Text-based content often gets a bad reputation as a learning activity, and students often complain when a course is heavily text-based. “Less text please” was a common comment we received about our Pre-Arrival Program – and the program had very few activities that were even text-based! However, text can be an effective way to convey information. It’s poor reputation likely comes from the fact that students perceive multimedia as an easier path to achievement. Text-based activities feel like work, even if they actually aren’t any more work than other activity types.
Whether or not students like text-based content, writing text is an inevitable part of creating an online orientation program. Unless your program is 100% video-based, you’re going to be writing, whether it’s an introduction to a video, the text of an interactive scenario, of the content for an entirely text-based activity. For any text-based content or activities that you are including in your program, here are a few tips to help ensure they are well-received by your students!
- Limit the amount of text. Keep your text-based activities, or your introductions to multimedia activities, as short as possible, while still conveying all the required information. Text-based activities are often the parts of a program where it’s easiest to lose students, especially in a program where completion is voluntary!
- Write like a human talking to another human. Use an informal, conversational tone, and write in first person, speaking directly to the student. This allows the student to feel connected to what is being said, and to more easily incorporate the knowledge into their existing schema
- Use short paragraphs and short sentences. They are easier to follow as a reader, and create a sense of movement in the text.
- Use headings. Headings help provide structure and context to the content, and help to prevent a student from getting lost as they work their way through a topic.
- Use bullet points and lists where applicable, rather than paragraphs. This eliminates the need for the extra words or flowery language that are sometimes required to string together different ideas. It also helps the student to quickly see what is important.
- Add images or other visual elements when possible. A page full of only words can seem daunting. Adding images, even if they don’t reduce the amount of text a student must read, makes the content seem friendlier and more inviting. Pull quotes can have the same effect, while also highlighting key points.
- Don’t be afraid to include humour! Just because you work for an institution, doesn’t mean your program has to sound institutional. You’re writing is allowed to have personality!
- Avoid acronyms and institutional jargon. Our institutions are full of acronyms and jargon that is unique to our world, and because we live with that language every day, we sometimes forget that a new student might not have a clue what we’re talking about when we say “Registrar’s Office,” “credit hours,” or “at the SUB.” Either avoid that language entirely, or use your program to explain those terms to your students.
- Copy edit a million and one times. Not only does copy editing increase the readability of your content, but a program riddled with mistakes might impact the credibility of your content.
Text-based content might seem easy, as we all write content on a daily basis (hi, emails!). Writing good text-based content, however, is still an art!
References
Ard, S. E., & Ard, F. (2019). The Library and the Writing Centre build a workshop: Exploring the impact of an asynchronous online academic integrity course. New Review of Academic Librarianship, 25(2–4), 218–243.
Benson, L., Rodier, K., Enström, R., & Bocatto, E. (2019). Developing a university-wide academic integrity e-learning tutorial: A Canadian case. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 15(1), 5.
Clark, R. E., & Feldon, D. F. (2014). Ten common but questionable principles of multimedia learning. In R. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning (2nd ed., pp. 151–173). Cambridge University Press.
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