Adding images

Important: This article is currently under review to align with the December 2023 Moodle upgrade. For further support, contact ltc-central@uow.edu.au.

Learners may retain more information when presented with a combination of words and pictures than by words alone (Mayer, 2009). Images can be used in many ways to enhance your subject content, such as;

• enhancing understanding through visual examples,
• demonstrating a complex topic or procedure,
• creating visual cues to associate with written information,
• representing data or information in a visual manner (e.g., a graph or diagram), or
• breaking up large sections of text visually to improve readability (when used in moderation).

To maximise the potential benefits of using images, consider the following:

• Is an image required at all? Ask yourself:
  • How does it enhance the surrounding content?
  • How does it help students to understand the concept?
  • Is the information more easily conveyed with text?
  • Is this image purely for decoration? If so, how is it relevant to the overall context?
• Learning increases when we simplify the content, removing all extraneous material - coherence multimedia learning principle (Mayer, 2009).
• Present words and images near each other and at the same time, not far apart or successively -temporal contiguity and spatial contiguity multimedia learning principles (Mayer, 2009).
• The image will ideally be high enough quality that it is clear on all screen sizes while still being a small enough file size to be accessed by those with lower internet bandwidth.
• Ensure you have permission to use the images in your content. Information on sourcing images and copyright, in general, is available on the UOW Copyright guidance for staff page. Alternately,  contact copyright@uow.edu.au.
• Ensure images have appropriate text alternatives.
  There is a need to provide equivalent alternate means of engaging with content that is conveyed as an image for students who are unable to view images for a variety of reasons. For example, if they have a visual impairment or poor internet connection and are unable to load large images.
  
  The alternative form may be alternative text (or alt text), a text description to accompany the image, or surrounding content that sufficiently conveys the same meaning.

How?

Once you have determined that an image is a valuable addition to your subject site, images can be added anywhere the Atto editor (text editor) is available by following these instructions:

1. In your subject site, click the Turn edit on button.
   
2. Navigate to the part of the content where you would like to add an image.
3. Click the Insert or edit image button.
   
4. From the Image properties popup dialogue box, click the Browse repositories button, then click the Choose File button to upload an image file.
   
   Note: Images may be uploaded from a number of sources, but the most common is to upload a file from your computer.
5. Enter a file name into the Save as text box and update the Author and copyright license information as required.
   
6. Click the Upload this file button.
7. In the Image properties popup dialogue box, enter the following information:
   • An alternative text description for the image in the Describe this image for someone who cannot see it text box.
     
     Writing effective alt text

     Understanding the context of the image is critical to writing quality alt text as the alt text must convey what the image aims to convey. Some general tips on writing alt text include the following:

     • Be succinct. Aim for fewer than 100 characters.
     • Add any text shown in the image to the alt text. If this text is longer than a few words, consider restating it in the supporting context.
     • Avoid repeating information in the alt text that is already included in the body of the page or caption.
     • Links to additional information about writing quality alt text are available in the Related information section of this article.

     Note: If the image is decorative, leave this text box blank and click the This image is decorative only checkbox.
   • Adjust the size of the image by entering a value (in pixels) in the Size text boxes. 
     Note: Images will automatically resize depending on the viewer's screen.
   • Select an appropriate option from the Alignment dropdown menu.
     Note: Wherever possible, content should be left-aligned. Content that is right or centre-aligned can be disorientating, particularly for viewers who rely on digital magnification to view content.
   • Click the Save image button.

References

Mayer, R.E. (2009). Multimedia Learning (2^nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.