Using audio-visuals can also be lengthy and can potentially take up an entire session or longer. This can be a disadvantage, especially if the facilitator only has a short amount of time with learners. The facilitator needs to ask themselves; how long is the video or clip? Will the film take an entire class, or will it extend to multiple classes? Should the entire film be shown, or are there specific clips that can be highlighted? Should the film or clip be shown in class or as an assignment outside of class?
In my experience, if an entire film is to be shown, I found it most effective when we were required to view it outside of class. This way, class time can be used for discussing what was watched. I once took a psychology course where we watched the movie Sybil. It took us about four class sessions to get through the whole movie. While I found the movie interesting, we never spent time in class discussing it. I saw how it related to our course materials, but I thought it was a bit pointless that I came to class for four sessions to learn essentially nothing.
In a class I took this past summer, we were required to watch Ma vi en rose. We were given a choice to either stay in class and watch it (this was one of those long 10-hour class days, so showing films in one sitting is possible) or watch the movie at home before class the following day. We were given stopping points throughout the movie and were asked to think about certain situations and characters’ motivations. These were the areas discussed in class the next day. While the movie was great, the most effective part for my learning was hearing different perspectives about what my peers saw and experienced when they viewed it. This goes along with the notion that audio- visuals are most effective when a group has processed what has been watched (Bruess & Greenburg, 2009).