There are definitely lots of things to keep in mind when designing materials. I’ve read all your posts and I cannot say that I disagree with any of the opinions stated. There is absolutely no principle that I could see as more important than any other.
However, there two things I always try to pay attention to regarding principles:
1. Setting a clear aim and deciding which principles are to be followed strictly before I start creating a certain task or activity. Knowing in advance what I’m doing and why I’m doing it helps avoid getting overwhelmed by the designing process.
2. Striking a balance between principles. What I’ve noticed is that when designing materials there are always compromises that need to made. One example (of many) is when I need to “sacrifice” (textual or visual) context due to lack of space. If the reduction of context affects the purpose of what I’m doing, I need to “let go” and come up with a new idea. If it doesn’t, I know that I’ve “cut out” meaningful context (which is against the principle I generally follow), but what I created served my purpose in the best way possible.
PS I hope my post wasn’t off-topic… I really couldn’t decide which principle is more important for me :-)
I agree - a balance is really important! Otherwise you'd be at a standstill. I've seen how that can affect another teacher I work with, but I didn't really understand it until reading your post here.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew! I can absolutely understand what you mean by "sacrificing" due to lack of space. You are right! We always have to bear in mind the objectives of each activity and make sure that, even if we have to reduce some items, the purpose of the activity is still not affected!
ReplyDeleteHi Andreas, your post isn't off topic - it's perfect. Thank you. I love that you set a clear aim to begin with. I think if we write a few aims on a post-it at the beginning and then make our materials, we can use the post-it as a check list at the end. It's so easy to lose sight of something important when there are so many things to remember. Also, the 'sacrificing' you mention will be familiar to most of us, I'm sure.
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