Peer Review

Briefing Notes and Briefing Books

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Reviewed:: Feb 12, 2015 by Business

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: From the materials, the following description is provided. "WritingForResults.net, a company that specializes in briefing notes, briefing books, memos and letters prepared for cabinet ministers and senior executives. WritingForResults.net is designed to help fill that gap on the bookshelf. Whether you are a manager, an editor, a policy analyst or an executive assistant, you will find that this site gives you a wealth of guidance, tools, techniques and insight that is not available elsewhere on the Web or in bookstores. This site is oriented to briefings for senior executives. However, the specific titles involved don't really affect the techniques you need to use. The guidelines provided here apply equally whether you are writing to brief a colleague or the president of your organization." However, in reviewing the materials they are helpful for the general public at the college level, not just senior level executives.
Type of Material:: Reference
Recommended Uses:: Assignment/homework, individual, professional and collaboration.
Technical Requirements:: • Internet Explorer (IE) version 8, Firefox (version 11). These were both used to access the material (the material website supports these browsers as well as Google Chrome). • Adobe Reader/Flash (needed to additional in-text links leading to other forms/formats of media)
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Students will improve their writing skills. Students will become aware of different types of writing.
Target Student Population:: College and Graduate level business students as well as Professional/Corporate learners.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: None

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: • Overall, the quality of the content is good. There is a lot of information contained within these pages. • There are a lot of examples and templates provided for learners to apply and build upon. • There is plenty of graphics and images that meet various learning styles.
Concerns:: • No comments since late in 2012 • When I attempted to click on what I thought were buttons that should take me to [Give Yourself a Frame of Reference], [Research & Select the Content], etc.. and even the lower right hand corner button, nothing ever opened up. Please check links to verify.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: • Students can learn a great deal from the examples and templates that the contributor provides. • The examples are relevant to any student learning as well as the identified ministries learning. • The contributor provides discussion areas for users to use and collaborate as they work through these examples and practice items provided or assigned. • The Home/Landing page is set up in a sequential order inviting learners to progress in this method; however, it is open for learners to jump straight to the information they need without having to be forced through the material.
Concerns:: • Verify that all linking elements are working; refer back to item #1 in this review. • Main concern is that I do not believe the material has been updated recently. However, that might not be a valid concern, since the laws of grammar have not changed in recent years.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: • Very easy to use and navigate. • A site map is provided. • Very engaged throughout the site with the examples and supporting documents that were provided • Very intuitive.
Concerns:: • Not all links work

Other Issues and Comments:: Overall, I like what the contributor has shard and offered with regard to writing. There can never be too many writing resources and it is always nice to see specific examples related to a specific area of interest or topic.
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