I am offering ten principles for writing material for educational courses. The first principle is about establishing the context.

1. Principle 1
Establish context
Glenn Martin
March 2017

2.  Establish the context and the topic area with
appropriate introductory explanations and
references to relevant supporting materials.

3.  Establishing the context means
to introduce students to the
topic in a way that enables
them to understand where it fits
among things they are familiar
with, or are working towards,
and to begin to make sense of
the subject.

4.  Context is the circumstances that form the
setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in
terms of which it can be fully understood.
AND
 When something is
contextualised, it is placed
in an appropriate setting,
one in which it can be
properly considered.

6.  Contextualising the course means explaining to
students how the course fits into the bigger
picture of the qualification they are studying for,
and what part the content plays in that larger
picture.
 This speaks to the student’s extrinsic motivation
for undertaking the course.

7.  Contextualising begins to develop in students a
sense of the purpose and the value of the
course.
 This speaks to the student’s intrinsic motivation
for undertaking the course.

8.  Contextualisation requires a sense of who the
students are and what prior knowledge,
understanding and experience they have.

9. The contextualisation step is about inviting
students into the content and giving them a
reason to be there.
Accordingly, the language
should be accessible
(bridging language),
speaking to students’
expected current state of
knowledge and
experience.

10.  It is advisable to avoid jargon
and the use of terms in ways
that could be expected to be
unfamiliar, yet you still need to
be able to point towards, and
articulate, the learning
outcomes of the course.