Packing versus unpacking

I usually think of an instructor as someone who unpacks things, such as unpacking the meaning of an obscure word or explaining a difficult concept.

Last night I was trying to read some unbearably dry medical/legal material and thought about how an instructor might also pack things, wrapping dry material in some sort of story or illustration to make it more palatable.

I’ve often thought it would be nice to have someone explain this or that. I hadn’t really thought before that it would be nice to have someone make perfectly clear material more bearable to absorb, but I suppose that’s what a lot of instructors do. I was able to avoid courses that needed such an instructor, for which I am grateful, but I could imagine how a good instructor might make a memorization-based course tolerable.

2 thoughts on “Packing versus unpacking

  1. Are things dry because their story is uninteresting to us, or are they dry simply because they have insufficient story?

    The solution to the former requires translation (to a more interesting story); the latter requires authorship (of a robust story.)

  2. ChatGPT is great with repackaging content – from dry to more emotional or from long to much shorter. I use it a ton for that.

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