Print is widely used in distance education, because print materials can be sent to students by mail.
Pay attention to the advantages of print:
- It can be spontaneous. It is quite possible to apply print materials without the use of presentation equipment.
- It can be instructionally transparent. The print materials are used in instructional purposed quite transparently.
- It does not threaten or lead to frustration. Students should be able to focus on the content while reading. They should feel any frustration while reading.
- It is easy in use. It is quite possible to apply print materials without the use of additional resources such as electricity, viewing screen and electronic classrooms created specially for educational purposes. They are applied at any time and any place. It is especially important, when there is limited access to advanced technology such the use of a computer and internet.
- It can be easily reviewed and referenced. Print materials can be controlled by a learner who pays attention to certain areas.
- It saves money. Print materials cost less comparing with other instructional resources.
- It can be easily edited and revised. It is quite easy and inexpensive to edit and revise print materials. The same actions for technically sophisticated electronic software will cost more affords and money.
- It saves time. While printing, more attention is paid to content concerns than to the technical demands of the delivery process.
Read about the limited possibilities of print:
- Limited reality. Print has its own view of reality. It cannot show motion as illustrations or photos do.
- Passiveness and self-direction. Print is applied mostly for passive learners. But reading printed materials can more motivate than watching a television program or taking part in an audioconference.
- Feedback and interaction. Print materials provide feedback and demand the performance of interactive exercises.
- Dependency on reading skills. Frequently, children have problems related with reading skills op to age 12. Poor reading skills result in ineffective learning process.
There are various formats of print materials:
- Textbooks. They are the basic and the main source of content for those engaged at distance-delivered courses. However, they are sometimes criticized, because the learner and the instructor cannotcommunicate with each other every day.
- Study guides. They are applied, when there is a necessity to reinforce points after the work in a class and applying of other delivery systems. Study guides are available in the form of exercises, related readings and additional resources.
- Work books. Context workbooks are applied to provide course content in an interactive manner. A usual format includes an overview, the content of the book, exercises for self-practice and a quiz or test that contains an answer key designed to access your knowledge and skills. Such principles as feedback and repetition are included.
- Course syllabus. A well-planned course syllabus is present in any distant-delivered course, because it provides course purposes and objectives, performance expectations, descriptions of assignments, related readings (often by session), grading criteria and a daily overview of the material that is to be studied. The syllabus should contain all these requirements, because the students have no possibility to communicate with the instructor every day.
- Case studies. Case studies that are prepared with imagination can be effectively used in a learning process. Their purpose is the reinforcement and maintenance of imagination. Frequently, case studies have the presentation of a content-based scenario, because they provide the students with questions, possible solutions and references to various parts of the text.
While using print as a communication medium, you may use as much interaction in distance education print materials if you pay attention to:
- Writing style. Use easy language for instructional materials. It should be a language designed for speaking than for writing journal articles or books.
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