General Description

The 1st Draft Script Review comes at an early stage in the course creation process. While an outline may precede this work, this is often the first time the content team has put digital pen to digital paper to articulate the course content. At this stage, the script is rough and often contains questions, placeholders, and general statements.

This is a good opportunity for any review participant to suggest major changes or raise general concerns. In addition, high-level commentary and ideas are welcome. 

What's the purpose of this review?

• Verify and agree on the structure and sequence for the course. 
• Ensure the course organization makes sense.
• The course will often be structured around modules at this point. Evaluate whether the module organization makes sense.
• Provide directional guidance on content. Note omissions.
• Suggest specific examples. Point to helpful resources.
• Prepare for the Script Review Meeting.

Don't Worry (Yet) About...

• Don't worry about grammar, punctuation, typos. The 1st Draft scripts are expected to be rough. The content team will always do at least one more draft after this one, typically more.
• Don't worry about consistency with style guidance (though it's never too early to point out where prominent terms are misused or Ed-Fi products are incorrectly described).
• Don't worry about placeholders or general comments.
• Don't worry about raising questions or suggesting general changes. At this point, feedback doesn't need to be prescriptive. The Content Lead and the Production Team will work together to consider and integrate feedback.

Specific Responsibilities

If you're the Course Champion...

• Ensure the course appears likely to cover all topics that should be in scope.
• Big changes, ideas, and suggestions are welcome. Major changes are still easy at this stage, so go nutzoid.

If you're the Content Lead...

• Ensure the scope and sequence are as you intend.
• Where necessary, include (or address) any must-have input from the Course Champion.
• As appropriate, synthesize comments from all reviewers. At this stage, the material is rough, and smart people may disagree on the best direction to go from here. As the Content Lead, you're on the hook for rationalizing input from various reviewers into a specific direction — and rejecting input when you feel it's not aligned with the course.
• Provide (or ask a team member to provide) any essential or must-have reference documents, templates, or similar. You don't necessarily need to include everything  at this point, but do ensure the essentials are available to the Production Team.
• As always, you can suggest a live meeting if useful. The Academy Coordinator (currently Ann Su) can coordinate schedules.

If you're on the Content Team...

• Opine. Unless specifically requested otherwise, be as general or specific as you want.

If you're an SME, or a Reviewer...

• You're not typically roped in by this point. If you are asked to participate in a 1st Draft Review, check with the Content Lead or the Academy Team if you're not sure why you've been called to serve.
• If you're an SME, you've likely been called in to spot factual errors. Focus on whatever details are present, and flag any incorrect or ambiguous statements about the product, technology, or concepts covered.

If you're a Senior Editor...

• Lead any live review meetings. Facilitate the conversation about reviewers' feedback and support the content lead in rationalizing the input into specific direction about the changes that are needed.
• If an external party is responsible for script revisions, synthesize feedback from the internal review meeting. Rewrite or resolve comments as needed to provide clear direction for the revisions. Lead a review meeting with the external party authoring the scripts to discuss the requested revisions.