Thriving in Academe

Visuals Across the Disciplines

• The availability and accessibility of visual resources has increased tremendously in recent years, and these images can take our students to places they have never been. For example, Boyd Seevers, assistant professor of Bible at Northwestern College, comments that he has "always assumed that most students find images helpful, at least to some degree. I find it particularly helpful when discussing things that are far removed from our present world, such as most things from the Bible. Things like the Tabernacle are known, but most people don't have a good concept of what it was like. Pictures really help."
• Images can take us back in time, too. In a literature class, consider the location and time period of the work. Can you go there? Can you obtain images of the people or the place? I attempted to read Chaucer's Canterbury Tales once and struggled through it—somewhat due to the archaic language, but mostly due to the lack of a sense of place. Obviously taking students to England is rarely an option, but photographs or CD-ROM material can provide rich visual stimulation.
• Beware of PowerPoint! In an introductory psychology class of more than 300 students, the national award-winning instructor uses PowerPoint, but he provides constant variety in the stimuli presented to the students by including short video tapes and by interrupting the PowerPoint presentation for brief discussion and short classroom assessment techniques. A full class period of PowerPoint easily becomes stultifying.

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