4 things to keep in mind while designing content
(1) Your Goal and intended outcomes
Ask yourself: Why am I creating this content artefact?
Clearly define your goals and outcomes before starting the design process. While Goals are vision statements, Outcomes are statements that describe what my audience is expected to be able to do, say, write or show (knowledge and skills) at the end of a particular course, reading or lesson.
It is important to define the WHAT in order to understand HOW.
(2) The curriculum framework
A curriculum framework is an organized plan or set of standards or learning outcomes that define the content to be learned in terms of clear, definable standards of what the student should know and be able to do.
Depending on your purpose and the board your school is affiliated to, you may choose from the various existing frameworks available like the National Curricular Framework by NCERT or the CENTA Standards Framework for Teachers’ Professional Development.
Frameworks provide us with a roadmap to content creation and help us stay on track.
(3) Your audience
Ask yourself: For whom am I creating this content?
This will help: 1) To make my content relevant for my target audience, 2) To make learning effective by including approaches and examples that work better with my audience, 3) To utilize the audience’s pre-existing knowledge as a base for new ideas being share, 4) To determine the kind of language I must use to deliver my content 5) To understand the limitations of my audience and modify my content accordingly.
(4) Your limitations
Ask yourself: What is restricting me?
Restrictions may be physical in nature – like the space I have to do a certain activity or conducting a session online, restrictions can also be related to time, accessibility, what my learners already know/not know, learner expectations. Knowing and keeping your’s and your audience’s limitations in mind is necessary to make your content suitable and effective in the setting you are in.
Restrictions may vary with time, hence it is important to keep updating your content.
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