Stop and think. When you glance at any page with text and images, where does your eye immediately fall?
People are naturally drawn to images, especially colorful or dramatic ones. They conjure emotions and feelings and they can easily convey a message.
Use their attention grabbing elements to your advantage to pull students into specific areas of your course. Use their emotional elements to help draw in the students' interest. And use their message conveying elements to give the students the information they need to learn.
It may require several images to do all these things. Just remember, like many things in the online world, it is all a balancing act. You don't want to overwhelm the reader, yet you don't want to leave them thinking something is lacking.
Also be aware, as you begin to add multimedia elements (images, videos, animations) to your course, you need to continue to be diligent in following both accessibility and copyright laws.
If you would like help adding images to your course, you can contact me, Sue Taylor-Owens, via email or at 670-1856 or Online Education Support via email or at 670-2381.
Image courtesy of thegnome54 on stock.xchng
