The prospect of creating content and assessments for use by actual language learners is at once a daunting and exhilarating one. Those of us who embark on it often underestimate the level of commitment and volume of effort involved when taking on this sort of work.
One might assume that many of the difficulties of text creation, image selection, audio recording, and so on might magically disappear if only more resources--people, time, and money--were available. Surely, those who create content with such resources at hand--such as those at a for-profit educational publishing company--must have an easier time of it.
But to those whom much is given, much is expected. And as a production process grows to accommodate flashier media and more complex features, the complexity of process oversight grows along with the multitude of handoffs from specialist to specialist.
Let’s explore the joys and sorrows of content and assessment creation, both as it is undertaken by individuals at universities and in the world of education publishing. We’ll tackle topics such as:
Pre-production: the invisible world
The kickoff: why is my horse always running through molasses?
Hiring: to outsource or to bring in-house, that is the question
Size of Staff: many hands does not always make light work
Tools: when WYS isn’t necessarily WYG
Content reuse and repurposing: can’t we just start over?
Media creation: is too much context ever enough?
Handoffs: why throwing it over the fence breaks things
The Goldilocks quandry: how do I know when it’s just right?
Creativity: when the well runs dry (or bubbles over)
Lessons learned: “Build one to throw away; you will, anyhow.”
Review: how, when, by whom, and how often?
Resolving issues: keeping track, keeping sane, and republishing
Maintenance: “Why are you still working on last year’s project?”
