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Teaching tip: Good Handouts
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Background, overview, rationale:
The handout is an integral part of any presentation and should always be considered at the same time as the planning, content selection, and preparation of the visuals. The concept behind handouts is controversial; one point of view being that they are a supplement to the presentation, and the other that they should reproduce the slides.
The latter point has several problems—first, the slides are not stand-alone entities, but supportive to the presentation. As such, they are not a complete statement of the learning that should occur. Secondly, slides by themselves are not only meaningless, but often do not reproduce the points they are designed to illustrate. It is a poor speaker whose slides are the entire presentation. If one is to use the slides, then explanatory text needs to be added, creating an unwieldy handout.
When a handout is supplementary to the presentation, it fills the gap and serves as a study or recall aid. It is well known that about 80% of what is heard is forgotten or ignored. A well-designed handout may fill in with the essential material and assist learning and later recall.
In what way does a well-designed handout support a teaching session?
- Text, diagrams, graphics can support the spoken word and the visuals with additional details, explanations and applications. This material can expand on the presentation, explain parts of it, and serve as a reminder later.
- The handout can serve as an outline of the content. It prepares the learner for the presentation and keeps them on track.
- The handout can contain supplemental material such as references, answers to frequently asked questions, and additional charts or diagrams.
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Marie Wallace has developed principles of good handouts, which are summarized here.
- Plan your handout as you plan your presentation. The discussion and elaboration is in the presentation. The details, complexity, explanations and applications are in the handout.
- Make them aesthetically pleasing and practical.
- Design to support the purpose of your presentation and the audience.
- Avoid rehashing your presentation verbatim.
There is strong support for the one page handout. It contains the main facts and an outline of the important content with elaborating materials. Certainly the efficiency and possibility of future use makes it an attractive idea. |
Two main categories of handouts exist, and you should pick those that best support your objective.
Reiterative: know more. These contain an outline, fact sheet, bibliography, case study, and some copy of the visuals used.
Interactive: do more. These are worksheets, checklists, decision trees, flow charts, diagrams and tables, and action plans. |
Good handouts should be simple, uncluttered, have inviting graphics, and contain brief statements rather than sentences. White space helps to set off information.
Graphics should be included and placed above text.
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Points to remember:
- Handouts are supportive of your presentation.
- Handouts are an outline and can contain additional information of use to the listener.
- Handouts help the learner keep up with the lecture and give them additional information later so they have retained the information better and can apply it to future tasks.
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Summary:
Consider handouts as an essential addition to the media in a lecture. They do not contain all of the slides or what is said, but they do include an outline of the content and often content that is related but cannot be transmitted in a talk.
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Suggested reading:
Wallace, M. Guide on the Side-why and how to avoid trashy handouts. http://www.llrx.com/authors/376
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Test my knowledge;
Describe several different uses of handouts and the content each might contain.
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