Peer Review of Pod 6 Interactive Learning Resource about Leadership Skills, focusing on communication! (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uYmu4oPqkbREK_uqST0SB828ckOSkZBWL3tYK1KhcKY/edit)
Suggestions from my peer review that I wanted to share with you as I read through your Interactive Learning Resource:
As stated you stated in your overview section, that communication skills are important for leadership, it could be interesting if you included information regarding non-verbal communication along with verbal communication. Non-verbal communication is made up of almost 70-93% of communication is non-verbal (Smith, 2021). Therefore, it may provide the learners with information to learn and incorporate proper non-verbal skills, to further increase the effectiveness of their communication. Additionally, I came across this interesting article (https://www.wolfmotivation.com/articles/nonverbal-communication-and-leadership) about non-verbal communication that may be interesting for you to read and perhaps incorporate some of the discussed techniques in your resource to further increase the likelihood of achieving your desired outcomes.
I think it’s wonderful you highlighted the various ways that students will be learning the content in the second portion of the overview, such as online readings, videos, PowerPoints, flashcards, quizzes, case studies, and peer critiques. Employing these various methods can be incredibly beneficial for learning as they can provide learners with a deeper understanding of the content. However, in this section where you indicated that learners could use the provided online readings to enhance their understanding- I think it would be beneficial if you included how you will be measuring the learner’s understanding, and how exactly you plan to assess how their understanding has been enhanced. I also really liked that you highlighted that case studies requiring students to solve problems, can enhance learning, as I completely agree about this.
For the learning theory, I would have to agree that cognitivism seems appropriate as the target audience for learning this content are adult students.
For the learning design section, I thought it was great that you included characteristics about cooperative learning, however, I found this section to be slightly unclear. Therefore, I think this section could benefit by providing more detail, perhaps outlining some of the reasons for your decision to design your topics in a particular manner, as I think that background information regarding your design could provide more insight and can make this section more clear.
For the learning context section, I also think that more detail could benefit this section. Although I think it’s great that you highlighted your main objectives I think the vagueness with regards to their measurement can hinder the outcome of the objectives. Therefore perhaps tailoring these objectives with the SMART goals technique could be beneficial, as the outcomes would then be easier to follow and measure. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals that are known to be effective as they provide the clarity, focus, and motivation required in order to achieve the goals and outcomes (SMART Goals: – How to Make Your Goals Achievable, n.d.).
For the learning outcomes sub-section, although I think you all did a great job at using appropriate action verbs to highlight the outcomes learners can expect from these activities, I think a few goals that you discussed in the previous section are not met in your sub-outcomes. Therefore perhaps reviewing and adjusting your sub-outcomes and making them more detailed could enhance this section.
For the topics and activities section, I think in general this section could benefit from being more concise. I think a critical missing element in this section would be that it does not seem to address the main outcomes that you highlighted, which could likely hinder your desired outcomes for the learners. I also think it may beneficial to include more teacher and student interactions as that may allow for discussions where students can ask questions, and clarify concepts, which further strengthens your main goal of communication for this project.
For the assessment plan section, you stated that students will be asked to complete a timed closed-book exam that covers all of the content. However, I don’t seem to recall this being mentioned earlier in your plan, therefore perhaps providing more detail about this earlier in your plan such as during the learning design section and/or the topics and activity section, could strengthen this section as it would make it more clear. I think the assessment plan could also benefit by making it more inclusive for learners, such as those who have vision and/or hearing challenges, those with and learning challenges such as dyslexia, as your activities seem to include lots of reading. However, I do like that you considered and aimed to aid the challenges faced by single-parents in this section.
For the technology section, I think it may benefit if you included a more comprehensive list of your technological resources. For instance, you mentioned that Moodle will be used for interactions between the educators and students, however, where will the student peer-review sessions be taking place? Will that be on moodle as well or another platform? How will students sign-up for the synchronized sessions? Doodle poll could perhaps be a useful tool, for students to sign-up for synchronized sessions. Additionally, as I mentioned in the earlier section, it may benefit if you considered the various challenges that learners may be dealing with that could hinder their ability to access the two technological resources you listed. Therefore, perhaps including additional resources, while considering the various challenges that students may face, in your plan could make this learning experience more inclusive thereby enriching the students’ overall learning experience.
Overall, I really enjoyed reading your interactive learning resource! Although, I believe that perhaps making a few small adjustments, such as some of my suggestions included above, and providing more detail overall could strengthen your resource and make it more concise and clear to follow, thereby increasing the effectiveness of your resource!
References:
SMART Goals: – How to Make Your Goals Achievable. (n.d.). Mind Tools. Retrieved June 26, 2021, from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm
Smith, D. (2021, March 5). Nonverbal Communication: How Body Language & Nonverbal Cues Are Key. Lifesize. https://www.lifesize.com/en/blog/speaking-without-words/#:%7E:text=What%20percentage%20of%20communication%20is,of%20all%20communication%20is%20nonverbal.
Photo by Zainul Yasni on Unsplash