Courseware Layout

Module Content Page

The page image shown here is representative of a typical section lecture page. Most sections have anywhere from 10-30 pages of this type (covering a collection of related topics).
The page can be divided into three main regions:

  1. Instructor and student notes (upper left region).
    In instructor manuals, this space contains special notes to the instructor providing: demo ideas, additional facts, presentation tips, etc. In student manuals this space is left blank and is used for student note taking.
  2. Slide (upper right region)
    This region contains a small version of the instructor slide that is used when this page is being presented. This ensures that all students can easily follow the presentation and stay in sync with the instructor. This also allows quick lookup of information later making the book more valuable as a reference.
  3. Detailed text descriptions and graphics (lower left and right regions)
    The main region of each page is used for detailed descriptions of the topic. This will include: command examples, descriptions of best practices, tables, lists, and illustrations to clarify particularly complex topics. This region is split into two columns to make it easier to read and scan quickly.

 


Module Lab Page

The page image shown here is representative of a typical section lab page. Most labs have anywhere from 5-15 pages of this type (grouped into tasks). Each lab task will have one or more objectives listed where each objective focuses on real world application of knowledge gained in the corresponding lecture section.
Key layout elements of the lab sections include the following:

  1. Each task begins with clearly stated objectives that map to real world tasks.
  2. Commands or actions that students must perform are consistently typeset in bold allowing students to easily follow the exercise.
  3. Unique "callout" marginal notes give additional tips and provide insight into particularly complex commands (without disrupting the flow of commands and output).
  4. Landscape page layout allows long commands and command output to be shown in an easy to read non-line-wrapped format. This greatly reduces student confusion and errors.