, the students can get involved so much so, that
they can actually go up to the board and put the answers up and it's all done
electronically which is beneficial as the children of today are into electronics
so they embrace that technology.
We've all seen the TV show, 'who wants to be a millionaire'; this popular
interactive style voting system is now being integrated into the classroom. It's
all down to engaging the student, a question can be put on a board and the
pupils have a similar voting system, the pupil can even give information. It can
be used to assess how well the class is developing and understanding the
knowledge you're trying to impart.
If a teacher asks a question and a classroom full of goes up, the first person
the teacher asks may get the question right but that doesn't mean that all the
other hands that went up had the same answer. This can make it very difficult
for the person teaching to asses who are moving in the right direction and who
aren't, this way they can actually understand which individuals aren't keeping
up, but more importantly, it can help them decide whether they should move onto
the next section, if you ask a question and you can see that only 20% got it
right you would know you shouldn't really move on but if 90% got it right, you
know it would be ok to move on. This means you get real time up to date
information on what's going on in the classroom or lecturer theater all because
of the effective use of audio visual technology.