Growing populations of older adults, ethnic minorities, and the low-literate create unique concerns for the design of visual information. Those for whom text presents a barrier will respond most to legibility, use of familiar formats and symbols, and simplification. Guidelines for those processes are needed, and this paper, in particular,…

Most children's books are filled with pictures, yet when schools design curricula to teach writing, they often ignore the role of visual images in the writing process. Historically, methods for teaching writing have focused on text. Even relatively recent techniques like brainstorming and story webbing still focus on verbal information. In some…

This study investigates whether color and background information in motion visuals have different effects on memory and comprehension of students in various grade levels. A three-by-three factorial pretest-posttest design was used, comparing levels of visual complexity and grade levels. The instructional content was a 12-minute computer animation…

A study investigated the effectiveness of music and use of story illustrations on the English vocabulary acquisition of children. Subjects were 48 second-graders of limited English proficiency, divided into four groups. One group heard a story in its sung version, and another heard the oral version only. A third group heard the music and…

Recognizing the decline in student visual communication skills, faculty from different disciplines collaborated in the design of a visual literacy course. The visual literacy skills developed in the course are that students learn in the following ways: (1) through faculty presentation and demonstration of the various tools available; (2) with…

Background information about gender inequity is provided, and the assertion is made that educators must recognize that many of the problems females encounter are begun and perpetuated in the schools. Visual literacy is part of the change that schools must make in order to make greater strides toward gender equity. Two connections between visual…

Computer-based instruction (CBI) has undergone tremendous changes in the past decade. This paper focuses on the following three areas of designing information presentation: (1) screen design literature is dated, and the existing guidelines do not allow for advances in computer technology; (2) open-ended guidelines may offer designers sufficient…

The papers in this proceedings of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC) conference discuss collaboration with other disciplines, with business and industry, and with research foundations, reflecting the readiness to reach out that characterizes CPTSC in its second decade. Papers in the proceedings are:…

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is an electronic medium that combines orthographic form with real time, synchronous transmission in an unregulated global multi-user environment. The orthographic letters mediate the interaction in that users can only access the IRC session through reading and writing; they have no access to any visual representations at…

Computer-based interactive video (CBIV), a hypermedia system that uses the power of the computer to support student interaction with various audio and visual media, can pose such problems for students as the potential for learner disorientation and cognitive overload. Intended to explore the applicability of Wittrock's generative learning…

The Media and Technology section of these proceedings contains the following six papers: "The Effects of Tabular and Graphical Display Formats on Time Spent Processing Statistics" (James D. Kelly); "Program Choice in a Broadband Environment" (Steven S. Wildman and Nancy Y. Lee); "Visual Crosstabs: A Technique for Enriching Information Graphics"…

The Technology and the Media section of the proceedings contains the following 18 papers: "What's Wrong with This Picture?: Attitudes of Photographic Editors at Daily Newspapers and Their Tolerance toward Digital Manipulation" (Shiela Reaves); "Strategies for the Analysis of Large-Scale Databases in Computer-Assisted Investigative…

One of the most important tasks that teachers undertake is to teach concepts. Without a good understanding of concepts, students have difficulty even understanding the basics. Several approaches to teaching thinking have been analyzed and research concludes that it is more effective to teach thinking in the context of a subject rather than as a…

A manual for teaching vocabulary to students of English as a second language is introduced by a discussion of the reasons for neglecting vocabulary development in the past and the reasons for the present emphasis on it. The chapters that follow develop practical instructional methods for each language learning level. The topics include: (1)…

In language teaching and learning, we have a lot to choose from the world of technology: radio, TV, CD-Rom, computers, C.A.L.L., the Internet, Electronic Dictionary, e-mail, audio cassettes, Power-point, and videos/DVDs or VCDs. Table 1 in Appendix C illustrates their advantages and disadvantages. This paper aims to discuss the use and importance…