Graphics for Learning

Here is a summary of guidelines for using graphics to teach the most common content types: procedures, concepts, facts, processes, and principles.

Procedure

Tasks that involve the same steps each time they are performed. E.g. accessing email, completing a routine customer order.

• Provide demonstrations that reflect the work environment
• Show activity flow from the performer's perspective in the job environment
• Manage cognitive overload when procedures are complex
• Use audio and visual cues, place text close to visuals, and eliminate extraneous detail
• Use visuals to draw attention to and illustrate warnings
• Support visuals with text to provide directions, feedback, and memory support

Concept

Supporting knowledge that involves a category of objects, events, or ideas usually designated by a single word. E.g. integrity.

• Display two ore more representational graphics contiguous to each other and to text definitions
• Create counterexamples
• E.g. examples of formatted and non-formatted web pages
• Use analogies especially for more abstract or unfamiliar concepts
• E.g. a mail analogy for the functions of the Internet OSI layers
• Display related concepts together
• Use organisational graphics to illustrate related concepts
• Promote learner engagement with concept visuals

Fact

Supporting knowledge that designates unique, specific content about objects, events, or people. E.g. specific log-on codes, order entry screen, product specifications.

• Us representational visuals to show concrete facts
• Display factual data where it can easily be seen
• Use organisational visuals to display multiple discrete facts
• Use mnemonic visuals when facts must be recalled
• E.g. Tenador = Spanish for fork: show 10 forks stuck in a door.
• Use relational visuals to support discovery of relationships or trends
• Engage learners with factual visuals by including them in practice

Process

Supporting knowledge that describes state changes about how a system works. E.g. the performance appraisal process.

• Use transformational visuals such as flow diagrams and animations that show state changes in the process
• Manage load by teaching system components first, providing words in audio format, and using attention-focusing strategies (such as arrows, colour, and/or a zoom effect)
• Use interpretative visuals such as schematics to represent abstract processes
• Promote engagement with process visuals to help learners build a cause-and-effect model of the system

Principle

A comprehensive law that includes predictive relationships; tasks that require workers to adapt to unique situations. E.g. making a sale, writing a report.

• Use representational visuals of the job environment
• Use design devices to manage cognitive load
• E.g. use a PC, telephone, and filing cabinet in a virtual office to store information and data for later review
• Assign analysis of video-taped cases to promote learning principles that involve high degrees of interpersonal activity
• Engage learners with explanatory visuals including visual simulations and static interpretative visuals to build rich mental models that underlie the principles

Ref: Graphics for Learning, by Ruth Clark & Chopeta Lyons

Bloom's Taxonomy & Information Mapping

Bloom's Taxonomy

There is more than one type of learning. We have seen how Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues identified 3 domains of educational activity:

1. Attitude - growth in feelings or emotional areas (Affective)
2. Skills - manual or physical skills (Psychomotor)
3. Knowledge - mental skills (Cognitive)

This taxonomy of learning behaviours (ASK) can be thought of as the goals of the learning process.

We know that Bloom also divided these domains into subdivisions, starting from the simplest behaviour to the most complex. For example, the six major categories of the Cognitive domain are:

1. Knowledge - recall data or information
2. Comprehension - understand the meaning and problem
3. Application - apply what was learned
4. Analysis - distinguish between facts and inferences
5. Synthesis - create new meaning
6. Evaluation - make judgements

When we know the correct skill to be taught, we can define an appropriate learning objective (performance verbs: define, list, distinguish, apply, demonstrate, compare, relate, categorise, summarise, explain, recommend etc.) and from that design the appropriate treatment.

Information Mapping

Information Mapping is a method of information development called structured writing, developed by Robert E. Horn.

Horn and his colleagues identified dozens of common documentation types, then analysed them into structural components called information blocks. They identified over 200 common block types. These were assembled into information types using information maps.

The seven most common information types were:

1. Concept
2. Procedure - set of steps for a person
3. Process - set of steps for a system
4. Principle
5. Fact
6. Structure
7. Classification

Again, when we know the correct information type to be taught, we can define an appropriate learning objective and apply appropriate graphics to teach these content types.

Flesch Reading Ease

My notes from a Cathy Moore article on writing tips...

We all agree the elearning should be concise, but what does this mean? If we use readability statistics to quantify style it's easier to guide writers.

What does this chart tell us?

The highest-circulation magazines tend to have the highest readability scores.

What score should you aim for?

Many plain-English advocates suggest aiming for a score in the 60s. I would settle for the 50s if necessary. Unfortunately, a lot of elearning ends up in the 40-something “Suits” category thanks to corporate drone.

De-drone to improve your score and motivate learners

The reading ease formula considers sentence length and the number of syllables in words, so short sentences with short words score better.

• Say “you” and “we” (human beings in a conversation)
• Cut 98% of adjectives and adverbs
• Write active sentences that make clear who does what
• Use strong verbs instead of wimpy “is”
• Look for tacked-on clauses (”blah blah, which…blah blah, because…”). Turn them into standalone sentences.

How to check your score in Word

The readability check is part of Word’s spelling and grammar check, so check your spelling. If you don’t see a window with readability statistics, you need to turn the feature on:

1. Select Tools > Options
2. Choose Spelling and Grammar
3. Check the box next to Show readability statistics
4. Check your spelling. You should see the readability results.

Be sure to check a big chunk of text–500 words or more. Short snippets give unreliable results.

Check both on-screen text and narration scripts

All the text associated with your material should be concise, easy to understand, and direct. A lot of narration sounds dull and de-motivating because it’s coming from the “Suits” category.

Why not use grade level?

1. Grade-level statistics have too much baggage. People worry about offending their audience by writing “below” their educational level. For example, a stakeholder could say “Our learners all finished college. Therefore, we should write at grade 16. Writing lower than that dumbs down the material.” Using the reading ease score and keeping the conversation focused on magazines read by adults avoids these issues.
2. Grade levels aren’t global. “Seventh grade” means different things in different cultures, while the reading ease score isn’t tied to any specific educational system. You can really localise the process by determining the reading ease scores of local magazines and comparing your materials to them.

25 Free Tools You Should Be Using!

These tools are the most popular free tools in 25 tools categories of tools on the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 list. The Top 100 Tools list was compiled from the Top 10 Tools lists of over 200 learning professionals worldwide.

These tools are therefore NOT the Top 25 Tools. They are a mix of personal productivity tools (for managing personal learning) as well as authoring tools (for creating learning solutions). Many of them are Web 2.0 tools that promote a social, collaborative, sharing approach to learning.

Links to more information about the Tools:

1. Firefox - a web browser plus extensions
2. delicious - a social bookmarking tool
3. Google Reader - an RSS reader
4. gMail (or Google Mail) webmail
5. Skype - instant messenger and voice call tool
6. Google Calendar - an online calendar
7. Google Docs -an online office suite
8. iGoogle - a personal start page tool
9. Slideshare - a presentation sharing tool
10. flickr - an image hosting and sharing tool
11. Voicethread - a collaborative slideshow tool
12. Wordpress - a blogging tool
13. Audacity - an audio/podcasting tool
14. YouTube - a video hosting and sharing tool
15. Jing - a screen capture and screencasting tool
16. PBwiki - a wiki tool
17. PollDaddy - a polling tool
18. Nvu - a web authoring tool
19. Yugma - a web meeting tool
20. Ustream - a live broadcasting tool
21. Ning - a (private) social networking tool
22. Freemind - a mind mapping tool
23. eXe - a course authoring tool
24. Moodle - a course management system
25. twitter - a microblogging tool