Yes, this is a cliché.
Education is a particularly challenging theme to design for due to the overwhelming amount of hackneyed school-related imagery out there. (apples, pencils, light bulbs, globes, chalkboards.) Distance Education is even tougher, because you have to toss all the technology clichés too. (binary code, flying computers, keyboards, electrical cords.)
So I did my best and produced four rough cover concepts for “Emerging Technologies in Distance Education” by George Veletsianos, and we posted them on his blog to solicit feedback from his colleagues. Some particularly insightful comments included:
“I like the 3rd one. It’s a bit old school. Whatever that means.”
“looks like you are offering me a cigarette.”
“B-boards (albeit subliminal) on ed books are, I’m afraid, a cliché.”
And finally, an ultimatum:
“I’ll only buy it if you choose #4 the other three are a bit pretentious.”
The “B-board” idea that was selected stems from the interactive whiteboard technology discussed in the book. The title has been traced with a finger into the dust on a chalkboard, showing a desire for tactile human interaction with a virtually obsolete learning apparatus. It’s a reminder of why new tools are necessary and also how far education has come.
It’s also a huge cliché.
