Creating Handouts using ICT

Personally speaking, I've found this much harder than I anticipated. You're probably fine with it, but if you've been stuck with the task of redesigning or reviewing your or others' resources, maybe these suggestions will give you food for thought.

• Use a consistent format. Take advantage of styles and templates.
• Leave lots of 'white space'. This helps with readability.
• Divide sections clearly - this is where using styles can be handy.
• Don't use Comic Sans. I've been told several times by different students that they find it childish and patronising.
• Think about the font you use when putting together certain letter combinations - vv can look like w and rn can look like m, for instance. If need be, expand the gap between your characters.
• Find out if there's a house style and use it. Encourage others to do the same. I think it looks great when you get handouts from different departments that look consistent and coherent.
• Colour-code information, if you can. Using a colour printer is costly, but you could use coloured paper for different aspects.
• Use coloured paper to increase accessibility
• Use graphics to help your learners identify key parts of the text, such as tips and warnings. Ask your IT department if you can download extra clips from the Microsoft Clip Art website. Ask for guidance from your reprographics department if you're unsure how well images will reproduce. Familiarise yourself with a graphics package such as Adobe Photoshop because it can help enormously with manipulating images.
• Word Art can jazz up a handout, but bear in mind that sometimes the colours, shadows and denseness of the font make it hard to read. You can expand the gap between characters from an option on the Word Art toolbar.
• Compress your graphics using the option on the Picture toolbar. This will make your handouts much easier to work with, email and print.
• Use your logo. Ask your college's or company's marketing department for a sample in colour and monochrome.
• PDF your handouts if you're going to email them to anyone else - it prevents them from mangling your nice work!
• Keep a version number on the bottom in the footer.
• Rather than photocopying articles, scan them in. That way you can remove extraneous text and also, if you put the scanned image into a word-processed document, you can then place a reference somewhere on the handout before printing.
• Ask for feedback from established practitioners and students. Their input can be incredibly useful!
• Using PowerPoint? Go here.