Preparing a lesson
The following preliminary steps are required before starting with the redaction of the lesson :
- Definition of subject of the lesson
- Definition of the main components of the lesson (3 to 5 points, easily distinguishable from one another)
- Choice of the illustrating example(s)
- Choice of the main illustrations (pictures, drawings, videos, applets,…)
- Choice of the subject for the exercise
The text and illustrations (pictures and drawings) are prepared in a Microsoft Word document, using a specially designed set of styles that allow a precise definition of the function of each part of the document in the final course. Table 2 shows the main text styles used in the preparation of the Word document.
Table 2: Function of the main styles used in the preparation of the documents
| Style | Function |
| Titre 0 (this is fixed in French !) | Main title of the lesson. Appears in the title bar of all pages of the lesson |
| Title 1 … Title 4 (or Titel 1 … Titel 4, etc, depending on the language used) | Titles and sub-titles of the lesson. Title level 1 is always preceded of a page break. Title level 2 is preceded by a page break if it appears lower than halfway through the page. |
| Text | Normal text |
| Liste | Unnumbered list |
| Figure | For figures that are used in the text (not in-line images like equations or logos) |
| Légende figure | Figure caption (is automatically added as tool tip to the neighbouring figure) |
| Cellules | Table cells |
| Légende tableau | Table caption |
| Equation | Formal equation (not in-line) |
| Think | Outlines the paragraph of text to lead the student to reflect, typically on an extension of the previously presented material. |
| Quizz | Outlines a paragraph to lead the student through a short series of question with the aim to better understand the material just presented. |
| Important | Outlines the paragraph to emphasize an important point of the lesson, often a conclusion |