Peer Review

Evidence-Based Practice In Management And Consulting

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Jun 25, 2018 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

This course will introduce students to the basic concepts and skills of evidence-based practice. The course is directly relevant to students who would like to improve the quality and outcome of their decision-making. Managers and consultants are required to take action based on their decisions, and such decisions may have profound impacts on employees, customers and clients, the organization and society more widely. But how good are such decisions? How can we ensure that managers and consultants get hold of, accurately interpret and make use of the best available evidence in their decision-making? This course will help students develop the practical skills managers and consultants need to bring evidence-based approaches to their organization. In the process of developing these skills you will also find out a lot about management research.

Type of Material:

Online course: complete with lecture notes, assessment tests and personal evaluation.

Recommended Uses:

Material from this course can be used intact as a course itself, leadership, process consultants, organizational change and continuous improvement courses as well as other topic areas. This course can also be used in organizations for professional development purposes.

Technical Requirements:

Adobe Reader 18.011.20036

Java 8, update 91

Mozilla Firefox 58.0.2 used

Identify Major Learning Goals:

This course introduces to the basic concepts and skills of evidence-based practice designed to improve the quality and outcome of managerial or consultancy-based decision-making.
Managers and consultants are facilitated through best available evidence in making accurate action-based decisions which impact employees, customers and clients, organization, and society.
This course also develops the practical skills managers and consultants need to bring evidence-based approaches to their organization through management research.
Specific learning goals are provided for each one of the modules.

Target Student Population:

College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Although this is an introductory course, it is recommended for students to be familiar with basic management and leadership, decision-making and the consulting process.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

Learning material is clear and concise coupled with a clear demonstration of the concept of evidence-based practice in the managerial and consulting field;
The concept and its explanation is supported by appropriate research with reasonably accurate information;
An adequate amount of learning materials were provided with its core concept of evidence-based practice being integrated and summarized well.
Each module provides a summary.
Provides the basic elements needed by leadership, management, and decision-makers to improve the quality of decision-making based on facts and evidence.

Concerns:

The contemporary aspect and relevance of this learning material are ambiguous, requiring an assignment or a context to contain it;
The flexibility of this learning material in diverse situations is yet to be determined.
Users must register to use the site, but it is free of charge.
The Open Learning Initiative is self-paced and instruction may be required for students on how to use the site in general as well as how to use the site specifically for any of the information desired.
Would be beneficial to explain how to navigate the site to students.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Identifies generic learning objectives;
Concepts of evidence-based practice are reinforced progressively, building on prior concepts and demonstrating a relationship between these concepts;
This learning material is easy to integrate into curriculum assignments with its measurable student learning outcomes;
Provides a foundation to develop decision-making skills, identifying facts and evidence, and supporting management and leadership effectiveness.

Concerns:

Prerequisite knowledge is implied and is not explicitly made known;
The efficiency of this learning material to be used within a short period of time is dependent on context and person.
Students may need a roadmap or guidance to register for and to use this course.
Navigation is not difficult, but instructions would be helpful.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

Learning material is easy to use, with clear instructions;
It is interactive and is of high design quality;
Meets accessibility requirements and can be used on multiple types of mobile devices and platform.
Provides a foundation for leadership education
Helps student identify appropriate evidence from which decisions are made.

Concerns:

Lackluster learning material since it is lacking engaging points;
Visually not appealing.
Although the learning objectives are identified, it is recommended to have a further discussion (assuming this course is used as supplemental material) to make sure the concepts are understood.
Some of these concepts may be completely new for students, especially those at an undergraduate level, and may need clarification and examples to be most effective.

Other Issues and Comments:: It is recommended that this course be used as part of a leadership course, or part of an organizational change course, any course that deals with decision-making or process consultation. The information may be most useful when placed in the context of another course.
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