We get creative for print and web

Tips for creating educational materials using new technology

The Newspaper Association of America Foundation is the education and literacy advocate for the nation's newspapers. It promotes Newspaper In Education programs in schools across the country, and creates original materials that build literacy skills through print, electronic and web newspapers.

Each year, for Newspaper In Education Week in early March, the NAA Foundation produces special teaching materials that are distributed through newspapers and their websites. Until 2010, the materials were designed for use as a printed booklet or a pdf download from the Foundation website.

After Hollister created successful print materials in 2010, the NAA Foundation came back to us in 2011 to expand on that by creating multi-media companion lessons that can be used by teachers on computers, SMART Boards, or similar technology in the classroom. These lessons featured interactive activities that students could do together in class and provided hyperlinks to primary sources available online. Through links to audio, video and website resources, the lessons not only engaged students in new ways, but helped them strengthen the critical thinking skills necessary for using the Internet effectively.

You can look at the piece about art we created here.

When developing materials that employ new technological resources, these steps can elevate a product from good to great:

  1. Technology: Test every aspect of the new technology and every step of every new procedure. One glitch can undermine an entire project. Also, be careful not to overreach with your new tech toys so as not to outpace the expertise and comfort level of the people who will be using it.
     
  2. Typography: Limit the amount of text that needs to be read onscreen. View your new product in the size and format it will be used to ensure that fonts and type sizes are readable from the distance anticipated.
     
  3. Appropriateness: When citing or linking to Internet sources, review all links and display elements on linked websites for appropriateness to your audience — especially comment sections that may appear under video or audio resources. A perfectly innocuous video may attract obscene or offensive comments.