Sunday, November 1, 2015

Week 10 Reflection

Combining Audio and Images

This week we created our instructional document using InDesign, throwing together everything we’ve learned so far about interactive buttons, text, images, and audio.  It was fun grabbing images and audio files that I had already created and rearranging them into a new recipe format. 

Developing instruction with both images and audio combined is different because it frees me from having to write detailed text on every page.  A good image with clear audio instructions allows the students to focus on the images without having to slog through text.  I think this method is much more efficient- I’m a firm believer in using audio and visual tools to teach (such as video, lectures with visual aids, etc.) instead of just text to instruct.  In the office, I’m constantly thinking of ways to remove extraneous text from our presenters’ PowerPoint presentations.  As instructors, we want to connect with our students on every possible channel and using audio and images are a great way to do so. 

This method of teaching makes me consider how I instruct- I admit that at times, I use text alone to get my message across.  It’s not the best method, but it’s quicker to put together.  The main limitation with using audio and visual combined instruction is the time you have to spend to put everything together.  You’ve got to find the pictures and record the audio- and you still have to work with InDesign, which doesn’t always like to cooperate with me!  But the benefits of using this method are compelling- I end up with a better looking, much more interesting, entertaining, and novel instructional document that will aid my students in absorbing the material.

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