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Avoid Document Discomfort Some virtual equivalents to ergonomic engineering of your physical classroom environment

Written words establish the teaching environment in the online classroom. Document design and attention to detail can affect "temperature," "noise levels," or "illumination" that in turn affect online learning. You can improve the comfort, satisfaction, and learning levels of your online students by improving the documents you create and their suitability for the Web. Although sometimes time-consuming, document improvement can be accomplished gradually, and it adds value efficiently: Your work is front-loaded: When you carefully prepare documents before class starts, you can concentrate on managing class dynamics after class starts. Up-front work reduces time spent later answering student questions, complaints. Unlike spoken words, documents (good and bad) remain available for class review. Your work is reusable: You can use the same materials in more than one section of the course, as well as for more than one semester, with brief updating/editing. Consider the following when preparing online course materials: Are your file type and formatting suitable for the online environment? Do you take advantage of the Web? Are you writing for online "scanning"? Is your web page layout easy on the eye for online reading? Do your font choices support your desired tone & style? Are you managing your web pages for maximum clarity (and minimum reediting?)

Are your file type and formatting suitable for the online environment? Whereas plain text is fine for short communications, longer content documents benefit from formatting. Are you using HTML (hypertext markup language) to format documents for WebTycho, or are you attaching formatted word-processing documents? Downloading attachments adds to time and risk of "infection" for students to access your content. The more you can present your text in HTML or as webpages, the faster, easier, and safer for students; the better able you are to take advantage of web link-ability; the more efficiently students can work online; and the more professional you appear. Top

Do you take advantage of the Web? Do you provide working links to relevant and current information available online? Are you marking up student assignments in electronic format so you can return their papers online, complete with embedded comments? Do you occasionally add images, audio, video, animations to clarify difficult material, add variety and interest, or enhance your persona as instructor? Do your documents dovetail with and promote substantive, interactive online student discussions? Top

Are you writing for online "scanning"? Research shows that online reading is harder on the eyes and that online readers tend to "scan" documents for information. A concise, journalistic, "scannable" writing style is most appropriate for online reading. Do you put conclusions and main points first, then background and supporting details? Are you bulleting, bolding, or headlining main points? Are you summarizing key points (via headlines, summary bullets, etc.) more than once? Can you make your point in fewer words? A rule of thumb: halve the amount of text, then halve it again! Are you linking to points or background stated elsewhere rather than restate? Is your link "departure" text indicating to students something about where a link will take them and why they should click it? Top

Is your web page layout easy on the eye for online reading? Besides writing in a more abbreviated style for online reading, also pay attention to layout. It is daunting to read an online document consisting of screen after screen of dense text and long paragraphs that stretch across the entire monitor width with little visual distinction or relief. In your documents, Are there right and left margins (hard copy documents always have these)? Is there plenty of white space (research shows this is important online)? Are your backgrounds light or muted enough that they don't overpower the text? Do you break up your text? several levels of (meaningful) headings colored, bolded, italicized fonts bullets, numbering frequent paragraph breaks a (relevant) image or two Is page organization simple and straightforward? Would it be beneficial to break up one long document into several parts? Top

Do your font choices support your desired tone & style? Carefully choosing font sizes, colors, or faces to be appropriate to the material and your intended purpose and tone can be an effective communications management tool. Some variety in font faces and colors can be attractive, improve readability, provide variety, or set different tones for different kinds of pages: authoritative or friendly, formal or informal. Too much variety can be distracting or appear frivolous. Is your font size reasonable? Larger font sizes can improve readability, but too-large sizes appear to "shout," suggest stand-offishness, condescension, visual or hearing impairment. Too-small fonts can be uncomfortable to read online, suggest distance. Does your font style convey the message you want? Too-elaborate, non-standard fonts can be difficult to read, may display differently on different browsers, and set a "light" tone. Too-dark or too-heavy fonts may "sound" strident. Standard fonts may be just right or may be too formal for the personal tone you want. Are you limiting your number of changes in font size, font color, or font face to meaningful "non-verbal" communications purposes (desired tone, style, emphasis, visual relief, etc.) to avoid an overly "busy" appearance or an indecisive tone? Top

Are you managing your web pages for maximum clarity (and minimum reediting)? Are you asking someone to help you check your spelling (this does count!), logic/clarity, and overall document appearance? Do you reread pages you are reusing before placing them in a new classroom? Do you recheck links to make sure they work? Do you recheck webpages (after publishing) — in both Internet Explorer and Netscape — to make sure they look as you expect, including working images? Do you incorporate student feedback into your document editing? Are due dates or directions placed in multiple places, or do you have pointers to important information located in only ONE place, so that you won't have conflicts between parallel data located on different pages, and so that a change doesn't require editing multiple documents? Top

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