1. Brief Description: Simply put, print media is a medium that disseminates printed matter. It is one of the oldest and most commonly used medium.
2. Standards and Goals: Printed media is very versatile. The design and functionality of printed media is only limited to the imagination of the person designing it. Since printed media was the reigning technology for many years, it is appropriate for almost any situation, with cost and availability as the main considerations.
Printed media can be integrated into any educational, training, informational or advertising scenario. Some ways this can be done is by using books, pamphlets, handouts, lesson plans, flyers, etc. When used in instructional situations, it can be the most beneficial when used to supplement instruction. Most college courses require a textbook to supplement the instructors teaching. This helps students by allowing them to go back and reread the information and helps with retention.
Printed media is all around us. It’s impossible to get through our day without seeing thousands of letters and words printed everywhere. We see books, billboards, T-shirts, signs, menus, official forms, ribbons, magnets, etc., everywhere we go. The list of printed media is limitless.
3. Application to types of learning:
a. Cognitive objectives:
– Apply the information presented about a topic.
– Understand the information presented about a topic.
– Demonstrate that the information was understood.
– Evaluate the information presented.
– Create a project based off of the information presented.
b. Psychomotor objectives: There are no psychomotor objectives associated with print media.
c. Affective objectives:
– Demonstrate the ability to receive instruction.
– Demonstrate the ability to respond to the instruction presented.
4. Strengths: The following list comes from the book Instructional technology and media for learning.
a. Availability: Text materials are readily available on a variety of topics and in many different formats.
b. Flexibility: Text resources are adaptable to many purposes and may be used in any environment.
c. Portability: Most text materials in print form or viewed with a mobile device are easily carried from place to place.
d. User friendly: Properly designed text materials are easy to use, not requiring special effort to “navigate” through them.
e. Personalization: Digitized text often includes tools to personalize content to reader preferences, such as adding highlights, bookmarks, comments, links to associated resources, or modifying font size and color to improve readability. (Smaldino, Lowther, & Mims, 2018)
5. Limitations: The following list comes from the book Instructional technology and media for learning.
a. Reading level: The major limitation of text materials is that they are written at a certain reading level that may not align with all students in your class.
b. Vocabulary: Some textbooks introduce a large number of vocabulary terms and concepts in a short amount of space. Readers sometimes lack the prerequisite knowledge to comprehend the vocabulary and terminology.
c. One-way presentation: Because most text materials are not interactive, they tend to be used in a passive way, often without comprehension.
d. Curriculum determination: Sometimes textbooks dictate the curriculum rather than being used to support the curriculum. Textbooks are often selected to accommodate the curriculum guidelines of particular states or provinces rather than specific needs in local school districts.
d. Cursory appraisal: Selection committees might not examine textbooks carefully. Sometimes textbooks are chosen by the “five-minute thumb test” – whatever catches the reviewer’s eye while thumbing through the textbook. (Smaldino, Lowther, & Mims, 2018)
6. Special Features/Creative ideas: Some of the special features of print media are listed below.
a. Computers have enhanced our ability to use colors, fonts and pictures to make our printed media more attractive to the reader.
b. Printed media can be designed to target the specific audience you want to influence.
c. Printed media can use comedy, satire, sarcasm, words or pictures to convey the message.
7. UDL/ Accessibility requirements:
a. Consider the size of text, images, graphs, tables, or other visual content
b. Consider the contrast between background and text or image
c. Consider the color used for information or emphasis
d. Consider the layout of visual elements
e. Consider braille for print material for the visually impaired
f. Consider a text-to-speech program for the visually impaired
8. Technology Resources/websites: The links below are some currently popular web sites to help you with your print media ideas.
c. www.fedex.com/office/printing
9. Examples of print media: While the list is virtually limitless, some of the more popular forms of print media are, books, posters and pamphlets. A description of each of these mediums can be accessed below.
a. Books
b. Posters
c. Pamphlets
10. Citations:
Smaldino, S. E., Lowther, D. L., & Mims, C. (2018). Instructional technology and media for learning (12th ed, pp178-186). Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Retrieved from http://udlguidelines.cast.org
MAKE IT ACCESSIBLE 