Enhancing Distance Education with Printed Media: Visual Design Principles, Study Guides, and Syllabus

1. Chapter 8.Handouts, Study Guides, and Visuals By: Clara A. Lopez

2. Chapter Goal • The purpose of this chapter is to present information about the effective use of printed materials in distance education.

3. Chapter Objectives • Develop a distance education course syllabus. • Use interactive study guides. • Apply graphic design principles. • Develop word pictures. • Use visual mnemonics.

4. Printed Media • It can enhance teaching, learning, and managing in distance education. In particular, two kinds of instructor created print media can significantly improve the distance education environment– the course syllabus and the interactive study guide. Additionally , graphic design principles can be applied to develop study guides that use visual mnemonics and word pictures for the visualizations of key instructional ideas.

5. Distance Education Syllabus • Course logistics • Course title • Course meeting dates, times, and locations. • Instructor information, including name, office address, telephone number, email address. • Office hours • Textbook and course materials

6. Course Policies • Attendance policies • Homework policies • Participation information

7. Instructional Activities • Class schedule with topic list. • Topic list and topic organizational concept. • Reading assignment. • Discussion questions for reading. • Assignments. • Test and examination information. • Interactive study guides.

8. Assessment Information • Grading scheme. • Project evaluation. • Grading contracts. • Student pre course assessment. • Student post course assessment.

9. The Interactive Study Guide • Is a structured note taking system that leads the learner through a series of concepts and that require some active and interactive involvement by the student. • The ISG is different form other handouts because it is more organized and more systematically sequenced that other types. Each display corresponds to one idea or one visual element of the lesson.

12. Graphic Design Principles • Size: Letter size is very closely related to legibility. Large, bold lettering is easier to see and read than is smaller lettering. • Font: Sans serif fonts should be used instead of fonts with serifs, the thin extensions to letters used in textbooks and printed documents. • Color and Contrast: Color should be bold and simple and should not be overdone. Some combinations such as green and red do not work well together. Avoid saturated colors like red. Use dark letters and light background.

13. Elements of Design • Line is generally considered to be one dimensional. Line has length but not width. Line portrays direction, present objects and defines the outer shape of something. • Shape is used to symbolize objects or to show large or small spaces. Shapes have two dimensions, height and width. • Space is either positive or negative. The outline of an object in a visual signifies its positive space.

14. Cont…. • Texture is the perceived or actual roughnes or smoothness of a surface. • Value is the degree of lightness or darkness of a surface. Value is accomplished through shading. Value Shows changes in space. • Color is related o value and is used to visualize an object realistically or to differentiate an object from another object.

15. Principles of Design • Balance is the sense of equilibrium in a visual. Two kind of balance are formal and informal. • The center of interest is the visual focal point of the graphic and should relate to its purpose. • Emphasis is closely related to the center of interest. The key object should be emphasized so it is apparent to the viewer what is most important.

17. Word Pictures • A word picture is a graphic representation of concepts, principles, and information. Each concept, principle , or item of information usually contains words that can be shown in nodes. • Word pictures emphasis should be placed on the types of symbols used. • They condense ideas into few key words. • They apply principles of graphic design • They require the instructor to tink visually rather than verbally. • They should be designed to fit the format of television.

18. Cont… • The main ideas are clearly defined and placed in the center of the graphic. • The relative importance of a sub idea is indicated by its proximity to the main idea. • Links between ideas are clearly indicated. • New information is easily added to a mind map because of its nonlinear structure.

19. Visual Analogies • Analogieshelp improve thinking and help learners understand new ideas by giving insights and by allowing new relationship to be explained. • Structural relationship • Functional relationship

20. Summary • Interactive study guides are made up of two ingredients---the display and the notes section. • Printed materials are critical to the practice of distance education. Printed materials are an important component of the distance education program. • Visual analogies are ways to describe something unfamiliar by comparing it to something that is familiar using four elements –the new subject, the analog the connector , and the ground.