Where are you using vague or impenetrable language that needs to be opened up?

In each of our organizations and professions, we develop certain terminology and shorthand that demonstrates our expertise and serves as a way of condensing our knowledge into a short form. Often this abstract lexicon bleeds through into the stories that we tell. Yet often those that we share these stories with do not share our expertise. For instance, if we were to share a story of our center’s programs and started referencing the development of SLOs you may be lost. Or worse, you might stop engaging in the story to try to recall or piece together what an SLO is. As educators, we are familiar and live every day developing student learning outcomes. Your communication shouldn’t be a vocabulary test. We find that when we need to engage in technical jargon, it’s best to use the term once, provide a definition and then use a modified version of the definition for each subsequent reference. A guiding principle: when you find yourself using an acronym … just stop.

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