THE SAYLOR FOUNDATION

PEER REVIEW PACKET

Thank you for agreeing to review a Saylor Foundation course. Your feedback on our materials will help us provide students with high-quality materials suited to an asynchronous, self-directed learning environment. Your engagement with this project will assist us in carrying out our mission of harnessing technology in order to make education free.

Please fill out the brief questionnaire below prior to conducting a review.

NAME:

HOME INSTITUTION:

POSITION:

DISCIPLINE / SPECIALIZATION:

We would like to acknowledge your contribution to this work on our website. Would you be comfortable with being listed by name as one of our “team of peer reviewers”?

TO BE ANSWERED AFTER COMPLETING YOUR REVIEW: Approximately how much time did it take you to go through the course, its resources, and the final exam and write up your review? (Your answer will help us provide estimates for future reviewers.)

PEER REVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE

COURSE TITLE: ______

Please carefully read and review the online course, visiting and assessing each of the online resources to which the course refers. When filling out this review questionnaire, please first read through all questions: some details that you may want to cover in an early question may be addressed in a later question. In the course of completing your review, you may find it helpful to peruse other course offerings. These are available at

GENERAL

  1. What was your overall impression of this course? Please check one of the following options and then expand on your choice below.

__ Excellent __ Good__Adequate __Needs Improvement ___ Poor

  1. How demanding is the work-load for this course in comparison to a similar course taught in a traditional school setting? Please check one of the following options and then expand on your choice below.

___ Too Demanding ___ Challenging___ Standard ___ Not Demanding Enough

  1. Overall, how difficult were the materials in this course (lectures, readings, and other resources)?Please check one of the following options and then expand on your choice below. (You will have the opportunity to give detailed comments on specific resources in a later section.)

___ Too Advanced ___ Challenging ___ Standard ___ Easy

  1. Do you think that a student could work through this course and all of the assigned resources in a time span roughly equivalent to what they would spend on class time and homework in a traditional setting?
  1. Does this course cover the topic accurately and completely? (Are all major areas that you associate with this topic and grade level covered? Are they covered in the same depth as you would expect from a traditional course?)Please check one of the following options and then expand on your choice below.

___ Yes ___No

  1. What are your thoughts on the overall structure of the course? (Is the material well organized, leading from topic to topic in a logical and pedagogically useful fashion? Do later units build on earlier units? Does the structure feel cohesive?)
  1. Was the course missing anything, or is there anything that you would omit in this course?

COMMON CORE ALIGNMENT

  1. Access the Common Core State Standards for the appropriate grade by clicking this link. Please download and complete this worksheet. Are the standards for this grade appropriately covered? Are there any standards or content included that should not be?
  1. How well does this course align to the Common Core State Standards? In addition to covering the standards, does the course follow the spirit and intentions of the Common Core (see following description)?

Overall, the Common Core State Standards stress literacy and critical thinking, requiring students to think deeply about subjects and ideas. Specifically, the ELA/Literacy standards focus on increasing literacy and critically examining both fiction and non-fiction texts at all levels of K-12 study. The ELA/Literacy standards also include grade-level guidelines for reading, writing, speaking, listening, and other aspects of language communication.

  1. Access the Tri-State Rubric and complete it for this course. It should have been included in your original e-mail, but can also be accessed here: Tri-State Rubric. Additional resources for evaluating Common Core alignment can be found here: WA State Rubrics and Review Resources.

TEXT QUALITY AND COMPLEXITY

  1. Overall are the major readings in the course appropriate for this grade level?
  1. Please review the text complexity guidelines here: Achieve the Core Text ComplexityGuidelines. According to these measures, are there any readings that are too challenging for this grade? Are there any readings that are not challenging enough for this grade? If you were teaching this curriculum, what (if any) recommendations would you have about teaching these texts at this grade level? (i.e. Macbeth may require additional vocabulary practice. The Swiss Family Robinson may not be as challenging by quantitative measures, make sure to dive deep into the themes and literary techniques.)

FRAMING

  1. Overall, did you find the introductions and directions clear enough?
  1. If you had problems with the wording or clarity of any specific introductions/instructions, please mention them below (e.g., “The phrasing of the introduction to Unit 10 was rough”; “the instructions for 2.1 did not adequately explain the activity”).
  1. How appropriate are the learning outcomes for this course? Are there any other learning outcomes than you would add to the list, or any on the list that you would remove?

RESOURCES

  1. Overall, how would you characterize the quality of the resources to which you are referred? Please check one of the following options and then expand on your choice below.

__Excellent ___Good___Adequate __ Poor __Too varied to generalize

  1. Did any of the resources stand out as either excellent or subpar? Please identify. (Please list specific resources or describe them by subunit; e.g., “The reading for 2.2.4 was far too detailed” or “The web interactive for 4.3 perfectly illustrated the material.”)
  1. How well do the resources cover the proposed content of the course?
  1. How well do the resources cover the learning outcomes for the course?
  1. Did you find any/all of the resources too difficult or too easy? (Please list specific resources or describe them by subunit; e.g., “The reading for 1.4 was both simple and simplistic” or “The lecture for 5.7 was too advanced for a grade 10 course.”)
  1. Did you find any/all of the resources too general or too detailed?
  1. Did you find that the resources were well-framed or connected, or do you feel the course lacks cohesion?

In the space below, please provide us with any other notes/comments you have for this course, as well as any suggestions you might have for improving upon it.

The Saylor Foundation1