Lesson 5 -Critiques -CIS 58.57 Efolio

In an attempt to assure that each critique is based upon the same objective and impartial factors, you'll use the same Resume and Portfolio Guidelines that you used when you critiqued resumes and portfolios from the web.

By using these objective rating areas, you should be able to be more objective about your own site. When you critique your classmate, write your comments thoughtfully and carefully, keeping in mind that your objective is to provide feedback which will enable the person being evaluated to improve their sites.

There isn't a lot of room here for subjective interpretations with these Guidelines, or for letting your possible dislike of a particular color, font, or text alignment distort your rating of the entire Portfolio.

The purpose of this exercise is to gather information that will allow you to make your site even better than it is now. Having a classmate critique it, as well as critiquing yourself, will provide the opportunity for you to collaborate with a classmate to help each other.

It's usually very beneficial to have a second set of eyes compare your site against the Guidelines, to point out GENTLY when you've missed a point, or when your treatment or implementation of the guideline areas could be improved, OR to have your efforts confirmed and validated by someone else. In addition, for areas that need improvement, you'll be making a suggestion of what might be done to improve that area ... so this exercise becomes useful and positive, rather than just an identification of what is lacking.

Following the Guidelines you'll assign numerical rating scores for each area. These rating scores are INFORMATION ONLY, they are not factored into your classmates grades. I won't record the rating scores that are assigned -- they are for your benefit.

In each rating area you will assign either 1, 2 or 3 points as follows:

Needs Improvement
Standard/Adequate
Excellent/Outstanding

and at the end, will total the points you have assigned, to arrive at an overall rating for the Resume or Portfolio. There are a maximum of 30 points for each portfolio.

Your grade for this assignment will be based on the critique and suggestions for improvement that you write. In addition to pointing out what is lacking or what is outstanding, you'll be providing a few concrete examples from the Portfolio to support the rating that you assigned, and for any area that needs improvement, you'll need to make at least one suggestion of what could be done to fix or change the situation that you have identified

PLEASE NOTE: This is the area that most students forget most often ... making suggestions for improvement, and they lose points on the assignment because of it.

It may seem that simply saying that an element is missing is enough information for someone else to fix the situation ... but this isn't always the case. Pointing out what is lacking often doesn't translate inside a person's mind, into what could be done to improve it.

So even if you think the suggestion for improvement is totally obvious from your example of what is missing or weak, MAKE SURE that you actually make a suggestion of what might be done to improve the situation.

For example:

Qualifications are not listed in order of relevance to the objective.

This is the 1st piece, the identification of how the item compares to the guidelines. It may seem totally obvious to you that the way to fix this situation is to change the order of the qualifications, and that with the above sentence you've given all the info that is needed. But the owner of the resume may not see this, so you NEED to include the following, as well:

The portfolio could be improved by changing the order of the qualifications. For example, the two qualifications at the bottom of the list should be moved to the top, and the first moved to the bottom.

With this description of what the improvement looks like, the owner now has enough info to fix the situation, easily.

The critiques will be accomplished by creating the web pages which are described on the Homework page. You will create two web pages--one for your self, and one for the classmate who is below you on the Student Site Links. (The student at the bottom will critique the student at the top of the list.)

Self-evaluation will be a learning experience, and it will force you to look critically at your own work. Some of you may be your "worst critic", constantly striving for perfection and never feeling that you attain it. Others of you couldn't care less and may be inclined to simply rate yourself as "the best on the block!" Neither of these approaches is realistic and neither should be applied to your self-evaluation.

To the best that you are able, I want you to "look at your site with new eyes", using the same rating factors to evaluate yourself, that you will use to evaluate your peers.

I want to emphasize that your grade for this class will not be affected by the critique scores given by your classmates -- they will be used as information by you, a second opinion, in addition to your own, about the quality of your own site, and where it might need polishing or updating.

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how to critique

If possible, print and review the rating page. Spend enough time to be comfortable with each item.
Before you evaluate any site, examine 3 sites that you will NOT be evaluating. This will give you some perspective to bring to the evaluations. Use this link to access the Class 1st Draft Portfolio Links page: Student Site Links
Evaluate your own site before you evaluate those of your classmates. This will let you get even more familiar with the evaluation factors...and give you some experience. Remember: don't sell yourself short AND don't be grandiose. If you deserve highest marks, give them to yourself! And, if you don't, be honest with yourself.
Evaluate the classmate below you on the Student Site Links. (The student at the bottom of the list will critiqe the student at the top of the list.)

Be honest, and fair, and this will be a tremendously valuable exercise for you

After reviewing this lesson you will need to complete the reading assignment listed on the homework page, review the assignments for this lesson, and scan the resources page for additional links of interest.