The <acronym> tag should be used more often in education, but it’s barely known about, it’s use is definitely worth pointing out as this can be utilised in nearly ANY online environment.

Two words in this sentence contain an acronym tag, I wonder which?

The problem with learning from books for me has always been that I hate the verbose language relied on by those introducing me to a topic but revision guides assume I know every word in the world, look at the examples below…

Textbook fashion:

“The lungs are macroscopically normal at birth, however bronchiolar inflammation and infectios usually lead to bronchiectasis in childhood. At this stage, the lungs are most commonly infected with Staphylococcus aureas; however, the majority of patients have Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection by the time they reach adolescence…..” (From Davidson’s Principles of Medicine, 20th edition)

Revisionb book style:

• Chest: Chest wall deformities, coarse crepitations, and wheeze.
• Signs of malnutrition: Anaemia, weight loss…… (from Rapid Medicine)

The textbook  is incredibly wordy and required the reader to take in well over 100 words and a separate table to learn the clinical feature of CF, the revision book is the exact opposite, offering as little detail as possible.

What about the use of the acronym tag?

The lungs are macroscopically normal at birth, however bronchiolar inflammation and infectios usually lead to bronchiectasis in childhood. At this stag, the lungs are most commonly infected with Staphylococcus aureas; however, the majority of patients have Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection by the time they reach adolescence….

Lungs appear normal at birth with problems developing in children and teenagers

• Children: Bronchietasis, bronchiolar inflammation, infection
• Teenagers develop further infections…

Notice that things can be kept short and sweet, whilst the student can still read on without loosing their place, looking up extra details by flicking their mouse over the words.