How to Enhance Instructional Images Using Skitch

Enhance Instructional Images Using Skitch

1. Ask students to have digital images for each step in their instructions ready for class discussion. Explain to students that standard Technical Communication practices suggest using simple, reader-centered visuals that represent one idea per image (Anderson, 2013, p. 334).

   1. Encourage students to think about their instructions' readers' 'tasks and attitudes' when choosing their graphics (Anderson, 2013, pp. 331-33).
   2. Remind students that images used for their wikiHow must be properly licensed.

2. Direct students to create a new Skitch Note using one of their digital images. Advise students not to begin annotating.

3. Inquire with students about how they may use the annotation tools to enhance their image. As a class, brainstorm reasons and goals for annotating images for instruction sets. Scaffold and support the conversation by emphasizing that images included in instruction sets should: a.) help readers visualize a process that is difficult to describe and b.) make important information easy to find.

4. Reveal the following "before and after" images to students. Explain to students how using Skitch enhances each image.

5. Prompt students to begin annotating their images using Skitch in class. Monitor student work while providing guidance and reiterating key points brought up during the classroom discussion.

   1. Use this as an opportunity to gauge your own effectiveness, noting points that need to be re-taught or require further practice.

6. Plan for the next class to be about incorporating students' enhanced images into their wikiHow article.