The new news

I’ve posted this before, but was again reminded of the value of seeing the full process of content development with regard to news: The new news. Key point: while much of the initial process for gathering information (or, if you will, creating a course) is unchanged, what is most unique now is the iterative, corrective, and subsequent interaction and enhancement around the content after it has been created (again, think courses and programs if you’re an educator). The quality of academic content is a function of how well it has been designed to accept feedback for improvement after initial creation. Opportunities for improvement need to be added during the initial stage of course development. Too many course/learning designers assume that a course is complete once it has been created. While that may have been the case twenty years ago, today a course is the starting point, not the end point of the design process.
Of related interest, Martin Weller has put together a short online presentation on the future of content.