The good, the bad and the rather unpleasant

Allan Sutherland

TechDis

Teaching Strategies

• Face the class when speaking

• Repeat questions from students

• Give both oral & written instructions

• Vary presentation & teaching approaches

• Prepare materials early - to allow time for adaptations

• Provide technical terms, abbreviations & acronyms

Teaching Strategies

• Make assignments & reading lists available in electronic format

• Don’t walk around or pace back & forth

• Provide written summary of videos or arrange subtitles

• Follow OHP etiquette

Learning Materials

• Offer lecture outlines in advance

• Provide information in alternative formats, such as Braille or on disc etc.

• Reasons:– students with visual impairments– students with dyslexia– students who are deaf or hearing impaired

OHPs

• Concision is a virtue

• Font size of at least 30 pt

• Sans serif (Arial) easier to read than serif (Times)

• DON’T USE BLOCKS OF UPPER CASE

• Use bold to highlight rather than italics or underline

• Use bullets - 6 max per slide

T shirt

Never put

more on an

OHP

than you would put

on a T shirt

PowerPoint

• Be aware of background/foreground combinations

• Don’t use colour to convey meaning

• Use a consistent layout

• Dark background and light text best for dark rooms

• Light background and dark text best for light rooms

PowerPoint

• Avoid patterned backgrounds (eg…)

• Use phrases not sentences

• Only use one or two colour combinations

• No more than two font styles

• Minimise use of animation & transition effects

• Avoid the use of sound effects

Things to avoid:

• Too much text is unnecessary and can be overwhelming and difficult to absorb especially if it’s in a tiny font!

• Patterned backgrounds

• Animations

• Transition effects

• Sound effects

• Some examples...

PowerPoint from Hell

• Audience confusion

• Horrible backgrounds and nasty noises

Learning in small groups

• Seating arrangements

• Only allow one person to speak at a time

• Repeat or rephrase what student has said

• Put main ideas on board or chart

• Have breaks

• Provide discussion papers before tutorial

The Learning Environment

• Real

• Choose an appropriate lecture theatre or room

• Loop system?

• Wheelchair access?

• Guide dog?

• Power points for laptops or tape recorders?

• Overcrowded? Noisy?

The Learning Environment

• Virtual

• TechDis report

• Uploading accessible content

• See www.techdis.ac.uk/seven

Links & references

• www.techdis.ac.uk/seven

• www.cowork.ac.uk/development/materials/video/video.htm

• www.rnib.org.uk/seeitright

• http://www.webaim.org/howto/powerpoint

• www.useit.com

• http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/QuickTips/

• www.microsoft.com/enable