Notes from Millie D

Just when I was about to wrap up my work for the night I checked my Google Reader and found this posting from the folks at Common Craft.  They’ve produced some great movies on RSS and Wikis in Plain English but educational and very entertaining.  Anyway…

The folks at Common Craft talk about all of the constraints they put on themselves in order for their message to heard and to be effective.  They’ve defined constraints as the rules they’ve established in making their videos such as paper, whiteboard, markers, and string are their only materials they use in the video. They views their restraints as liberating not limiting because they’ve eliminated needless decision making and complexity.  If their first few videos are any indication I think they’ve stumbled upon a message that we need to heed in the classroom.

At times we think that the use of technology can enhance the message we’re trying to deliver in the classroom.  Unfortunately we get caught up in the materials, time, and other distractors that don’t really add anything more to the message than the simplest solution would yield.  I think there are some lessons to take away.

Please take the time to read their posting to give you a more complete view of their methodology because I want their work to be the lasting impact not mine.

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