F.R. “Fritz” Nordengren (beta)

Yesterday’s Insider Higher Ed Insidehighered.com reported on a meeting over the weekend of the American Psychological Association. Research presented there reporte on how students evaluate textbooks and the factors that make them more or less likely to read textbooks. I think there is a corollary to other instructional media from this report, more on that in a second. The research suggested 4 factors:

Four factors (not all of which professors can control) best predicted whether students would spend more time with the textbook: gender of the students, the quality of visuals and the quality of photographs in the books, and the extent to which professors link assigned textbook sections to lectures and other in-class work.

What I don’t have from the InsideHigherEd piece is the definition of “quality”, but I can share from my experience: even in matters of taste and aesthetics, the lack or presence of quality is obvious, even to those with the most unsophisticated creative eye. (For example, a photo out of focus is obvious and a negative to most everyone.)

If want to ask you to indulge a leap of logic. Let’s explore “engagement” as one dynamic of whether a student reads the book. Can we borrow this idea of visual quality to explore engagement in other media? If so, then better quality images and visuals create higher engagement.

Quality images, quality visuals, quality audio are skills easily learned. With some simple skills, and a basic understanding of the fundamentals of media, everyone can make better presentations, better hand-outs, better, media. It’s not that quality visuals replace quality writing and instruction, it’s that poor quality visuals detract.

But as one of our learning partners mentioned to me in passing “I don’t even know what questions to ask,: which is a common sentiment when it comes to some things technical.

So I’d like to hear from you — what kinds of things you would like to know in a series of short (I do mean short) focused seminars on media production:

Graphics 101 I can’t draw a straight line, but can I get the computer to do it for me?

Photos: Why are my small photos SO BIG and my BIG PHOTOS so small?

Sound: The secrets of making audio work in your presentations

Video: The still / slide show vs full motion? Why, when and where?

Others? What would you like to learn to do better?

Trivia.Quiz UPDATE:

We had a number of guesses to last weeks quiz and the answer is: If MySpace were a country, it would rank between Brazil and Pakistan (8th!) , based on MySpace subscribers in July and the 2007 CIA World Fact book. I imagine MySpace will move to 7th place yet this month. (6th place will take a while!)

THIS WEEK’S Trivia.Quiz

According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project: What percent of all Americans have broadband access at home:

47 % or 29% or 15%

Same deal as last week, send your answers, the winner gets the deliver of the beverage of their choice to their desk. (In the event of a tie, a random drawing will determine the winner)