Developing text-based course materials

Quite often--mostly due to limited resources: time, expertise, proper tools--many of our clients build their online courses with a heavy dose of text, and maybe a pinch of graphic elements thrown in for good measure (photographs, icons, drawings etc.) While there are many instructional methods that can easily be incorporated into online materials (subjects for other days) if you are developing a predominantly text-based course here is some advice that can help spruce up your text and improve the learner's instructional experience.

This article from WebDesignerWall offers some very simple, yet powerful ways to improve the look, readability and flow of text-based materials.

First and foremost, consider using different font styles, sizes and colors to emphasize (or de- emphasize) content and improve retention. Limit the use of bold, underline and italics. If you need to emphasize something try modifying the font color and font size especially for various headings and or text passages that you feel require emphasis.

For a more advanced discussion on the ways to enhance the readability of text, check out this presentation by Jeff Croft on Typography (pdf).

The "Magic (what) if"

Will Thalheimer talks in this post about the importance of considering the performance AND context of real-life situations when constructing our learning objectives. This is probably more of a reminder and rephrasing of the conventional wisdom that objectives need to be bahavior based, asking the question what will I be able to do when this training is over.

By adding the contextual layer, has the potential to force educators to become more in tune with how well the training environment simulates the real-world situations that learners eventually find themselves in.

Thalheimer's "Magic Question" reminds me of Stanislavski's
"Magic If" that asks actors to consider the circumstances of their characters in order to tap into the emotional depth and situational constructs that drive their motivations.

I saw a grocery list maker today that gave me an idea for an instructional design tool.

What if there were a web-enabled instructional design tool that would allow users to fill in a form about their content that would spit out some brief suggestions for how to present the material and additionally, links to reference articles for further reading and research. This tool would help the novice "instructional designer" get up and running quickly with some research-based basics on how to present material to the distance learner and provide more detailed information for down the road.

As the lead training analyst for a distance learning company I see quite a bit of really bad, text-heavy material. Sometimes the only formatting choices are bold or not bold, very few images and rarely an attempt to make the material interactive. The tool alone would probably not create award winning courses but it would be a start.