I don't get it. I really don't. Websites that work perfectly well as platforms for information keep changing their format. Only recently, the Open University updated their site, to what? A new way of doing the same thing. Why? Why do people think that removing continuity is a useful additive to a learning process. I would prefer that the language I use stays pretty much the same and the letters in the alphabet stay the same. I suspect that almost everyone feels the same. It is great when there are NEW words but not at the expense of words that everyone knows, or should know. Imagine that you are someone learning English and some bright spark, fresh graduate decides to update things to make things more fun. You, as the English student might get an email saying. 'The grammar English learning are you has updated been. New download an upload please our of format new. How would you feel. How would you feel as a native English speaker knowing that the people learning English will use the same words as native English speakers yet we will not understand each other.
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It is unlikely to happen, because language is a scaffolding we use to convey ideas, concepts and information. Yet, the Open University has decided that changing how blog posts are formatted means that the blogger has to, not concentrate on content but focus and adapt on how the post is actually presented. I have to include a full stop between paragraphs to separate them appropriately. I didn't have to do that before. Writing blog posts is not about understanding word processing, it is about processing words. Learning how to format paragraphs is not important. The only thing that is important when it comes to formatting is legibility, surely. I realise that many people have no difficulty adapting to a whim, but I am certain that education suffers because the whims we adapt to do not come from educators.
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I like to, sometimes, look on wincalendar,com/eu to see if there is a national or religious day in Europe, like Bastille Day in France on the 14th July. Many people remember this day as important, I do not, even though it is an important day that celebrates a huge historical change reaching as far as the United States of America, Thomas Paine, and the War of Independence, resulting in the USA's 4th July happy day.
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On WinCalendar, when, I look for a quick list that I can scan; is there an important day today? I have to slow right down and instead of reading top to bottom, I have to read from left to right and stop at each and every little box that contains the words for the important day; (International Beer Day / 1 August), with a blooming picture in it. What possible value does a picture have when the information comes solely from the words. Let me make this clear: Take away the picture and we understand that, that day is important and why; take away the words and we understand absolutely nothing. The picture, I cry, is nothing but interference. I am not an educator, but if teaching is about slowing down the receipt of information; changing how things that work, work; and including noise in the transmission of information, then I get why there might be an education crisis in modern schools.
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I am fortunate because I understand that semi-colons can be used in sentences to replace bullet points in lists. When the Open University says 'write in continuous prose' it means, to me, don't use bullet points, use semi-colons in a sentence instead. It is exactly the same information but much more difficult to identify as a relevant list of information because it is presented as a series of informative chunks hidden in paragraphs. Effectively, all it does is slow down the transmission of information for anyone who needs to quickly discover salient points. What a waste of time!
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I cannot understand why some news websites give information in a chronological format as though we want a list of tweets on a subject. They even time-stamp these pseudo-tweets. They shouldn't pander to social media hungry seekers of information, I suggest. They should have, I believe, the transmission of information as their primary goal. And here is where I have changed my attitude to writing conclusions in essays. Never, could I see the point of writing a conclusion if someone has just read the information before it. Didn't you understand it? Yet, now that is all I want from a news channel; just for them to say what has recently happened, apply it to a summary of what happened before, and then tell us what it all means in a conclusion. Duh! Just give us the news without the waffle. Perhaps, some people are tickled by wasting time extrapolating information from news commentary; I most assuredly am not.
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In conclusion, just keep the website navigable and free from irrelevant pictures and commentary. In case you are wondering, I shall be seeking an alternative site to WinCalendar that LISTS the important dates and why they are important. I just want the information not the fun of wasting time.
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(This is not a news or fact-provision post. Insert your own picture here because I don't have one that shows a frustrated, ranting man).