CLARITY IS NOT DUMBING DOWN!

How to make communication as clear as possible without dumbing down your message? We're often encouraged to spoonfeed audiences, so as not to lose their precious attention for as long as possible. But sometimes the spoonfeeding leads to oversimplification. What then?

This is a problem that I faced frequently in academia. We’re urged to make things accessible for students, many of whom arrive underprepared for college-level work. At the same time, we’re responsible for helping them develop competencies they absolutely shouldn’t leave college without. It’s a genuine tension: how do you meet students where they are without lowering the bar?

Well, for starters, you don’t dumb yourself down. It's actually better to CHALLENGE your audience, as meeting challenges is one of the most effective ways to learn! Putting in some effort causes students to retain information better, and there's no reason it's not the same for audiences in general. After all, when you communicate with anyone, you want them to leave with a takeaway. So, part of communicating effectively is to challenge your audience, not to hand them everything on a plate. Your communication is more memorable when you make your audience work - at least a LITTLE bit - for it.

The answer, of course, scaffolding. Scaffolding is a famous concept in learning theory, but, once again, I think it's just as applicable to all kinds of communicative situations. Think of learning as a climbing wall. Humans can’t fly; you can’t just float to the top. You need footholds and handholds. Good design builds those in.