Contextualizing the Learning  

Perhaps the most overlooked teaching principle is the one stating that we learn by linking new material to known material. If we cannot connect what we must learn to what we already know, we can hardly anchor it in our mental schemata and thus make it our own, at least durably. Moreover, our motivation for learning would at best be extrinsic (some sort of obligation, perhaps): Why would we want to learn material to which we cannot relate? Even if we could learn the material without context—by memorization, for instance—we could not recognize situations where this unconnected knowledge applies. For all practical purposes, it would be useless.

Codone, Susan K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Instructional Design

Designing Better Instructional Documents  

Demonstrates how principles of print design and visual literacy can improve the usability of course handouts.

Codone, Susan K. Intercom (2004). Articles>Education>Document Design

Practical Applications of Print Design to Promote Visual Understanding  

Print design is a task facing many technical communicators. Practical understanding of the principles of design is necessary for quality print design products, but even this may not be adequate for producing print documents that users can quickly understand. Pairing the principles of print design with knowledge of visual communication theory will aid technical communicators as they develop print materials that are not only well designed, but easy for audiences to understand. This paper will explain both the principles of print design and basic applications of visual communication theory to provide a knowledge base on which successful print documents can be built.

Codone, Susan K. STC Proceedings (2005). Design>Document Design>Prepress>Printing

Transitioning Print-Based Training into WBT Delivery: Lessons Learned  

This panel discussion will explore a specific project conducted by the Mercer Engineering Research Center (MERC) in which existing MERC-designed United States Air Force print-based training was rapidly converted to web-based training. Specific issues discussed are differences in design strategies for print and web instruction, development and authoring approaches, rapid prototyping, usability testing, project management concerns, and lessons learned.

Codone, Susan K. and Lance Stuckey. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help