Report of 20 Images in Category

Ai Li

During the week of Oct 10th to Oct 17th, we read an article called The Use of Images in Online
Learning: A Qualitative Content Analysis by Jason D. Bader, Chareen Snelson, and Patrick R.
Lowenthal. In the article, there are different ways that images can be categorized. Bader et al.
(2022) indicated that while only 27% of images in online courses were educational, other types
of images can still serve important roles in online courses. And they gave some
recommendations to help online educators and instructional designers select images for the
online courses they design and teach.

We need to select an online course or a textbook and analyze 20 images using the categories
suggested in the article. There are three main categories: Educational, Affordance, and
Decorative, and there are more than three subcategories under each category. I have some
novice-level language textbooks around me, but every sentence in each lesson has only
understandable cartoon images or real pictures, and I don't choose these books. I chose a
textbook called "Educational Technology," the second edition by Kekang He & Wenguang Li,
2009, which was widely used in China in higher education. It is an essential textbook for Chinese
college students to study educational technology.

This book begins with an overview of educational technology, its development history, and the
two significant research objects, "educational resources and educational processes." It then
covers the five research categories defined by educational technology: design, development,
utilization, management, and evaluation. It ends with the connection between China's national
conditions and the prospect of the discipline's future.

The book has 401 pages; I randomly turn the page numbers to get 20 images. I used the same
method in the article to analyze these 20 pictures; below are the images' information and analysis
results.

Table 1. Random Selected 20 Images Information and Their Category

IMAGE PAGE IMAGE NAME Category Belonging

1 Page7 1-3 教育技术五个范畴的关系图 Relationship Educational: Concrete
diagram of five categories of educational
technology
2 Page43 2-2 美国教育技术的历史演变过程 The historical Educational: Conceptual
evolution of American educational technology
3 Page84 3-1 常用教学媒体特性比较 Comparison of Educational: Organizational
Characteristics of Commonly Used Teaching
Media
4 Page85 3-2 各种教育媒体的性能比较 Performance Educational: Organizational
comparison of various educational media
5 Page136 5-1 教学系统构成 Teaching system composition Educational: Conceptual

6 Page137 5-2 典型教学系统的结构图式 Structural Educational: Organizational

Schema of a Typical Teaching System
7 Page274 7-5 教学模拟、游戏、案例研习之间的关系 The Educational: Conceptual
relationship between teaching simulations,
games, and case studies
8 Page291 7-8 任务-绩效过程图(任秀华，何克抗，2005) Educational: Exemplary
Task-Performance Process Diagram
9 Page334 9-2 特尔斐尔的操作程序 Delphi's operating Educational: Procedural
procedures
10 Page334 9-6 总体加权的方法 weighted method Educational: Exemplary
11 Page334 9-7 教育技术中心评价指标 Educational Educational: Exemplary
Technology Center Evaluation Indicators
12 Page282 7-6 校园网的教育应用模型 Educational Educational: Organizational
Application Model of Campus Network
13 Page 205 6-9 电视教材编制系统流程图 Flow chart of TV Educational: Procedural
teaching resources compilation system
14 Page 148 5-6 影响教学系统设计的变量及其相互关系 Educational: Organizational
(Reigeluth,1983) Variables Affecting
Instructional System Design and Their
Interrelationships
15 Page 149 、 教学事件与学习结果匹配的具体规定性 Educational: Concrete
150 5-2 （梅瑞尔总结，1990）Specific stipulations
for matching teaching events to learning
outcomes
16 Page 97 第四章内容结构图 Chapter 4 Content Educational: Organizational
Structure Diagram
17 Page 50 2-6 视听与教育传播过程的关系 The relationship Educational: Conceptual
between audiovisual and educational
communication process
18 Page 166 5-13 “目标-内容-媒体”三维选择模型 Object- Educational: Conceptual
Content-Media 3D selection model
19 Page 151 5-7 梅瑞尔的“目标-内容”二维模型 Merrell's Educational: Conceptual
"object-content" 2D model

20 Page 209 6-11 多媒体教学软件内容的组织结构类型 Four Educational: Conceptual

Types of Organizational Structure of
Multimedia Teaching Software Content
Table 2. Count of Image Type with Main Category in Caps and Subcategory (n=20)

EDUCATIONAL 20 (100%) AFFORANCE 0 (0%) DECORATIVE 0 (0%)

Concrete 2 (10%) Media 0 (0%) Theming 0 (0%)
Conceptual 7 (35%) Labels 0 (0%) Personalization 0 (0%)
Procedural 2 (10%) Structural 0 (0%) Unknown 0 (0%)
Organizational 6 (30%) Links 0 (0%)
Exemplary 3 (15%)

Analysis

From Table 2. above, we can see all images I randomly selected in the book <Educational
Technology> He, K., & Li, W. (2009) are educational category images. Compared with Image
types broken down into 27.1% educational, 45.3% affordance, and 27.6% decorative (Bader et
al., 2022), my 20 images have no affordances and decoration images. Educational conceptual
and educational organizational images are 1st and 2nd, respectively.

I am not surprised since the textbook is an authoritative, national excellent higher education
textbook. I didn't get the instructors' presentations used during the online lockdown class, which
is one of the limitations. On the other hand, the lack of affordance and decorative images in
traditional teaching materials requires teachers to learn, create, and use appropriate images
reasonably.

Reference:

Bader, J. D., Snelson, C., Lowenthal, P. R., & Friesen, N. (2022). The use of images in online
learning: A qualitative content analysis. International Journal of Online Pedagogy and Course
Design, 12(1), 1-16. http://doi.org/10.4018/IJOPCD.302088

He, K., & Li, W. (2009). Educational Technology. Beijing Normal University Publishing Group.