The Body Language of Text
Due to the lack of face-to-face interaction online (unless you have the ability to capture lessons and/or Skype, of course), students will read into the design of the typeface that you use.
Interested in alienanting them all in one fell swoop? Use something visually heavy and angular such as "Impact."
Want to be mistaken for passive and childish? Aim for "Kristen ITC" or any other font that looks like a child's handwriting.
Trying to come across as a professional? Use traditional fonts -- "Times New Roman" and "Courier" are good choices.
Finally, if you want to make it look as if everything you say is a suggestion and of little consequence, use "Comic Sans."
If you don't believe me, consider the fact that companies spend billions on advertising each year to get our attention and our money. Or, if you're interested, I can point you to the disseration that sucked three years out of my life... ;)
Hello Michelle:
I would be very interested in learning more about your dissertation. I hadn't given a lot of thought to how the design of the typeface would affect students. This is a very interesting topic and it makes sense when you think about how marketing companies project their advertising strategies on us as consumers.
Thx
Donna
Donna,
In short, education is all about marketing. We just happen to be peddling knowledge rather than a good or service. My research found that students do read into text -- just as we read into advertising. It's not something that schools tend to take into consideration, however. With increasing competition for students, though, we need to think about brand perception even in the most mundane areas, such as emails and LMS.
I attempted to pull up a copy to paste a link, but I think my company's firewall is causing problems. Here's the citation to help you find it:
Louch, Michelle O'Brien. "A study of the influence of typeface in online instructor e-mails on online student perception." PhD diss., ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY, 2011.
I'm currently in the process of replicating my original study and making some minor changes to the survey instrument.
Thanks for your interest,
Michelle
Hello Michelle
Great point you have made.Text is impersonable and there are little things you can do to make them more. I also would be interested in reading about the dissertation.
Dina Guarino
This is interesting. I agree with your statement about Comic Sans. It could possibly be the worst font ever made. =)
A tool we use to help us communicate is emoticons. When used appropriately, the reader is able to better understand the tone and "body language" of the message.
Aubrie,
They can be overused, but when used appropriately they are invaluable. There are also times when not used, the message can be very problematic.
Herbert Brown III
This is definitely one aspect I hadn't even considered! It makes perfect sense, though. As educators, we are marketing to our students. We "sell" education and it needs to appeal to our target audience. Great point!
I have been thinking about how this might work. Just now thinking about teaching an online course. The class room provides plenty of visuals, so this helps to create the professional visual needed in the online commuity. Thank you for the insight. Interesting way to spend your research time!
