Picopoly

The picopoly is a type of handout used by Olivier Ridoux, who is a professor of Computer Science at the University of Rennes 1. Presented in the preprint The Art of Picopoly (2021), it is intended to provide students with a high-level map of a topic and to make explicit the necessary prerequisites (inputs) and learning outcomes (outputs) e.g. for a course.

The physical format of a picopoly is, ideally, a DIN A3 copy that is cut and folded into a DIN A6 booklet, sometimes referred to as a "hot dog" booklet. In The Art of Picopoly, Ridoux describes the practicalities associated with printing them and gives stylistic recommendations. Furthermore, he explains the usage of the picopoly by students: They must first read the verso side that contains course prerequisites and required context knowledge before folding the booklet. After folding, they can browse the individual pages of the picopoly to obtain a high-level overview of the course contents.

As a didactic tool, it enables teachers to highlight the dependencies to other courses or required context knowledge, which can be laid out in greater detail than is usual on the institutional level. Ridoux notes that the picopolies have been well-received by students and, while bridging a gap between intellectual and manual skills, can be a delightful way to present information to students.

As of 2022-05-27, there exist 12 picopolies in the French language, published on the open HAL archive:

If you know of any other examples of picopolies "in the wild", feel free to send me an email.