Start a new document in your word processor to get the first strand under way. Change the layout to landscape so that there is room. Open the text file you created in the previous blog - this contains all the substance of the specification. Copy/paste the name and number of the unit to the top of your document.
Next, you should add a table with three columns and as many rows as there are assessment criteria. In my case there are 12 criteria, so I'll need 12 rows.
The first column will contain the assessment criteria. Copy/paste these from your text file into the cells in the first column.
The second column will hold the learning outcomes for each assessment criterion. In the case of EdExcel, these only refer to the pass criteria, so the second column would be blank for the merits and distinctions. Copy/paste these from the text file.
The final column will hold the grading advice for each assessment criterion. Copy/paste these from the text file too.
You can now format the text in the table to make it look nice. I find decreasing the width of the first column and the font size in the other two makes for fewer pages.
Do save your work. You will need it for the awarding body and internal verification.
The next stage is to start the materials. My preferred way to do this is to use EverNote because it allows me to structure the work, allows me to change my mind and is synchronised across all platforms; my work PC, my home PC and my mobile devices. This means I can jot down an idea when I'm on a bus or in a boring meeting (not that any of ours ever are!). On top of all of this, the work can be exported in the format needed to create aPages - brilliant.
The first stage is to create a new notebook stack. Watch this video if you are new to EverNote. There are several other video tutorials on YouTube that go into more detail. I am going to call my new notebook stack Unit 14 - Event Driven Programming - snappy!
Next, create a new notebook for each criterion, say, Unit 14-P1, Unit 14-P2 and so on plus one called Overview. These can then be dragged into the main notebook to create the structure for the book. Each note that gets added to one of these notebooks will become an aPage ... eventually. You should have something like this :-
If you right-click the Overview notebook you will get the option to create a new note. Copy/paste the text from the text file. Create a note in each criterion folder so that you can copy its details in. Make sure that the P1 note contains all the information about P1 and none of those from other criteria. After formatting the note you might have something like this :-
Whilst this may sound like a lot of work, it actually goes quite quickly once you get into it. The whole process has taken a bit over an hour (excluding the time needed to create this blog). However, the pay-back is huge. We are on our way to creating all the documentation and materials for this unit ... and once that is done we never need to do it again - ever. Even better, the students will have materials in a format that suits their learning style.
I have just set up another unit and timed how long each stage took. Here are the results :-
- Finding the PDF, converting it to text and making a copy ~ 1min 30sec
- Manipulating the text file into the correct format ~ 23mins 30sec
- Making the coverage scheme and formatting it ~ 20mins
- Making the Evernote folders, notes and formatting ~ 43mins
TOTAL TIME TAKEN ~ 1hour 25mins