The material writer’s toolkit for successKirsten Holt │ Eaquals Members’ Meeting │ Florence 2016

www.eaquals.org

In-house materials designThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Case study: through the eyes of an inspector

In-house materials design: the inspector’s perspectiveThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Eaquals inspectors’ recommendations in Section 5 Academic Resources to avoid issues with in-house materials design…

1. have quality assessment for content and design of in-house produced materials

2. establish ways of integrating in-house produced materials into course design and classroom teaching

3. establish ways of integrating coursebook content with in-house designed resources

4. incorporate ‘live’ online resources as course materials, and assure their quality

5. integrate hard-copy, online, or other resources into web-based student learning platforms, systematically

6. monitor access and retrieval of in-house produced material: hard-copy and electronically stored

THE MATERIALS WRITER’S TOOLKIT FOR SUCCESS

Part 1: Materials creation

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – what needs to be established?

• General English/Exams/ESP/EAP, etc.• Students’ Age • Level • Interests • Teachers’ methodology • Classroom reality• Teaching hours • Current material • Teaching expectations • Taboos

The Who, the What and the How

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

PoliticsAlcohol ReligionSexNarcotics ‘Isms’Pork

PARSNIP

To PARSNIP or not to PARSNIP?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the round rules

• Dense • Spacious • Serious • Fun • Innovative • Traditional• Blended• Clear reading paths

What image should the material have?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

• Scope (total number of items)• Sequence (order of items)• Pace (speed)• Key items (teacher expectations)• Start and finish points• Vertical or spiral syllabus?

What are the syllabus requirements?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

Which syllabus?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

• Grammar • Vocabulary • Functions (communication)• Skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing)• Pronunciation • Other (e.g. cultural information, content-rich texts, learner training,

life skills and study skills)

What are the constituents of your syllabus?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

• What is the purpose of the course? Is it General English, ESP, etc.?• Is it linked to an exam? For example, IELTS, Cambridge English:

First (FCE), etc. • Different teaching situations produce different core syllabus items:

Is it a grammar-driven or skills-driven syllabus?• Is it linked to the Common European Framework of Reference

(CEFR)? Does it need to?

What are the syllabus drivers?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Formulating the writing brief – establishing the ground rules

• Extent• Number of units/lessons/activity sets• Length of each unit/lesson/activity set• Language input• Skills work• Progress check• Endmatter• Number of photos• Number of illustrations• Use of authentic material

How should you organise each module/component/activity set?

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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The activities themselves

• What is its purpose? - Is it for comprehension? - To pre-teach vocabulary? - To be used as a warmer? - To recycle target language?

• How long will it take to set up? How long will it take students to do? How complex are the rubrics?

• Does the activity set have a sequence in line with the methodology?• What interaction is there within the activity set? Is there variety?• Does it have consistency with the supporting material? E.g. Is the

wording in the same style? Does the numbering follow on in sequence? Are the spelling rules the same?

• Does the activity have closed questions or open? If the former, how many correct answer options are there?

Sample check list – things to consider

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Adding interest with images

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating listening material

• What is its purpose? • What language does it need to cover and/or show in context?• How much target language does it contain? (NB avoid overload)• Does it need a plot? If so, is it credible?• Does the script sound natural or stilted? Does it contain much

language we actually use?• What kind of characters do you have? Are they believable?• If there is more than one voice, is it easy to distinguish each one?• Do you need variety of accent?• What pace is appropriate for the learners?• Is it interesting?

Test it out, before rolling it out!

Things to consider

Materials creationThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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To sum up, establish a framework to set the ground rules

• input at an appropriate level (Krashen’s I + 1)• grammatically correct English• language that is useful for the learners’ context• a visually pleasing design• accessibility to learners of all kinds, in all contexts• logical sequencing• flexibility / adaptability• appropriate content (PARSNIPs … or not!)• clear and appropriate instructions (rubrics)

Through the eyes of an author*

*Katherine Bilsborough, October 2016 http://mawsig.iatefl.org/emerging-principles-for-elt-materials-writers/

Case study …The materials writer’s toolkit for success

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… through the eyes of an inspector

“have quality assessment for content and design of in-house produced

materials”

Case study …The materials writer’s toolkit for success

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… through the eyes of an inspector

“establish ways of integrating coursebook content with in-house designed resources”

“establish ways of integrating in-house

produced materials into course design and

classroom teaching”

THE MATERIALS WRITER’S TOOLKIT FOR SUCCESS

Part 2: Exploiting your materials further

Exploiting your materials furtherThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Your user cases

Talk about your situations:• What is your school/institution set up?• Who creates the material? Who monitors quality?• Do your teachers share material? If so, how?• What system(s) do you use to share material?

How do you track who uses what? • Do you have any tips for best practice?

Case study …The materials writer’s toolkit for success

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… through the eyes of an inspector

“incorporate ‘live’ online resources as course

materials, and assure their quality”

“integrate hard-copy, online, or other resources into web-

based student learning platforms, systematically”

Exploiting your materials furtherThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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The nitty gritty!

Writing with others and/or sharing files

1. File names: Decide on a naming convention to the files are easy to find. Consider naming the file according to the date, time, level, chapter number/name and your initials, e.g. 141116_Int_Activity2_Let’sgo_KH. That way you can see who has worked on what and when. (And possibly, go back to the previous edition if there’s an issue In addition, you can always go back and retrieve that deleted activity from last week.

2. Share files: Use a platform like Drive or Google docs where you commonly store all worked-on documents.

3. Shared overview: Develop a spreadsheet to record the status of the project. Colour-code it with ‘first draft’, ‘final draft’, urgent’, ‘to do soon’, ‘in progress’, ‘done’ and ‘checked’. Add initials and dates to show who did what, when and keep it up to date. (NB This system would also work for file use.)

Case study …The materials writer’s toolkit for success

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… through the eyes of an inspector

“monitor access and retrieval of in-house produced material:

hard-copy and electronically stored”

Exploiting your materials furtherThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Making your material work harder

• Can your materials work beyond the context of your classroom? How PARSNIP-friendly is it?

• Can you select and adapt revise material for your purposes?• Can you adapt material for ESP or for other languages?• What principles do you think you should follow?

Remember, give credit where credit’s due!• Check you can use it• Cite sources• Add permission line to material

Exploiting your materials furtherThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Your turn!

1. Look at the material you’ve just been given and decide how you are going to adapt it.

2. Define the rational for the revision.3. Sketch out the revisions.4. Compare revisions with the other groups.

THE MATERIALS WRITER’S TOOLKIT FOR SUCCESS

Part 3: Creating material for digital versus print

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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A true evolution?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Online or blended (including flipped)?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Independent learning or teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Independent learning or teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Teacher-facilitated learning

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Independent learning or teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Independent learning or teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Independent learning or teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Teacher-facilitated learning?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Points to consider

• What is the impact on the classroom/training room?• What is the impact on the materials in and out of class content?• What is the impact on the role of the teacher/trainer?• Is the established pedagogy maintained?• What are the lesson outcomes?

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Final tips

• Creativity – is it stifled in set parameters, e.g. T/F questions?• Self-study/digital – is there a balance of closed activities?• Re-purposing – can the activities be accessed on smart phones?

(NB despite phones reducing text, keep the integral part of lesson)• User experience – how much scrolling does the student need to do

to answer the questions? (NB Use 3 shorter texts rather than one long one to cut down on scrolling and/or links and pop ups)

• Use of photos – do they work o the small screen? Consider composite photo versus small photos.

• Motivation – is the same level of interest maintained in the digital from the print and visa versa? Consider variety of tasks and level of engagement

Creating material for print and visa versaThe materials writer’s toolkit for success

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Your turn!

1. Look back at the sample pages and activities from part 2. 2. Identify which parts you would put online and how.3. Decide how you could extend the activities for the classroom.4. Prepare a short presentation explaining your conversion.5. Present to the group.

Thank you!

Links and handout:https://padlet.com/kirsten_holt/toolkit