Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Before you can start making recommendations you need to know what are the five characteristics
of an affective recommendation. The first characteristic is to be constructive
By this we mean that you identify problems and at the same time offer solutions
As an example suppose a course contains video links
A recommendation that's constructive might be
Your video links are great - I'd suggest also telling students what to watch out for
The second characteristic is to be specific The idea is to include a specific example
of a change that needs to be made For example "The video banks offered clear
directions about what to watch but I wasn't always sure about why I was watching
The third characteristic is to be measurable What that means is that you offer ways to
demonstrate that the recommendation has been implemented
An example would be: Following each video link you could include a short quiz let to
enforce the point of the video The fourth is one that we can all relate to
because it's about people - Be sensitive We all know that people are more receptive
to positive comments It's like the old song a spoonful of sugar
helps the medicine go down An example of this would be: Your choice of
videos for the course is perfect - not too many - not too few - a compliment
The fifth characteristic is to be balanced This means pointing out strengths as well
as weaknesses. You can always find something good in a course.
You should mention that. For example: Videos are a great media tool
You might also consider other tools like slides and podcasts for more variety.
So how do we put all of these things togther? It's a lot to remember.
It's kind of like making a sandwich. You put down a piece of bread and add some
meat then add some tomatoes, then put another piece of bread on top and
you have something you can take a bite out of.
The sandwich technique is a simple way of remembering the five characteristics and putting
them into practice The first slice of bread would be to make
a compliment. Be sensitive and balanced and find something
good in the course The second would be to use the QM rubric
To find solid and credible evidence for change The top slice of bread is to recommend - specific
and measureable suggestions for the changes So now that we've gone through it all all
you have to do is try it it's easy!