Education for a Digital World Advice, Guidelines and Effective Practice from Around Globe, 2008a

21 – Media Selection
• In many situations, you can and should use more
than one medium to teach the skill. You will need to
determine the media that will complement the intended
instructional strategy.
• If you use too many media at one time, you can impede
learning.
– Although multi-sensory learning experiences tend
to be effective, learners can only process a limited
amount of information at one time. Imagine trying
to read text while a supporting animation is being
shown on the screen.
– Media should support and enhance each other.
• Base your media mix decision on what is being
taught, how it is being taught, how it will be tested,
and the characteristics of your target audience.
– Different media may be needed for different
learning outcomes. For example, video may be appropriate
for the attitude component but may not
provide the corrective feedback necessary for the
intellectual skills component.
– Do not select media simply to dazzle or for convenience.
Media and motivation
Consider a student’s experience with each medium. For
example, if the students have typically struggled in textbased
programs, then consider using other media. Students
must have expectations of success with the selected
media and have the skills to extract information
and learn from the media. This is not always a safe assumption.
For example, many learners are used to
watching video passively and do not know how to focus
their learning or take effective notes while watching video.
Depending on a student’s learning preferences or
learning style, the media you choose could be liked or
disliked. If the selected media are not preferred, enhance
motivation through:
• explaining how lthe material will fulfill the student’s
needs;
• illustrating how the material is important; and
• reminding students that the test will be based on the
material.
Text
You can use text to teach many skills (most verbal information
and intellectual skills, and some psychomotor
skills and attitudes) unless the target audience has a poor
reading ability or low motivation. However, text alone
cannot adequately represent the richness of the world
and, for instructional effectiveness, you will often need
to combine text with other media.
Practical Guideline
Remember that students may later want to refer to
notes. Ideally, they should be able to print content
and summaries.
Text is better than video and audio when the topic is
complex (e.g., forecasting economic trends), abstract
(e.g., balancing chemical equations), or has structure
(e.g., solving word problems). Text is especially effective
for verbal skills such as describing, listing, and naming.
With proficient readers, verbal information can usually
be learned faster with text than with other media. For
higher-level skills, remember that practice and feedback
are particularly critical. Text is often a major component
of effective practice and feedback.
GUIDELINES FOR CREATING TEXT
Text often forms the foundation of online courses. For
your course to be effective, the text has to be written well.
Use the following guidelines for creating effective text:
• Make text understandable.
• Minimize reading.
• Develop a good writing style.
• Follow the basic rules of writing.
As with many generalizations, there are exceptions to
the following guidelines. For example, a writing or
communications course where rich prose is encouraged
should not be done as suggested below.
Make text understandable
It is particularly important for you to make text understandable
when students are learning at a distance. Make
text understandable by ensuring there is message clarity,
keeping wording to a minimum, and keeping sentences
and paragraphs short. Most subject-matter experts need
support in writing materials in this way. Consider using
a professional writer if it is not too expensive.
Keep the text clear and concise. Message clarity is
critical for effective and efficient learning. Simple words
help ensure that the message remains clear. Use simple
words such as “pay” rather than “compensation” or “begin”
instead of “initiate”. Do not try to impress with a
difficult vocabulary as this can lead to failure. Similarly,
unnecessary and complex jargon can also cause compre-
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