Preparing teachers to use new media visual communications in education

Abstract

In recent years new media visual communications have become predominant in the built environment of today's children. This study sought to examine the pedagogical potential of visual communications and to find out how the traditional technology in children's training and education contradict the influence of new media technologies on the educational process. The opinions and attitudes of school teachers (N=150) towards the problem as well as documents and teaching materials were analyzed. The research demanded use of direct and indirect observations, questionnaires, self-analysis, and observation of the results of activity. A monitoring protocol, profiles, and materials for meaningful evaluation of products for teaching were developed. The obtained results showed that there is a narrowness of understanding of visual communications by teachers; uniformity in visual presentation of educational materials; lack of a system in multimedia application; and repetition in the creation and use of visual content. The results suggest that it is necessary to change not only the content and methods of training prospective teachers, but also their thinking.