Content 101Beginners’ ID Training

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What is Content?Getting Terms Straight

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What Do These Terms Mean?

Content

Knowledge

Information

Data

Wisdom

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Do These Belong in ‘Content’?

Facts

ReferencesOpinions

Studies

Beliefs

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Ways to Look at ContentGetting a Handle on the Types

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Objective Classification

Component Display Theory by David Merrill

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‘Paid news’ in whatever form or nomenclature is presently not even an electoral offence. When the Election Commission looked into whether it had the powers to deal with paid news it found the answer was negative. The CEC has made a recommendation in this regard to the Law Ministry.

The government advertisements during elections should be considered as paid news. Paid news not being an electoral offence at present, the EC now tries to check this menace by invoking its powers related to candidates’ spending. If a candidate is caught, the amount is added to the candidate’s expenditure.

ConceptAdapted from an article in The Hindu (Link)

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Do you have properly documented/recorded details of my invention in a record such as a lab note book? In a lab note book, you should have all the information relating to your invention such as area of invention, describing what it is, and how it works, what is the advantage of invention along with any sketches, drawings or photographs. You will have to test if the invention is patentable or not. Not all the inventions are eligible for patenting.

Find out if it meets the requirements. Apart from the non-patentable inventions, the invention has to satisfy the patent ability requirements.

ProcedureAdapted from an article on WikiHow (Link)

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Suppose that two experimenters, holding opposite ends of a stretched string, each shake their end of the string, sending wave crests toward each other.

What will happen in the middle of the string, where the two waves meet?

Mathematically, you can calculate the displacement in the center by simply adding up the displacements from each of the two waves. 

PrincipleFrom this article on Superposition (Link)

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India is located in the south of the Asian continent, bordering the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The country is slightly more than one-third the size of the United States. The country's territory is measured at nearly 3.3 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles) extending from the snow-capped Himalayan Mountains in the north to tropical forests in the south.

India shares more than 14,000 kilometers (8,800 miles) of borders with 7 neighboring countries. To the northwest are Afghanistan and Pakistan; to the north are China, Bhutan, and Nepal; and to the east are Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Bangladesh. 

FactTaken from this article on India (Link)

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Subjective Classification

Judgment calls we make in the profession based on our frameworks

Typically, this kind of classification is based on: Training need Training context Audience Business needs Ability to break down, build up, build out or otherwise

manipulate a piece of information

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“Thin” Content

A "Public Interest Litigation", is filed in the same manner, as a writ petition is filed. In High CourtIf a Public Interest Litigation is filed in a High court, then two (2) copies of the petition have to be filed. Also, an advance copy of the petition has to be served on the each respondent, i.e. opposite party, and this proof of service has to be affixed on the petition.

In Supreme CourtIf a Public Interest Litigation is filed in the Supreme court, then (4)+(1) (i.e. 5) sets of petition has to be filed opposite party is served, the copy only when notice is issued.

(Link) 

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“Dense” Content

The nature of potential is that the zero point is arbitrary; it can be set like the origin of a coordinate system. That is not to say that it is insignificant; once the zero of potential is set, then every value of potential is measured with respect to that zero. Another way of saying it is that it is the change in potential which has physical significance. The zero of electric potential (voltage) is set for convenience, but there is usually some physical or geometric logic to the choice of the zero point. For a single point charge or localized collection of charges, it is logical to set the zero point at infinity. But for an infinite line charge, that is not a logical choice, since the local values of potential would go to infinity. For practical electrical circuits, the earth or ground potential is usually taken to be zero and everything is referenced to the earth.

(Link)

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Expert KnowledgeUnderstanding the Nature of Their Understanding

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Span of Expert Understanding

Knowledge of the subject itself – knowing the principles, concepts, relationships, frameworks used and so on

Knowledge about the nature of the subject – knowing how evidence or proofs are evaluated, the methods and rules for these, the prevailing discourse of the subject

Terminology - knowing the correct language associated with the field, the precise definitions and accurate vocabulary with which to express concepts and principles

- Deborah Ball

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Expert Teacher UnderstandingPedagogical Content Knowledge

-Lee Shulman (aka The Dude!)

-Image credit

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How based on the what + masala

The Easy-Peasy Summary of PCK

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What to teach

How to teach

Subject Knowledge

ID Knowledge

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

At a Minimum, PCK Consists of:

Content knowledge (scholarship in content disciplines) General pedagogical knowledge Curriculum knowledge Pedagogical content knowledge Knowledge of learners and their characteristics Knowledge of educational contexts – from the workings of

the group to cultures and communities Knowledge of educational ends, purposes, and values, and

their philosophical and historical grounds

Knowledge and Teaching, Shulman (1987)

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What Does PCK Look Like?

Subject Knowledge: Describe the defining traits, achievements and significance

of the civilisation Understand how it expanded and developed Know the impact it had on neighbouring regions Understand the contributions of key rulers

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Objectives Identified for Learning About a Civilisation:

What Does PCK Look Like?

Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Understand the tools of historic analysis Understand how humankind started capturing knowledge systems

and developing them to be able to organise society as a whole; then compare how this happened in ancient times vs in the present

Appreciate the culture as a whole: be able to understand and see how the culture’s values and beliefs evolved and how they shaped art, architecture and society

Contrast ancient culture to present day culture Question if the accounts of the past are in any way romanticised

or as coherent and continuous as we make them out to be (and therefore understand and explore the issue of the historian’s bias)

Examine sources of knowledge and what constitutes “good” or authentic information

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Objectives Identified for Learning About a Civilisation:

Deriving Benefit from SMEsHow to Work With Them Productively

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How based on the what + masala

The Easy-Peasy Summary of PCK

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What to teach

How to teach

SME ID

Achieved to a limited extent when a very competent SME and ID partner

Some Suggestions

Be a good student: don’t expect the ABC to be taught for a complex subject. Learn the groundwork yourself.

Do your homework: prepare by doing background research, content analysis – be clear about what you want from their time and why.

Get a sense of how little you know: do you know the subject properly just because you know the content dump inside out? Are you over-simplifying it?

Ask what’s difficult: if you don’t get a sense of it reading the material, have a conversation. Many SMEs also mentor and train people: ask them to share from their experience on what bumps people.

Notice your own learning difficulties and discuss with the SME (if warranted) about how to address these difficulties for other learners.

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Working a Piece of ContentDumbing Down, Building Up and Building Out Content

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The Secret ‘How to’:

1. Think: I lied. There is no secret ‘how to’, because no formula substitutes analytical, clear thought!

2. Learn: Gather information to confirm or disprove your own notions, to learn about useful frameworks and tools.

3. Be creative: There is no formula or ‘one right answer’-be imaginative right from when you analyse.

4. Practise: Because you have to work out the ways that work for you and for that piece of content.

5. Reflect: Honestly evaluate how successful you’ve been each time, and why. This is how we can develop the instinctual ability useful in judgment.

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An Example in Three Movements

Content focus:

The life and achievements of Christopher Columbus

(Example inspired by this news!)

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Who he was Role in history Life and achievements

Dumbed DownThe life and achievement of Christopher Columbus

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Other explorers in the same period

State of science and medicine at the time to understand the challenges he overcame

Influence of religious convictions in geographical knowledge (why his discoveries were significant)

Prevailing political atmosphere

Built OutThe life and achievement of Christopher Columbus

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Claim to “discovery”: how acknowledgment was granted and whose voice was given more authority

Historic representation/ narrative

Role of the catholic church in shaping the political narrative

Contribution of explorers to colonisation Built Up

The life and achievement of Christopher Columbus

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The EndGo forth and practice merrily!

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