Week 2 Reflection

Using Text and Hypertext

It's funny how spoiled we've become in such a short amount of time!  Creating a lesson with the added restriction of only using text and hypertext definitely had me thinking outside the box.  How can you keep a page interesting without pictures or visual aides?  How can you clearly separate different sections of your text without adding shapes or other visual cues?  We've gotten so used to using video and links in our training material that when they're taken away, we feel as though our hands have been tied.

I approached the challenge by adjusting font size, weight, and color in my lesson.  I chose to keep the colors bright, since my lesson covered cooking something with a little bit of spice and the colors seemed appropriate.  I used spaces and indentations to clearly mark where one section ended and another began.  And the introduction of hyperlinks was a fun addition to my toolset, as I was able to create a navigation menu and link the menu options to each of the different sections.  I can see how this format would be helpful to students, especially if they're reading something with a lot of content. 

As an instructional designer, this text-only format shows me how to make simple text more engaging and interactive.  In the end, I'm glad that I was given this assignment.  The restrictions helped me focus on the message I was delivering, instead of allowing me to rely on a video or a website to teach the content.