If the speaker is inexperienced, the program chairman may wish to review some of the following points with him/her.In Preparing Instructional Objectives by Robert F. Mager, the following advice is given:
- Write a statement of instructional objectives to describe the educational intent.
- Write a separate statement for each objective. The more statements you have, the better chance you have of making clear your intent.
- If you give each learner a copy of your objectives, you may not have to do much else.
Visual aids are important; they should be used and used properly. Simple, hand-drawn transparencies are fine if they are neat and uncluttered. One should avoid using typed transparencies. Standard typing does not project legibly. An exception is the IBM Selectric typewriter using the "orator" type font with capital letters. All the desktop publishing packages available on microcomputers will produce excellent quality transparencies.
One expert says that no more than six ideas should be presented on a single visual aid; more than that leads to confusion. A minimum of one minute and probably more should be spent discussing each visual aid. Show the visual aid and allow a few seconds for the audience to orient themselves to it. Then discuss it so the message will reinforce the medium. If the doctrine of simple visual aids is followed, more than one will be required to build up a complex diagram. Overhead transparencies permit the use of overlays to build up a complex diagram, permitting one to call attention to each feature as it is added.
Transparencies may be colored easily. Water-soluble felt-tip pens are good and can be erased. Thus, color highlights can be added to a line-drawn transparency before or during use. Colored adhesive film can be added to liven a black-and-white visual aid. Such film is available from 3M Company.
Slides in 35mm format are convenient to show but are less flexible than overhead transparencies. They are usually more expensive to produce.
If a live demonstration is desired, you may need a dataline to a host computer. Be sure that your chosen site has this capability.
Handouts should be provided. It is desirable for the instructor to handout, in advance, a student outline and copies of visual aids which should be reproduced as handout materials. Having these materials will enable students to take notes right on the appropriate page if they wish. Also, students will not have to divert their attention to redraw the visual aids from the screen. Textbooks may also be appropriate as handouts. If a textbook is used, its cost should be included in the registration fee and an educational discount and buy-back provisions should be requested from the publisher. Refer to information given in " Other considerations" for further discussion on the subject of purchasing books.
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