Media Specifications

Lee/Owens says there are four approaches to learning: Visual, Auditory, Olfactory, and Tactile or Kinesthetic.
Visual approaches to learning uses things that the student can look at, video, computer screen, books, etc. Auditory approaches to learning use things that the student can listen to, music, tapes, etc. Olfactory approaches to learning use things that the student can smell or taste, food, spices, burning smell, etc. Tactile or Kinesthetic approaches to learning use things the student can touch or change, models, equipment, etc.
Lee/Owens says there are seven steps in the process of defining media specifications: 1) Define the look and feel of the theme, 2) Define the interface and functionality, 3) Define the interaction and feedback standards, 4) Define the video and audio treatments, 5) Indicate text design standards, 6) Prepare the graphic design standards, and 7) Decide on animation and special effects.
In step one, you want to brainstorm and list all the possiple themes that could fit your specific topic. Then decide on which is the best. In step two, you want to look at your theme, audience, and environment of the class and determine the best way to present your lesson. In step three, you want to figure out how many interaction you want the students to have. Do you want hands on stuff or just asking them questions every now and then. In step four, you want do decide on if your lesson needs extra things like videos, sounds, and pictures to help you get your points across. If you do then determine what you need based off your audience and environment. In step five, you want to determine things like font styles, font sizes, and colors for your presentation. In step six, you want to determine things like file type, file sizes, and naming conventions. In step seven, on want to decide on if animations and special effects will help or take away from your lesson. If it will help you get the points across determine what effects you want to use.

Lee, W. W., & Owens, D. L. (2004). Multimedia-based instructional design: Computer-based training, web-based training, distance broadcast training, performance-based solutions. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.