Distributed Education and Multimedia (DEM)
Best Practices

DEM Overview | What is Distance Learning? |
Video Services | Best Practices

Presenting a Lesson

• Set a pace for speaking that is comfortable for you but not too fast.
• Enunciate clearly, and maintain a moderately even voice level.
• Try to avoid repetitive vocalizations, such as “you know” or “OK.”
• Avoid shuffling papers, tapping objects, or jingling coins near the microphone.
• Look directly into the camera.
• Use the time when visuals are on screen to focus on your local audience.
• In Video Conferencing Pause (up to 10 seconds) when you expect a response from remote sites.
• Wait until the speaker at the remote site has completed talking before you begin to speak again.
• Keep physical movement to a minimum.
• In Video Conferencing avoid pacing in front of the camera.
• Excessive movement will cause distortion of the video image.
• Use variety in your presentation. Looking at a video screen is more draining for participants than looking at a live presenter.
• Include individual and group exercises.
• Plan more breaks than you would for a standard live class.
• Switch among video sources, e.g., document camera, videotape.

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Preparing Slides for the Document Camera

• Prepare slides (text, graphs, drawings) in advance.
• Use landscape format (horizontal) in a 3 x 4 ratio, leaving a wide margin around the edges of the paper.
• Limit text to about 30 characters per line and 7 to 8 lines down.
• Double or triple space between lines of text.
• Use upper and lower case letters---not all capitals.
• Consider using bold style for increased legibility.
• Use a type size of 24-point or higher
• Use a sans-serif font, such as Helvetica, Geneva or Arial.
• Line thickness for boxes and line diagrams should be 3 point or larger.
• Break a long slide containing a lot of text into two separate slides.

Preparing Slides for the Computer

• Prepare slides (text, graphs, drawings) in advance.
• Use landscape format (horizontal) in a 3 x 4 ratio, leaving a wide margin around the edges of the slide.
• Use a video friendly background such as dark blue, green or gray.
• Seek a font color which has a high contrast to the background such as white and yellow.
• Avoid REDS as these are not video friendly.
• Limit text to about 30 characters per line and 7 to 8 lines down.
• Double or triple space between lines of text.
• Use upper and lower case letters---not all capitals.
• Consider using bold style for increased legibility.
• Use a type size of 24-point or higher
• Use a sans-serif font, such as Helvetica, Geneva or Arial.
• Formulas display better if a dark font is inside a yellow box to highlight the equation.

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Using the Document (Overhead) Camera

• Writing should be large and print so it is legible.
• Draw one diagram per page.
• Use pens or pointers to focus viewers’ attention to the parts of document being discussed.
• Avoid too many hand motions over the materials.
• Feel free to write on your preprinted materials but be sure printing is large, simple and clear.
• Use a medium-to-wide felt-tip marker in blue, black or green.
• Use pastel-colored paper for your documents instead of white which may cause glare.
• Leave a margin on all sides when framing the document on the overhead camera. Remote sites will not always see the same full frame that you see in the preview monitor.

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Encouraging Classroom Interaction

• Plan interaction methods when you plan your lectures.
• You must take the initiative if you want students to interact with you and with each other.
• Summarize and repeat all student questions for the benefit of all sites. Students at the origination site, in particular, tend to talk directly to the instructor, ignoring the microphones.
• Try to balance your level of interaction with all students from all locations.
• Encourage participation with nonverbal cues and reinforce with verbal ones.
• Call students by name, using the roll call list or students response units.
• Discourage side conversations that limit discussion and cause distractions.

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Dressing for Video Classes

• Avoid pinstripes, busy patterns and plaids as these cause distortion of the video image during movement.
• Avoid large or shiny jewelry as these distract the student's eye during movement.
• Avoid clothing colors that blend into the background. In the distributed learning classrooms, background walls are usually light blue.
• Wear clothing that will allow clip-on microphones.

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Video Streaming Guidelines

How Does It Work?
During your class we will capture the audio and video and create a streaming video file of your presentation. This file can be viewed by students registered in your class "on-demand" after they have signed up, been certified by our technical team to and have successfully accessed Rensselaer's Learning Management System (LMS).

So that the video-streamed version of your course is of the highest video quality, please use the above set of guidelines developed by the Production staff to ensure your materials display well over streaming video. Please take time to meet with your instructional designer or staff producer before the beginning of the term to review your materials before presenting them in class. All materials shown should be given to the producer to be included within your course LMS site.

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