How Do They Know It’s Done Right?

The criteria for success is the standard by which the results of the task will be judged.

In transparent design, this is done by defining the characteristics of the finished product, providing multiple examples in real-world practice and encouraging creativity.

Think about the following as you discuss with students what success looks like:

• How can they practice this task in a way where you can provide feedback?
• Do they need further practice with the knowledge required to complete the task?
• If the overall impact of the task is large, how can you find ways to supervise a smaller version of the task to provide feedback?

In our work, a lot of times the way we know something is being done correctly comes from the overall system working. Coming back to our shelving example: you can practice shelving and immediately check students’ work, you can quiz them on the correct order of call numbers, etc., but the real indication of success comes after training, when students can see that their work contributes to a system of reliably finding library items. This means it’s especially important that as supervisors, we lay this groundwork to ensure students understand why and how they are doing this work, so that the criteria can be met successfully.