I'll start by saying I can't believe it's called "Chunking." Coming from a background of feature story writing and journalism, I'm often frustrated with academic writing. The simplest things get obfuscated to sound more academic. "Understanding someones teaching style" becomes "pedagogical analysis". Doing a "decent bit of research" becomes "academic rigor" and the list goes on ad nauseam. So I was delighted--and very surprised--to read about "chunking" in an academic environment. One would think it should be referred to as "grouping into sequential models based on similarities in pedagogical outcomes," or GISMBSIPO for short.
With that rant out of the way, this weeks discussions helped me understand that I'm already doing some serious chunking, but not as intentionally as I could or should be. I've already gone through my syllabi for my F2F classes and made some changes, and am definitely being very intentional about chunking in the blended outline I'm making for BOLT and for use in future.
Question for you more serious chunkers out there: Do you start feeling chunky after a lot of chunking? Or let me put it another way: Does the grouping of topic matter and ideas into relevant patterns for increased pedagogical flow lead to courses that seem inflated or conflated with superfluous material leading to decreased learning and retention?
With that rant out of the way, this weeks discussions helped me understand that I'm already doing some serious chunking, but not as intentionally as I could or should be. I've already gone through my syllabi for my F2F classes and made some changes, and am definitely being very intentional about chunking in the blended outline I'm making for BOLT and for use in future.
Question for you more serious chunkers out there: Do you start feeling chunky after a lot of chunking? Or let me put it another way: Does the grouping of topic matter and ideas into relevant patterns for increased pedagogical flow lead to courses that seem inflated or conflated with superfluous material leading to decreased learning and retention?
I'm all about order in a course, syllabus, or lesson. Like things go with like things, etc., but shouldn't we leave room for some flow and some options and some natural meandering? I think there's a happy medium.
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