K.I.S.S.

While learning how to develop a course, we always had to remember the K.I.S.S. principle–Keep It Simple Sweetheart.  Actually they use Stupid for the last S. in the acronym.  And I was.  Stupid.  I had so much fun designing the Legos course for Biblical Hebrew–delighting in how it could help future students of Biblical Hebrew understand how Hebrew words that I got carried away.  Most teachers get carried away.  Most good teachers who are passionate about their subject get carried away.  That’s why we need students who feel that they can talk to us.

Some of my beta-testers had no problem in telling me that the course went from being very simple to very complicated.  Just because I was enjoying how I could play with the Legos doesn’t mean a new student would enjoy it.  The new student would feel overwhelmed.

So I had to do what I was taught to do in writing classes at University–murder your children.  That sounds awful.  It is awful.  It means that you have to delete a lot of work that you love, that you created, but is not relevant for the project.  Like Sherman in the South during the Civil War in America, I had to slash and burn.

I was annoyed with myself for losing the perspective of my students.  I had castigated other Biblical Hebrew teachers for doing the same thing–using material that was overwhelming for the normal student.  I was seduced by my own creativity and utter brilliance and innovation.  Yes, another leader in the field of Biblical Hebrew told me that the course was “revolutionary” and that he wanted to link it to his website when I had finished it.  But I needed to put the course on the alter, have a sacrifice, and see what was left over.

Well, I think I have the essence now.  I’m happy with the course.  I could probably continue to enhance it for years.  But instead, I’ll start doing the narration for the videos and upload it on Udemy with my other courses.  I’ll take a break for the summer.  Then perhaps I’ll find all the dead work that I murdered and ressurect it for another course.  Or maybe I’ll get a new idea.  Who knows.

Anyway, if you want to see it, it’s on my website as pdf files which I need to convert again from the powerpoint presentation–this time as jpg files, and then pdf files.  TMI?  Sorry, sorry, I’m suffering from P.I.D.S. Post Instructional Design Syndrome.

Here’s the website. http://evreet.wixsite.com/evreet