Good Monday morning 301,
Evaluation Update:
I am still in the process of evaluating Unit One and providing feedback. I plan to complete all your Unit One evaluations this week and you will receive an email message with an attached evaluation doc. When I have finished all Unit One evaluations, I will post and email a message.
Review of Report Proposals:
I have read and responded to your report proposals, thank you; some very interesting investigations.
Following is a brief list of my most common comments on memos and accompanying report proposals :
- my name is spelt with a ‘k’ and a single ‘t’: Erika Paterson
- memo’s need to be titled – Memorandum
- Titles belong with names
- Initials belong beside your name
- Organize your memos with bullets to make reading quicker and to provide important details with brevity and focus for your reader (please see the example below)
- You need to investigate who your are writing the report for – that person must be in a position to act on your final recommendations
You should continue to work on your reports at the same time you create your Linked in profiles and begin your Application packages. I have posted a new blog to assist you with this prepatory work: Guidelines for Formal Report Preperations
Peer Review:
I was most impressed with your Peer Reviews for your definitons and Unit reflections. I was particularly pleased to see so much good advice on how to pursue investigations and the sharing of ideas in general – excellent, thank you.
Future Peer Reviews:
I have taken a quick look at a few of your peer reviews for your Formal Report Proposals. I will comment on those reviews as soon as possible, but in the meantime here are just a few notes to consider for your future reviews:
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- Before you read the document, create a template for your review.
- Based on the assignment criteria and the textbook guidelines, consider the important elements of the document you are about to review before you begin, make a list of catagories.
- Create a set of headings for each category of the document and list them in a logical order.
- Now, read the document focused on these categories making notes for yourself as you read.
- You are looking for BOTH the positive highlights of the document and the negative weakness’ under each category.
- Address your peer by name, begin your review with a friendly and positive comment that highlights an element of the document you are reviewing and (briefly) summarize the strong and the weak parts of the document.
- Be sure to include a review of grammar and syntax as well – point to the errors and suggest corrections if necessary. The Grammar and Syntax section of your review should be the last section before concluding
- Conclude your review with a likewise friendly and complimentary paragraph, again highlighting the positive and listing briefly the general changes you have suggested.
- Before you read the document, create a template for your review.
Memorandums:
As I read through your memos re: research proposals I am finding a number of people who are sending me email messages when the instructions ask for a memorandum. Please do read the instructions carefully, following instructions is an important skill for this course, which is why I as for so many emails and memos.
Here is an example of an excellent memorandum
- Introduction: I expressed the mandate of BCCA Volunteer Services and suggested there is opportunity to further improve the patient experience for those living with cancer. Also, I state, that BCCA offers many support services to patients and that patients may be unaware or forgetful of these beneficial resources.
- Area of Improvement (Statement of Problem): I suggest patients and volunteers could be better informed about the support services available at the Cancer Centre, which would improve the patient experience.
- Proposed Solution: I suggest creating a new Roaming Cancer Centre Resources Expert Volunteer role and offering more training to other volunteers on resources and support services offered at the Cancer Centre. The goal of this additional role and training is to keep patients well informed of the resources available to them, thus improving their experience.
- Scope: I intend to pursue nine areas of inquiry relating to patient and volunteer knowledge of Cancer Centre resources and support services for patients.
- Methods: I intend to use primary data sources (observation and surveys) and secondary data sources (BCCA and Canadian Cancer Society websites) in my research.
- My Qualifications: I have been volunteering at BCCA-VCC in a patient support role since September 2014. I am currently in a Shift-Lead role as well. I have worked two Co-op terms at the BC Cancer Research Centre as a Clinical Trials Assistant, which required me to work in the VCC. I genuinely want to support patients living with cancer. In May of this year I will receive my B.S. in Biochemistry.
- Conclusion: I reiterated the mission of BCCA and said that I could determine ways to further improve the patient experience. I asked for permission to begin my research.
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