Week 8: Getting feedback to make our work stronger
Download the week 8 lesson plan as a Word document.
Download the week 8 interactive lecture as PowerPoint slides.
Download the week 8 H5P interactive lecture by clicking the “reuse” button.
Download the week 8 interactive lecture audio recording.
Student Notes:
Welcome to Week 8! This week, we’re focusing on making our work better through peer review. The goal of this week is to give you the skills to both give feedback and incorporate feedback into your work. You will need these skills for your midterm.
This week, you will:
- Read Chapter 16, which is about peer review.
- Do the interactive lecture on listening, or attend the weekly session.
- Watch the midterm video.
- Work in your groups for your participation activity [see below]. Your interactive lecture is about different types of listening. When you open your group’s folder, you will see a scenario. Write a script (or make an audio/video recording) where both participants use generative listening to give and receive feedback. When you’re done, post your script in the participation activity forum.
- For your bonus activity, go to this small section on revision and pick 3 or 4 questions from the list of questions. Re-read a blog post, paying attention to those 3 or 4 questions. Then, write a short paragraph about what you learned.
- Do Question of the Day
- Optional: take a survey to let me know how I can improve the course so far.
Instructor notes:
It’s recommended that a mid-course survey be issued to assess how students are feeling and so that any adjustments can be made to the approach being taken with the course. This can also be used to help identify students who may require additional support. Below are sample survey questions:
Survey Questions
1. How would you rate the workload of this course? (By workload, I mean the amount of work you have to put into this course doing the readings, participation activities, assignments etc)
Far too much work
A little too much work
Just right
A little too light
Far too easy
2. How would you rate the difficulty of this course? By difficulty, I’m referring to how challenging the participation activities, readings and assignments are.
Far too difficult
A little too difficult
Just right
A little too easy
Far too easy
3. Please tell me about a time when you were most interested/ engaged in this course.
4. Please tell me about a time when you were the least engaged/ confused/ disinterested in this course.
5. Do you have any suggestions/ideas to improve this course?
6. Is there anything else you think I should know?
Instructor notes:
For the participation activity below, students should be divided into groups (in their pods if this approach is taken) and assigned one scenario to address this.
Student notes:
Week 8 Activity
For this activity, you will work with your group to practice giving and receiving feedback in a workplace situation. I will give you a situation, then your group will work together to create a short script where both the person giving feedback and the person receiving feedback use the generative listening skills and peer review we learned about this week.
You can write down your script using this document, or you can create a video or audio recording. When your group is done, please post your response in the participation activity forum. You can make up whatever details you would like.
Scenario #1
You are the Director of Programming for a community centre. You have decided to offer a Minecraft summer camp for kids. Your graphic designer Raj has just sent you a poster to advertise the camp, and you find it way too ‘busy’ and garish. However, you are not sure if your instincts are correct because, although you have many years of experience in your role, you are outside of the target audience for the Minecraft camp. You want to have a productive conversation about your concerns with Raj.
Scenario #2
You have recently been promoted to a managerial role and are supervising 3 employees. The first two employees do excellent work, but the third employee, Cassie, often turns in work that feels sloppy to you. For example, she recently wrote a report that was well-researched, but some parts were unfinished and it was clear she hadn’t done much proofreading. You need to sit down with Cassie to discuss the problem. Since you are new to the role, however, you are worried that your inexperience as a manager will make it difficult for you to be productive with Cassie.
Scenario #3
You own a small restaurant and have a waiter named Chad who is your “star” waiter. Customers love him because he delivers great customer service. Unfortunately, sometimes Chad achieves this customer service by being hard on other wait staff and kitchen staff. He often yells at other wait staff for minor errors. You have been approached by a group of 4 other waiters who say that if Chad doesn’t stop this behaviour, they will quit. You need to have a discussion with Chad where you discuss this problem.
Scenario #4
Now that BC is entering Phase 3, your friend Aziz is being told to come back to his office. He doesn’t want to, since he lives with his elderly parents who are immunocompromised and has a son with asthma. He has drafted an email to his employer but he’s asked you to take a look at it before he sends it. When you read the email, you notice that Aziz has done a great job of doing some research to back up why it’s not safe for him to the office and has also referred to his work plan over the past 3 months to show that he’s able to keep up with his work while at home. However, his tone is very angry. You’re not sure if this expression of anger will make his audience unwilling to listen to his message, even though you feel that it’s justified. You’re uncomfortable telling Aziz to tone it down, but you also want to increase the chance that he gets a positive response. You’re not sure what advice to give.
Scenario #5
You work for an accounting firm. You’ve asked your intern, Jaspreet, to write a blog post explaining the tax changes for 2020. Jaspreet is very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. She has written a 2,000 word blog post that would be very interesting to another accountant, but is overwhelming for the average client. You need to talk with Jaspreet to figure out how to maintain her passion and excitement for the topic without overwhelming the reader with too much information.
Scenario #6
You have been hired as a communications coordinator for a small business. Your boss, Mira, is in her 50s and has a habit of writing her emails the way she talks and often uses ‘…’ between her sentences. For example, she might write, “Thanks…I will think about it…will get back to you when I figure out what to do and talk to some other colleagues…” Other colleagues and customers have interpreted Mira’s style of writing as being passive-aggressive and some have a hard time reading her long sentences. You’ve been tasked with editing Mira’s writing for a report, and you want to help her understand how others are interpreting these stylistic choices without offending her.
Participation Activity Final Forum
Once your group is finished, one member should post your response here.
Bonus Forum
For your bonus forum, go to this section on revision, then pick 3 – 4 questions from the list. Re-read one of your blog posts, and answer the following questions about your blog. Then, write a short paragraph about what you found out and what revision you’d like to do on your blog.