1 USING VISUALS EFFECTIVELY IN THE DISTANCE EDUCATION CLASSROOM

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of visuals and their components presented through a television monitor in the distance education classroom. As a means of accomplishing the purpose of the study, answers to the following questions were sought: (a) What are the demographic variables of the participants in the study? (b) What are the most appropriate color combinations for effective presentations for graphics utilizing distance education equipment? (c) What are the most appropriate types of fonts for effective presentations for graphics utilizing distance education equipment? (d) What are the most appropriate font sizes for effective presentations for graphics utilizing distance education equipment? (e) What are the most appropriate styles of emphasis for effective presentations for graphics utilizing distance education equipment? (f) Are there differences in preferences of color combinations, fonts and font sizes according to selected demographic variables? The design for this study was survey research. Participants were asked to rate different color combinations, font types, font sizes and styles of emphasis according to their personal preference. This study found that contrasting color combinations are essential to presentation formatting. The most preferred color combination was violet background/white text. The color preferred most for text was white. Sans-serif fonts are more desirable than serif fonts. The most preferred font size was 54. Distance or visual impairments had no significant relationship with color combination preferences, preferences for font style or styles of emphasis. Introduction/Theoretical Framewor