The purpose of this presentation is to present information about the effective use of support materials in distance education

1. SUPPORT MATERIALS &
VISUALIZATION FOR
DISTANCE EDUCATION

2. DISTANCE EDUCATION SYLLABUS
 COURSE LOGISTICS – contains the course title, meeting dates,
times, location, instructor information, office hours, textbook
and course materials
 COURSE POLICIES – contains attendance and homework
policies as well as participation information
 INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES – contains text and examination
information, course goals and objectives, reading
assignments, interactive study guides

3. INTERACTIVE STUDY GUIDE (ISG)
 Can consist of the following:
 Activities of exercises
 Directions
 Photographs
 Tables of figures
 Problems (numerical or verbal)
 Steps to produce an ISG:
 Identify the objectives for the lesson
 Create of outline of topics that relate
to the lesson
 Identify key words for required
readings
 Produce the ISG using proper graphic
design principles

4. GRAPHIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES
 SIZE – Letter size should be easy to see and read, no smaller than 24 point,
and 32 to 36 point is preferable on regular television monitors
 FONT – Bold fonts with thick stems display the best in a presentation, and
no more than three different fonts should be used for any single display
 COLOR AND CONTRAST – Colors should be bold and simple but not
overdone. Use dark letters with a light background to produce very
readable displays
 ALIGNMENT – The order of the information displayed should be left-
justified which seems to be the most legible

5. ELEMENTS OF DESIGN
 LINE – the most important thing to
remember is a line has length not
width, portraying direction, presents
objects and defines the outer shape of
something
 SHAPE – used to show large or small
spaces as well as dimensions which is
height and width
 SPACE – can be positive or negative;
most common negative space is its
background
 TEXTURE – the smoothness or
roughness of a surface
 VALUE – degree of lightness or
darkness of a surface through shading
 COLOR – hue, value and intensity are
the words used to describe color

6. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
 BALANCE – two types of balance are formal and informal; an image should
be balanced left to right and top to bottom when presented.
 EMPHASIS – closely related to the center of interest; use different shapes
and large objects to create the center of interest as well as arrows and
colors for added emphasis
 UNITY – refers to a visual holding together to convey a single purpose.
Overlapping promotes unity as well as using a single background.
Repetition of shapes, forms and objects also serve as a form of unity

7. WORD PICTURES
 A word picture is a graphic representation of information. The best word
picture is the type that helps the learner remember the concept, principle
or item
 Effective word pictures include:
 Communication via the visual sense
 Requires the instructor to think visually rather than verbally
 Inexpensive to produce and duplicate
 Provides a complete review of the class content
 Used for display by overhead video cameras

8. MIND MAPS
 Mind maps are clearly defined and placed in the center of a graphic
 The importance of the mind map is indicated by its proximity to the main
idea
 Links between ideas are clearly indicated
 New information is easily added to a mind map

9. VISUAL ANALOGIES
 Analogies have four parts: new subject, analog, connector between the
analog and the new subject, and the ground.
 New subject – a topic that is unfamiliar
 Analog – familiar and something that has been experienced by the learner
 Connector – shows the relationship between the two concepts
 Ground – relates to the specific set of similarities and differences between the
familiar and unfamiliar

10. STRUCTURAL VS. FUNCTIONAL
RELATIONSHIPS
 STRUCTURAL
RELATIONSHIPS – shows
the similarity in
appearance and design
of the two concepts
 FUNCTIONAL
RELATIONSHIPS –
describes what concepts
do or how they work