Pedagogical Product Development

Friday Jul 21, 2006

Often I write about the need to add pedagogical items within a product's development  - and nearly every time I have to qualify the statement.  So, in it's spirit, I'll provide some items to help everyone understand...

A product with pedagogical elements has features, documents, tools and samples which lend themselves to be easily learned or understood.  Example: samples are constructed which provide every increasing complexity, are built  one upon another, have easily understood branches towards deeper specific subjects and last, are complete within the subject, i.e., provide all details the largest body of users of the product would require.  A related, yet excellent paper is here.

Take the example of a book on portlet technology, chapter one prepares an overview of the subject and a simple step by step exact example of say a "helloworld" portlet.  Chapter two introduces deeper concepts and links them to other subjects, e.g., a helloworld portlet that sets a cookie, etc.  Each chapter and example builds on each other  and ultimately allows readers of all levels to understand the subject - or to a depth they desire.

Someone with previous knowledge may start on chapter 5 and complete all examples in the book while another person may start on chapter 1 and only complete up to chapter 6.    Samples and documentation can easily be defined to be pedagogical in nature.  But what about the product itself?

A software product and its tools can additionally allow elements for various sophistication of the user.  It should be very easy to install even for basic users - while advanced functions could take more sophistication.  Startup and initial configuration should follow the same rule.  Ultimately, the product should be usable and useful to a basic user as well as a sophisticated user, but the latter may need more knowledge in order to take advantage of these capabilities and configurations.  Example:  a portal is easy to install, includes a set of portlets which are pre-installed that provide calendar, content, etc., but a more sophisticated user can configure connections to databases, web services and leverage IDE's to develop more portlets.   

Products and their supporting materials should all be easy to use and well designed for the sophisticated user. Now go see, do, learn.