 In the beginning, there was a student and an instructor. An instructor was the medium of instruction. Instructors soon found a need for other instructional media, which continued to become more complicated and sophisticated as technology advances. Today, there's a confusing array of instructional media to choose from. This presents a problem for anyone designing instruction, how to decide which medium or combination of media to use. In today's Air Force, with many students, few instructors, little time, and much to be learned, we must allow instructors to do what they can do best, direct and manage the learning environment by counseling, evaluating, motivating, and challenging students. These human functions cannot be done as well in any other way. Sometimes other instructional activities, such as presenting, reviewing, and overviewing information, in generally be done better with higher fidelity, greater accuracy and consistency from lesson to lesson in other non-human or mechanical ways. Both the instructor and the tools of instruction are considered instructional media. In this presentation, we'll define the term instructional media, show you a cross-section of what's available for Air Force instruction today, then we'll get into the business of actually selecting appropriate instructional media by offering some guidelines. When we speak of media, we're referring to a variety of means of conveying information, concepts, and ideas. Instructional media are the means used to present information to the student. It may help you to think of instructional media in terms of delivery systems, a concept presented in a previous film in this series entitled Individualized Instruction. There are many types of delivery systems. In every facet of our complex world, we have delivery systems that assist us in doing our jobs, enjoying recreational activities, and in general, supporting our way of life. Our educational system likewise has delivery systems called media, which are means of delivering information to the minds of people so that they may develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes. For example, a diagram of an electrical circuit can deliver information about how the component parts of the circuit are related. Slides can deliver information on how to use a multimeter in checking the electrical properties of that circuit. And a breadboard trainer can deliver the experience needed to develop skill in identifying electrical troubles in the circuit. Instructional media, then, are the delivery systems that transmit to students what is to be learned. The transmitted information is picked up by our sensors hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. That is to say, we perceive through one or more of these senses. Research has shown that appropriately increasing the use of our senses results in better and faster learning with longer retention. You're already familiar with many instructional media, but let's survey some of these from the viewpoint of the kinds of information they can best present to the student. Perhaps the most commonly thought of instructional media are the visual media. For instance, the visual medium can be an instructor giving a live demonstration of a procedure or skill while another instructor describes the activity. A book, a tech order, or any form of the print media, including the most traditional course materials, are also examples of visual media. And of course, instructors also use the chalkboard or the flip chart. There's a variety of projectors for visual media, including overhead projectors. This is an overhead projector commonly referred to as the opaque, which can project an actual page from almost any reference. Since no reproduction is involved, the color on the screen is the same as the page. Now this overhead projects transparencies which can be made quite easily with an office copier. Can add color to the transparency through other processes, but that will take a little while longer. Or you can write or draw directly on the transparency. Through the use of overlays you can proceed from the simple to the complex. This transparency projector can be used without darkening the room and without having to turn your back to the class. Another visual training medium is the familiar slide projector. 35 millimeter slides are compact, easy to store and carry, and present a very appealing visual aid. And its remote control feature allows the instructor freedom of movement. Here we see a panel type training visual, which is useful for showing the interrelationship of parts. Then of course we have the familiar motion picture and videotape media. As with the visual, the instructor can be the audio medium. And when it's not practical to use the live instructor as the audio medium, you may want to package the sound. In an audio tape player, either real to real or cassette, such as the one to which you are now listening. Or you might want to use a record. When it's necessary that audio stimuli have direction, stereo records or stereo audio tape recordings can be used. Highly effective instructional media can be produced by combining audio and visual stimuli, as with the audio tape with workbook, audio tape with film strip, audio tape with slides, sound on slide, videotape, the sound motion pictures, either eight millimeter or 16 millimeter. These media can be used for a variety of training purposes, such as to introduce a topic or to provide remedial or supplemental instruction. In addition, studies have shown that tape slide combinations, film strips, movies and videotapes can sometimes be substituted for one another without loss of effectiveness. So analyze your requirements carefully, making cost effective trade-offs where possible without jeopardizing the achievement of your learning objectives. Now let's look at some more sophisticated media that can provide an actual job task environment or a realistic simulation of that environment. Such media include a trainer, a simulator, or group exercises such as gaming or role-playing, especially where the tasks involve decision-making and planning. Another important function that can be served by a variety of instructional media is providing feedback. That is telling the student how well he is performing. Examples include instructor feedback, peer feedback, and feedback from responder devices, such as in a program text, a tape slide package, or a computer-assisted instruction. Before we move on, let's make a point about the concept of simulation and its relationship to instructional media. An elaborate simulator such as we saw earlier is usually what we think of when discussing simulation, but in reality all media represent one level of simulation or another. The level of simulation usually increases with the complexity of the media, as in this progression from print media, to trainer, to simulator. When you select media, you must decide how accurately and realistically the things you're teaching must be simulated. Your problem as an instructor or curriculum planner is to decide what medium or combination of media will best deliver the information your students need. Let's examine some ideas that can help you make such decisions. And perhaps the best advice we can give on media selection is to use a systematic approach. Analyze the particular requirements of your teaching learning situations, such as your teaching objectives, instructional strategies, resources and the nature and size of your student population. Refer to available references such as chapter five of AFM 50-2, Instructional System Development, volume four of AFP 50-58, Handbook for Designers of Instructional Systems and any of a variety of media selection flow charts. These flow charts are designed to take you step by step through the selection process by setting up a series of decision points to which you respond in terms of your particular instructional requirements. For a brief example of how a particular media selection problem might be analyzed, let's listen in as a couple of curriculum developers determine what media will be needed to revise a segment of instruction on the hypothetical T-17 aircraft. They're applying some guidelines extracted from references, such as those mentioned earlier. Okay, Steve, what's our main objective? Coming right up, given a T-17 aircraft with operating J-91-T3 engines, TO, and the associated flight manual checklist, follow prescribed procedures to start both engines without error or instructor assistance. Okay, now, we need to analyze that objective. First of all, for the information and the behavior involved. Well, the information we're going to provide will be specific procedures for starting the engine in the form of a checklist. Now, the main skill or behavior here is following the checklist exactly. The primary sense mode will be sight since the student must respond to appropriate visual cues on the checklist. Sound and touch will also be involved during the actual start. Now, what about motion? You know, this start procedure isn't really that complex since it involves only limited coordination skills. I don't think we need a motion medium, you know, this early in the training. We should be able to overview the entire procedure with just slides. Yes, but we will need color since some of the cockpit controls have color indicators. And of course, motion will be needed later to actually demonstrate the procedure. Okay, what instructional strategy should we use? Well, based on the task analysis done earlier, it was decided that this instruction should be part of a formal course. Now, since these students already have some cockpit experience, we'll have them study assigned portions of the TO. Then I think we should overview the basic process through a group lecture with visuals. Why then the students should be ready for a demonstration of the starting procedures in a trainer. And finally, each student will need to try his hand at following the TO procedures in the trainer. You know, for the group presentation, 35 millimeter slides would be easy to produce. They're inexpensive, they're readily replaceable and they could adequately illustrate all the controls. I think at this point in their training, it isn't necessary to have a more realistic simulation of the cockpit because it's a relatively uncomplicated task. Well, we'll have to take the students into the trainer when it comes time for the demonstration and student performance of the engine start. Anything less realistic would not give the proper cockpit environment they'll experience in the eventual engine start in the aircraft. Okay, now what trade-offs have we made so far? Well, the new trainers were anticipated and budgeted when course training requirements were determined and they're available now. By concentrating most of the student performance in the trainer before progressing to the actual aircraft, we expect to minimize cost and increase safety. In the early phases of instruction, we're avoiding the expense of a motion picture since color slides will have the realism needed for the skill. Then there's the point we discussed about the students. In the interest of time and the medium we're using, we've simplified this illustration and left out some details. But other considerations that might be required in an analysis such as this include a thorough study of the resources available and in some cases, whether an attitude change is critical. And of course, most teaching learning situations require the weaving together of several related objectives. But you get the idea that you can systematically analyze your instructional requirements to determine the media you need for a new or revised course. It's a step-by-step process that should lead you to an exact selection or at least two or three possible choices of instructional media from which final selection can be made on the basis of cost, time, flexibility, et cetera. You also decide whether you can use what's available or adapt what's used in other courses or perhaps you have a valid requirement for a new media. Print and graphic media, movies, television, television, audio tape slides, computers, the instructor. These are the basic instructional media. Use them judiciously, interacting when appropriate. They'll enable your students to learn in an effective, efficient manner. Analyze your requirements to see what instructional media you really need. Consider such things as your course objectives, instructional strategies, resources, and cost effectiveness. One final thought about cost effectiveness. We've talked about its importance in selecting media, but we don't want to scare you off. Maybe in determining the median needs for your course, you found they weren't available to you. Or maybe they should be. If procurement involves substantial cost, perhaps the cost could be justified over a long period of effective use. Don't write the media off because they aren't immediately available. Consider what could and should be and make your recommendations accordingly. Making the right media choices isn't easy and research has not yet provided us with all the answers. However, if you follow an approach such as the one presented earlier, you'll be far more likely to make cost effective media decisions. And this is a giant step toward effective instruction.