We all digest better to small chips of knowledge better than large chunks, no matter how good the taste. The chapter in our book
The general content of the book is now set because the coverage scheme is saved and the notebooks have been created. The next step is to decide which atoms are needed. This is more of an art than a science. How big is an atom? There were some more extensive guidelines in a previous blog.
An atom should have the following characteristics :
I find that using Evernote is the easy way to break things down. I already set up the stack of notebooks for the unit in the previous blog. Each notebook will be a chapter so now each note in a notebook will become an aPage. All I need to do is decide what is an atom of learning. Help is already at hand ... because EdExcel, the awarding body, has kindly provided a breakdown of what is to be included. All I need do is to turn that into atoms. An example would probably help.
The first criterion, P1, is defined as :-
I can now add three notes to the chapter (notebook) called Unit 14-P1. This gives me four notes in this chapter because each chapter has its own note too (we set that up in the previous blog). In my case I now have :-
So an outline for the atom on examples of event driven systems would look like the one below. Note that the title has been added and the sub-sections from the definition above magically become headings. The text can be filled in as and when there is time ... and that really is magical.
Sometimes a chapter will only need another note because that is all the extra material it contains. At other times you will need a dozen. Do not get hung up on the number of atoms in a chapter. It is the logic of an atom of learning that is important. These EdExcel units only have material defined for the pass criteria, so these are the only ones I need to worry about.
In the case of these EdExcel units, the merit and distinction criteria do not need extra aPages because it is the quality of work that is being described rather than extra knowledge. Therefore these chapters will only have the chapter aPage.
Just a final note to say that it took just under 40 minutes to go through each of the pass criteria to create the notes (aPages) outlines. This does not include writing the material, just creating a note for each from the learning outcomes and formatting the headings,
The general content of the book is now set because the coverage scheme is saved and the notebooks have been created. The next step is to decide which atoms are needed. This is more of an art than a science. How big is an atom? There were some more extensive guidelines in a previous blog.
An atom should have the following characteristics :
- An atom is a discrete unit of learning.
- An atom must be assessable.
- An atom is covered on one aPage.
I find that using Evernote is the easy way to break things down. I already set up the stack of notebooks for the unit in the previous blog. Each notebook will be a chapter so now each note in a notebook will become an aPage. All I need to do is decide what is an atom of learning. Help is already at hand ... because EdExcel, the awarding body, has kindly provided a breakdown of what is to be included. All I need do is to turn that into atoms. An example would probably help.
The first criterion, P1, is defined as :-
1.1 Key features: service oriented; time driven; event handlers; trigger functions; events e.g. mouse, keyboard, HTML object, form, user interface; event loops; flexibility; suitability for graphical interfaces; simplicity of programming; ease of development.Scanning through each of these tells me that each of the items 1.1 to 1.3 is a discrete unit of learning, is assessable and can be covered on one sheet of A4 in a normal 12pt typeface. So these become my atoms. Beware because sometimes these learning objectives cover more than one atom, but these ones were nicely written.
1.2 Examples: operating systems as event driven systems; Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs).
1.3 Programming languages: e.g. Visual Basic (VB), Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Coldfusion; Integrated Development Environments (IDEs).
I can now add three notes to the chapter (notebook) called Unit 14-P1. This gives me four notes in this chapter because each chapter has its own note too (we set that up in the previous blog). In my case I now have :-
Doing task early on in the process has several advantages. First, because I'm using Evernote I can add text to them at any time, whilst sitting on a bus or waiting for my wife. It also helps to concentrate the mind on what the coursework needs to cover - and that is important.
So an outline for the atom on examples of event driven systems would look like the one below. Note that the title has been added and the sub-sections from the definition above magically become headings. The text can be filled in as and when there is time ... and that really is magical.
Sometimes a chapter will only need another note because that is all the extra material it contains. At other times you will need a dozen. Do not get hung up on the number of atoms in a chapter. It is the logic of an atom of learning that is important. These EdExcel units only have material defined for the pass criteria, so these are the only ones I need to worry about.
In the case of these EdExcel units, the merit and distinction criteria do not need extra aPages because it is the quality of work that is being described rather than extra knowledge. Therefore these chapters will only have the chapter aPage.
Just a final note to say that it took just under 40 minutes to go through each of the pass criteria to create the notes (aPages) outlines. This does not include writing the material, just creating a note for each from the learning outcomes and formatting the headings,