M., 2016

Medium Guidance for use

Text Summary:

When explication and articulation matter

Good for:

Information, details such as history, considerations, background, dimension,

scope, assumptions

Scaffolding, coaching (as opposed to demonstration)

Teaching expertise, sharing ways of thinking about a problem, perspectives

Any form of reasoning

Nuances such as incompleteness, assumptions, truth conditions, dependencies

best conveyed in text

Considerations:

Negative bias - medium seen as bulk, not engaging

Badly done text comes off worse than other media

Audio Summary:

When narrative traits matter - elaboration, emphasis, tone

Good for:

Anecdotal, generalised sharing

Story-telling, plus can be layered as second content narrative running parallel to

text

Summarising, reinforcing, emphasising

Tonally sensitive messages: anti-harassment or bullying, soft positioning,

identity, ethics

Dramatic value, emotional affect

Draw focus to specific elements shown for scaffolding and pacing of instruction

Explanatory content in which every detail doesn't have to be remembered, of

which a more generalised understanding has to be built

Uninvolved, direct and simple information

Quicker pace than text

Considerations:

Seen as less effort to absorb, newer and richer than text

Awful if there's copious amounts holding the learner hostage - text is more

merciful

Number of voices

Maintainability

M., 2016

Visuals Summary:

Reliance on impact than depth, selective focus

Good for:

Emotive value, dramatic impact

Demonstration, modeling

Simplification

Considerations:

Seen as most engaging and therefore possibly most receptivity

Fluff in this medium stands out the least

'Standalone' skew: implicit choice of focus to magnify, exclude elements

Maintainability

Mixed virtues of symbols: large complex abstractions quickly invoked, but

differences in perceptions/interpretations and chances of misunderstanding to

contend with

Can't represent certain kinds of nuances and thinking: uncertainty, fuzzy

conditions, relative judgement/interpretation, a lack of something

Can't represent logic

More functionality requires more legend/decoding info (which is text again,

booyah)