1. Home
  2. Peer Review: Resume Writing

Peer Review

Resume Writing

Reviewed:
Feb 22, 2021 by Business
Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating: 4.8 stars
Content Quality: 4.5 stars
Effectiveness: 4.8 stars
Ease of Use: 4.8 stars
Overview:

This is a free course offered as part of the Saylor Foundation's Professional Development program. 'This program is designed especially for adult learners who are ready to learn and apply skills demanded by today’s employers.

Whether you are new to the employment world or wish to develop and improve your workplace skills, you will be able to select short-term courses targeted to your success.' 'Are you getting ready to apply for a job, or are you already seeking employment?

A resume (or résumé) is a brief written account of personal, educational, and professional qualifications and experience that you prepare as part of your application materials for a prospective job. To ensure that your resume is read by the recipient, you will need a cover letter that markets your unique qualifications for the specified job description. In the current global economy, it is essential for job seekers to optimize their chances of being considered and hired for positions that are well-suited to their qualifications and interests.

This course will help you effectively develop employment application materials for today’s job market by honing your resume writing skills, providing you with tools to create an impressive resume (or to improve the one you already have), and giving suggestions on developing an effective cover letter. You will study different types of resume and cover letter formats that can be applied to various prospective employment situations and your own personal career goals.

You will undertake a critical assessment of the professional skills you already possess, brainstorm and apply the best ways to market these skills in your resume and cover letter, and enhance your application materials by using specific tips and techniques to make you more competitive for the job you seek. By the end of this course, you will combine effective language and design elements to produce a polished resume and cover letter that can be tailored to each specific job application.'

Primary tools in this course are articles, lectures, and videos.

Type of Material:

Online Course

Recommended Uses:
  • This could be used in class relative to undergraduate human resources courses or as a general education course in resume writing.
  • Recommended use is for individuals to pursue career goals.
Technical Requirements:

Firefox ver 85.0.1

Adobe reader ver 21.001.20135

Microsoft 365 ver 16.0.13530.20440

Identify Major Learning Goals:
  • Describe the purpose and types of a professional resume
  • Hone resume writing skills
  • Describe ways to utilize your resume and cover letters as effective marketing tools
Target Student Population:
  • Major level Management students
  • Upper level students in other disciplines
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

None

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:
  • This is a self-paced course that can be completed by the user at their convenience; an estimated completion time is five hours.
  • Access to FAQs (frequently asked questions) is provided
  • This can be completed entirely online through a computer or a web-capable mobile device with access to the Internet.
  • Online discussion forums are available for those who may have questions.
  • This course was last updated on September 30, 2020. and is current.
Concerns:
  • Resume writing needs to consider other non-technical aspects such as design aesthetics and contemporary formatting (templates).
  • There is a final exam required for the certificate. However, users can review the material as needed.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:
  • The course can be taken for college credit, information on college credit partners is provided in the left-hand column on the homepage.
  • There is a blog available if anyone wishes to participate
  • Under the resources tab, there is a summation of the content of the chapter, articles are summarized, and examples are provided of different types of resumes
  • Different formats, forms, and functions are discussed for resumes, including differentiating a CV from a resume.
  • Minimal supervision is needed and self-pace learning is encouraged.
Concerns:
  • Ready-made templates should be introduced to encourage creative modification/manipulation of formats and contents.
  • If this is used in a course, it may be difficult to measure specific outcomes other than giving credit for completing the certificate, which means the final exam was passed. It appears to be “all or nothing”.
  • Prerequisite knowledge is not identified.
  • This is a very basic course so the difficulty level is very low.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:
  • It is very easy to navigate on the side, using the left sidebar with different sections.
  • Under the tab University (Credit) Partnerships, there is a list of higher education institutions that give credit for this course.
  • There is a separate list under University Partnerships for skill development, as this course will also assist in building portfolios and preparing for different career paths.
  • Materials provided are well designed for optimizing the learning process.
  • Students are provided an estimate of how long it will take to complete each part.
Concerns:
  • Students are allowed 7 attempts to pass the exam. If given for credit, they may be able to guess the answers after several attempts.
Creative Commons:
creative-commonscreative-commons by