TOT 84: Visual Aids

Objective of using visual aids in mediation training program is to make the trainees concentrate and understand any point or concept at a glance which cannot be so easily done with oral or written communication. It helps trainees grasp the point very quickly and helps them in drawing inferences quickly without spending too much time on it. 

Ex: Trainer gives nine dots’ exercise. Asks the participants to join all the 9 dots using 4 straight lines, without lifting the hand. Trainees are given three minutes’ time.

After three minutes, the trainer displays the picture of how nine dots are connected, as per the instruction.

No further explanation is required.

If the picture needs any lengthy explanation, then it reflects that the choice of picture is incorrect.

Charts and graphs

Trainer who is requested to address members of the Bar Association, or college students can use visual aids to depict data of cases referred to mediation, settled and not settled through mediation etc.

Wherever some points/numbers/portions of the picture are to be highlighted, they can be rounded, or shaded in different colors. 

PREPARATION

Preparation takes lots of time. Trainers who do not have adequate technical knowledge may have to take the assistance of others who know how to get things done. 

The specific or identified purpose for which the aid is being used must be crystal clear in the mind of the trainer.

Trainer should know how it is to be operated, used and communicated to the trainees in the context of the topic of presentation. “The point to be canvassed” must be clear, and specific and apparent. The intended message/point should reach the trainees at one go. 

It should be part of the oral presentation and should not stand disconnected. It should synchronize with the spoken words.

If more pictures or visual aids are chosen, they should be presented in a sequence .

Captions or titles are to be in capital letters. 

Appropriate font size must be chosen., so that all the trainees can see without strain. 

The message chosen for communication must be accurate.

Note if any should not get smudged with the picture-graph- photo etc.. 

SELECTION

‘ONE AT A TIME IS THE RULE’.

It is suggested that trainers show one picture , one slide one chart/graph at a time.

It is necessary to avoid overloading of messages.

Pictures should not be placed in a congested manner.

Every message does not require a picture.

COMMON MISTAKES

1. Choice of very attractive colorful pictures – irrelevant to the topic under consideration.
2. Overloading messages, pictures.
3. Spoken words not matching with the picture or aid displayed.
4. Not understanding how to relate the picture or graph to the topic under consideration
5. Taking a picture chosen by some other trainer, used in some other training program by said trainer, and displaying it on the screen without working on the theme behind it.
6. Some quotes-statements-sayings etc. with pictures more related to personality development being displayed, because the trainer finds them more appealing and interesting and important at a personal level.
7. Using pictures/diagrams/graphs/photos/sketches etc. which create more confusion in the mind of the trainees.
8. Not understanding the level of comprehension of the audience.
9. Not cross checking whether the visual aid would convey some other meaning than what is expected .
10. Not cross checking whether the visual aid used would hurt the religious/personal feelings of any individual in the audience. 

BEST PRACTICES

• When role play is being done, the trainer takes the photos of trainees doing the role play.
  Displays those photos on the screen to show how their body postures were.
• When a trainer is taking the session, the co trainer takes photos of the audience . Later it is personally shown to the trainer, to demonstrate how the majority of trainees were sleeping and disengaged during the session., and how the trainer was unmindful of the situation.
  The photo is displayed ( subject to check on the sensitivity aspects) to show if one or two of the trainees were constantly sleeping. 

• Very short Video clipping of a particular question asked by the mediator and the emotions of the party who is listening to the mediator’s question.
• Photos showing the parties as they were in the past.. as a prelude to the role play.. 

‘A picture is a poem without words’

Horace
Roman Poet

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(All copyrights reserved by the author S.Susheela)