Page 208 - Making Instruction Work

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194 making instruction work

good as it used to be. Show them the comments book
and encourage them to write their comments in it. If
they make suggestions directly to you during the course,
thank them and then suggest they write in the notebook.
They will feel more rewarded for daring to make a sug-
gestion.

10. Conduct the course—according to the procedures you
have given the students.

11. If the course is more than one day long, and more than
one instructor is conducting the course, schedule end-
of-day debriefing sessions.

12. When it is over, review the comments in the notebook,
along with the notes you made yourself.

13. Make the indicated revisions. If there were a lot of revi-
sions, then consider the next cycle a second tryout and
repeat the procedure. Go to press only when the indicat-
ed revisions are minor or cosmetic in nature, rather than
substantive.

14. Provide feedback to those who helped with the tryout(s).
When possible, give each an autographed copy of the
final product (or at least some part of it).

Cosmetic vs. Substantive Comments

What’s the difference between cosmetic and substantive
revisions? Substantive comments suggest changes to the con-
tent or the sequence of the content. Suggestions that you
should move this chapter from here to there, or to delete
unneeded material, or that you correct technical errors, are
suggestions to make substantive changes. Keep testing until the