My peer review is for Food Studies for Beginners by Learning Pod 9. Overall I think that this Interactive Learning Resource (ILR) was very well planned and well written.

Overview

Pod 9 did a very good job making their ILR relevant to current issues concerning COVID-19, which helped frame the content in an easily understandable and practical/applicable way. I liked how they gave a clear explanation for how a healthy diet helps: “we can lower our risks of infection and kill the novel virus that causes COVID-19 by designing a healthy diet with balanced nutrients in order to enhance our immunity and following safe food handling and cooking practices.”

I like that there is no previous experience necessary to use this ILR – it feels very accessible and could be used by anyone, as they intended.

One thing that may be helpful for both the learner and teacher is to phrase the learning outcomes in a way that is measurable, in particular for the outcomes that begin with comprehend, recognize, analyze, understand, etc. (for the learning outcomes in the modules as well). This would make it easier for students to predict what the expectations are, and it would help the teacher be able to assess their learning. A more measurable outcome could look like describing how the outcome will be fulfilled (ie. by writing a blog post, by demonstration, by a quiz, etc) and/or listing what skills or specific topics (as opposed to broader categories) students will need to know to meet the learning outcome.

Rationales

I found all the rationales very well written and cohesive. In particular, I liked their explanation for open pedagogy as the learning design and its interactive, accessible nature. The use of graphics was very helpful in making open pedagogy easy to understand. The technology choices made sense for an open pedagogy design and vice versa.

Learning Modules

All the lesson modules are very well organized – the progression of topics (within the modules as well) divides the information into easy-to-absorb chunks and gives the lesson flow. The use of graphics and bullet-point lists make the lesson more engaging and easier to read and understand so that the learner doesn’t feel overloaded with new information.

The research put into the lessons is very thorough and gives an in-depth introduction to the topic.

I noticed that all of the videos used in your modules have subtitles/closed captioning! This was a good design to remove barriers and make the lessons accessible. Nice job!

I also like how the learning activities connect to current events, making the lesson more applicable to everyday life and also encourage students to reflect on their own experiences and expand their learning past the ILR. This also fits well with their open pedagogy design!

 

Strategies: Inclusion of Diverse Learners

I believe Pod 9 met the goals they outlined for inclusion of diverse learners! I agree with their description for how they made the website accessible to people who can only use the site on a mobile phone. As well, the website is very well written in clear, easy to understand language that I think would be appropriate for English Language Learners. Their use of images and diagrams also help to convey the information in an alternate method that does not rely so heavily on reading English.

 

Final Thoughts

This ILR is very easy to use, easy to understand, and is very comprehensive. 

  • It is well cited and very well written as well. 
  • The use of images and diagrams is very engaging, and the multimedia design of this website makes it accessible for English Language Learners. 
  • As an added bonus, the videos also are subtitled which could potentially help Deaf/hard of hearing learners as well as English Language Learners. 
  • The design of the website makes it very easy to navigate.
  • The interactive modules and learning activities work well with the constructivist theory, building of of basic knowledge and connecting it to current events and learner’s own reflections and experiences
  • The free-to-access resources (the ILR website itself, youtube videos, etc.) work well with the open pedagogy design.

My only suggestion would be to develop the phrasing of the learning outcomes to be more concrete and measurable.

Good job Pod 9!!

 

– SC