Audio-Visual and Digital Tools

Computer Programs

The most common: PowerPoint, Word, Excel, and the internet itself. These are general-purpose programs that work as both teaching tools (used by the teacher) and learning tools (used by the student).

As Teaching Tools

The teacher uses these for:

1. Graphic presentations. PowerPoint slides with diagrams, maps, photographs.
2. Demonstrating procedures. A step-by-step Word document or Excel sheet.
3. Showing online content. Pulling up a Wikipedia article or a news report during a lesson.

The strength: visual material retains more in human memory than words alone.

As Learning Tools

When students use these themselves, the program becomes a learning tool:

1. A research task. Students search the web, filter sources, copy relevant material to a Word document.
2. A presentation assignment. Students design a PowerPoint to present what they learned.
3. A data task. Students enter survey data into Excel and produce a chart.

The shift from teaching tool to learning tool is in who is using the program. When the teacher demonstrates, it teaches. When the student does, it builds skill.

Videos

Videos can show many kinds of content:

1. Teacher lectures from other classrooms
2. Expert talks
3. Interviews
4. Recordings of classroom discussions
5. Cartoons and children’s films
6. Science experiments
7. Virtual experiments

Experienced teachers use videos more than novice teachers because they have stronger classroom management. Showing a video puts students in receptive mode, and a teacher needs to be ready for the questions and discussions that follow.

The Video Rule

Never just press play and walk away. The lesson then has no teacher.

Instead:

1. Watch the video yourself first. Decide which moments matter.
2. Divide the video into chunks. A 30-minute video might break into three 10-minute sections.
3. Pause between chunks. Ask questions. Take answers from students.
4. Give a worksheet. Students fill it in while watching, not only after.
5. Discuss after. What did they understand? What surprised them? What do they still want to know?

A film shown without these breaks is entertainment. A film paused, questioned, and discussed becomes a teaching tool.

Flashcard

The video rule for teachers

Tap to reveal

Answer

Never just press play. Divide into chunks, pause between chunks, ask questions, provide a worksheet to fill while watching, and discuss after. Without these moves, the video is entertainment, not teaching.

When to Show Another Teacher’s Video

A common case: the teacher feels another professor explains a topic better. Should they show that video?

Yes, with framing. Two reasons:

1. It widens the child’s view. Students realize their teacher is not the only knowledgeable person. There are experts everywhere.
2. It models being a learner. When the teacher says “I am also learning from this,” it shows that learning never stops.

Children gain from seeing genuine work in a field, work the teacher openly admires.

Audios

Audio tapes (or audio files) are an older tool, still useful in specific situations:

Recording Student Speech

Especially in English and Urdu lessons. The teacher records students reading or speaking. Plays it back. The student hears their own pronunciation, identifies their own mistakes.

This builds two skills at once:

1. The skill the audio is teaching (pronunciation, fluency).
2. The metacognitive skill of self-evaluation.

Pronunciation Drills

The teacher plays audio of correct pronunciation. Students listen and copy. Then they record themselves and compare.

Rhymes for Early Years

Preschool and grade 1-3 children love audio rhymes. Rhymes build vocabulary, pronunciation, and a love of language. The teacher can also record children singing and play them back at school events.

Free Online Resources

The internet has changed what is available to a teacher. A short list of resources worth knowing:

Khan Academy

Site: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Thousands of free videos across math, science, history, statistics, geography. Topics range from simple addition to complex chemistry. Most videos are 3 to 10 minutes. Free to watch and download. The site’s tagline is “Learn almost anything for free.”

Saskatchewan Curriculum

Site: https://www.curriculum.gov.sk.ca/

Ready-made teaching resources organized by subject and grade. Each subject lists concepts, then unit plans for each concept, then lesson plans with multiple activities, then assessments. A teacher who is new to a topic can find a full week of lessons already designed. Subjects covered include English, Language Arts, Health Education, Kindergarten, Sciences, and Social Sciences.

MERLOT

Site: https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching. A curated catalogue of free, peer-reviewed teaching materials across most subjects, with usage notes from teachers who have tried each resource.

Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation hosts two useful resource collections:

1. Emma Stewart Resources Centre unit plans: https://www.stf.sk.ca/professional-resources/emma-stewart-resources-centre/unit-plans/
2. STF lesson and unit plans library: https://www.stf.sk.ca/resource_link/lesson-unit-plans/

Both list ready-made plans contributed by teachers and curated by the federation.

How to Use These

1. Browse before the school year. Find resources for the topics you will teach.
2. Adapt, don’t copy. Take a lesson plan from the site and adjust for your students.
3. Show your students how to use them. A child who knows Khan Academy exists has access to a tutor for life.

The Pairing Rule

Every audio-visual or digital resource needs to be paired with active student work. Choices:

1. A worksheet to fill in while watching.
2. A question set to discuss after.
3. A creative task that uses what they saw or heard.
4. A short writing assignment that connects the resource to what they already learned.

A video shown alone produces passive viewers. A video with a worksheet produces learners.