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Which fonts should my students be using in the computer lab?
I have noticed an amazing variety of fonts being used in student writing projects in the lab at ATD. You may want to consider limiting the fonts that students can use for normal writing projects for the following reasons.
1) Many of the fonts the students choose are difficult to read. Cursive, fancy, block capital, and other decorative fonts are difficult to read.
2) The font should reflect a conscious choice of the writer and the materials. For normal writing, traditional fonts are the best choice.
3) For special projects, more decorative fonts can be appropriate. This would include posters, poems (potentially), and graphic designs. However, readability must be considered here too especially for posters.
4) Students tend to focus too much on fonts, font size, and font colors instead of the content.
5) We should have a somewhat consistent approach to fonts from teacher to teacher.
6) Students at the middle school, high school, and college levels will be limited in font choices for term papers.
See
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/webwriting/7
and
http://www.bamag.com/email/0-gi05d6g5-email/ne7raP/BA0269TextType.pdf
I would recommend limiting the students to:
1. Arial
2. Baskerville
3. Chalkboard (for younger students)
4. Comic Sans (for younger students)
5. Geneva
6. Helvetica
7. New York
8. Times New Roman
You may wish to specify a font size of 12 or 14 as well.