Unlearning and some constants
A while ago I wrote a post on unlearning. This post received a number of replies and comments. I believe that we need to teach our students principles independent of software packages. By this I mean:
- Principles of word processing
- Principles of data processing
- Principles of data presentation
- Principles of design
Many things change, we all have seen the rapid change in software, I only have to look at Microsoft’s string of office packages:
- office 2000
- office XP (2002)
- office 2003
- office 2007
They change regularly to provide better support for new OSes and also to provide income.
We can not ethically teach our students something that we know will be obsolete by the time they leave us. Why should we focus on teaching the students to use a product.
Essentially, what we must teach them are the Portable and applicable standards or principles that we can apply to any package whether it is a typewriter, Microsoft office suite, word perfect, Google docs, Zoho documents, staroffice or open office. They consistent standards are the bread and butter of these principles. If we look at Principles of word processing they are things like:
- consistency and repetition
- left to right flow
- Footers and headers
- readability and legibility
- suitability for the audience
- suitability for the purpose
- use of font styles, families, size, weight and types
- use of text enhancements – underline, reverse text, drop caps, pulled quotes
- appropriate use of colour
- appropriate use of whitespace
- text-image balance
- conventions for purpose – i.e. letter layout, papagraph structure
These are standards that apply across the board. Does this mean that all products are the same, are dull and boring?
No – a good product, and we are talking about a end product, has to suit the purpose and its audience each of these factors will be different depending on the target audience and the intended purpose.
This is what I mean by principles of word processing and these apply to any package, they are product independent.
November 23rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I agree Andrew– I think the same approach should go for web 2.0 tools as well, like social bookmarks and aggregators. Functionally we can look at what different tools do and permit us to do, and learn best-practices for using them. The tools will continue to change and evolve, but many of the functions for creating, communicating and collaborating will stay the same I think. Focusing on elements which will remain transcendent irrespective of point and click and menu differences makes sense.
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November 23rd, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Yes, we have all seen Web 2.0 applications flash and fade, but the principles/best practices are the same.
Best practices for netiquette are a great example. They started with email and bulletin boards but are just as applicable to podcast, vodcast, video & audio chat and texting. The tools evolve but the principles remain the same.
We could draw the same conclusion with searching. Boolean searches, the use of specific keywords and operators – and or & Not – have been around for many years and they form the foundation for all structured searches on current and obsolete search engines.
Thanks Wesley – see you down under soon
A
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