Who are you writing for? If you are an educator, then your audience is your students. That seems obvious, right?
Creating a connection in your classroom is essential to the learning process. You do this every day—as a Real Teacher, it comes naturally to you. But that comfort is challenged when there’s digital distance between you and your audience. You don’t have students sitting directly in front of you. You can’t gauge their reactions, you can’t see them struggle and strain with a difficult concept, and you can’t see the moment when you’ve made a breakthrough.
This changes the dynamic. A lot. Any connection you make will depend on the strength of your content and your ability to attend to both of your audiences:
- Students. When you create content, your own students are your starting point and your frame of reference. They’re likely your end goal as well. But you can’t simply write for your own students. Your target audience is wider now, so you have to broaden your scope. You have to consider how other learners will react to your content.
- Instructors. Your audience includes your peers, too. If you want your content to be used in other classrooms, then you also are writing for fellow teachers. You are providing your content to them, so that they can use it to support their work. Let’s be realistic. Your content has little chance of reaching other students if it’s not useful to other instructors. How does that change the way you think about constructing your content?
A little upfront planning can prove invaluable. Here are a few guidelines to help ensure that you connect with your intended audience:
- Generalize. You have to be careful about the language you use. Avoid slang, colloquialisms, acronyms, and local color. Something that might add character in person could miss the mark out of context. The diversity of the audience you develop may surprise you. Try to be as inclusive as you can.
- Embrace limitation. Limitation can actually be a boon to creativity. Remember that your gestures are somewhat governed. You can’t wave your arms around at the board. Also, you lack the luxury of familiarity. Your own students get to know you. They get accustomed to your jokes, your quirks, your teaching style. Rather than stamping out what makes you unique, start small instead. As you build your audience, you will gain more freedom to be yourself. But you need to establish yourself first.
- Provide structure. Again, consider your audience. What will make your content most useful to others? Keep your pieces as concise as you can. A good rule of thumb in the digital world is to keep them between 300 and 600 words. A complex topic may not conform to that rubric. That’s fine. But consider breaking more complex pieces into smaller units, if you can.
- Be flexible. Educational content is meant to be worked with. Provided that you give them permission, other instructors will be handling your content. It will function best if you make it malleable, fungible, and flexible. Smaller pieces of content help with that—they are easier to string together and instructors can seamlessly sequence their own stories with your content. And, it’s no secret that students learn better with chunked content.
- Be consistent. Your peers are busy, just like you. Assessing the quality and usefulness of any piece of content takes time. When your audience knows what to expect from you, you’ve provided a great service. And, you’ve removed barriers to uptake. Be predictable, consistent, and reliable.
- Build authority. Find your own voice—confident, yet inviting. You are seeking to inspire, not to convince. If you apply all these guidelines as you plan your content strategy, then you’ll start to build authority with your audience(s).
Good Content requires an audience. I maintain that Good Content is defined by that connection. If someone finds it useful, then it’s Good Content. If you accept that premise, then the content you create cannot be about you. It can say something about you, but it’s best when it’s about your audience instead.
Want more Good Content? Click here for previous installments of the Good Content series.
About Michael Boezi
Michael Boezi is an Independent Advisor and Content Strategist, specializing in helping authors and publishers make the Shift to Digital. He is a longtime publishing veteran who has always been at the forefront of the industry by applying the lessons of the traditional to the process of innovation, mixing the ideal with the practical. He was Vice President of Content and Community at Flat World Knowledge, where he was responsible for all aspects of content acquisition and development, and built a catalog of 100+ peer-reviewed, openly licensed college textbooks across various subjects. Prior to that, he published history books at Pearson Education. He writes a blog about current issues and trends in the EdTech industry, which you can find at http://michaelboezi.com, along with a full portfolio and more detail on consulting services for content creators, content owners, and investors. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+.
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