Course syllabus . The syllabus must be as complete as possible in order to guide the students through the course in the absence of daily contact with the instructor. Case studies . If written imaginatively, case studies are an extremely effective instructional tool. In fact, case studies are often designed around the limitations of print and intended to spark the students imaginations as they place themselves in the particular case under consideration.
Many case studies present a content-based scenario.
They raise questions, pose alternative solutions, and then branch students to different sections of the text. There, the consequences of the selected alternative are described. Because print is largely a one-way communication medium, the challenge is to design instruction to maximize the amount of interaction in distance education print materials. Writing style . Avoid compound sentences.