1. August 19, 2016
To whom this may concern,
I am writing this letter to recommend Ladan Javadi. Ladan was an excellent student in my Inferential
Statistics course in the spring quarter of 2016 at Capella University.
Inferential Statistics is one of the most difficult courses at Capella. It terrifies almost everyone, even
those with a quantitative background, and has one of the highest drop rates of any course.
It is against this backdrop that I would like to tell you about Ladan.
Ladan demonstrated some extraordinary capabilities that not only carried her through to an A but more
importantly, distinguished her from her peers.
I’d like to highlight these capabilities because I believe if I had to write up the habits of a highly effective
student anywhere, online or off, these capabilities would number at the top.
Here they are:
(1) Ladan was an exemplary planner and learning strategist. Of the students in my 2 sections of this
course that quarter, I am convinced that Ladan was the very first to position herself well for
success. She set up and began learning SPSS before most students even knew they needed to
buy it, she created a time line, she assessed and determined a strategy for addressing the
syllabus and requirements, and she contacted me to close any gaps she had in understanding
those requirements.
(2) Ladan was also the first to post in almost every discussion thread. Why is this so important?
Those who post early are taking a chance: They don’t have the benefit of other learners’ posts
or my feedback on those posts. Ladan’s consistent courage in jumping onto the board first and
setting the bar (more on that in a moment) speaks not just to her ability to be successful but to
her ability to learn.
(3) Ladan reached out beyond the course materials to get ALL of the learning she needed. Ladan
treated this course as a research opportunity and gathered lots of resources beyond the
required ones to ensure that she was well prepared to address discussion units and
assignments.
(4) Ladan “figured it out.” When she was confused about a concept, she became even more
determined to figure it out. If I had to isolate the single most important attribute of an online
learner, it would be this: Whereas many learners do not want to, or cannot, work to figure it
out, Ladan did it instinctively and excellently.
As for Ladan’s command of the concepts, I’d like to quote some of my feedback. Before I do that,
though, the reader of this reference should know that Ladan did not enter 7620 with a repertoire of
statistics skills. What Ladan took away from this course, she fought for – HARD.
Here are two separate clips of feedback I provided her during the course:
Initial Feedback: I won’t mince words: I'm a big Ladan Javadi fan. I look forward to reading
Ladan's posts and this one was no exception. What a terrific job! I just probed to see how the

2. learner thinks about some of the concepts. Follow-up: Ladan knocked this one out of the park.
Wow! Ladan showed substantive critical thinking. Well done!
Initial Feedback: This is really what it's all about. A learner takes the time to absorb and learn a
new set of concepts, clearly worked hard to learn from the framework I set up in an
announcement, tries out an understanding of those concepts and framework, and sticks a
landing, as the gymnasts would say, that shows the learner is more than in the game: This
learning is winning! A few edits are necessary but I'm really quite thrilled with what I saw here,
especially because this post was one of the first on the board. REALLY OUTSTANDING WORK!
Follow-up: Edits were made. Beautiful work! Also, huge props to Ladan for her fabulously
thoughtful response to Stacy.
That very last comment is pretty significant: Few students take the time to write a well-crafted,
thoughtful response to other students. Ladan did. That’s just who she was in my courseroom—a real
scholar who made an important contribution to the course every single week.
Ladan is an extremely capable and talented student who distinguished herself throughout the quarter in
which I was fortunate enough to work with her. I recommend Ladan without reservation.
Thanks very much for the opportunity to discuss her qualifications.
All the best,
Sanna T. Reynolds, PhD
Faculty , Harold Abel School of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Capella University
susanna.reynolds@capella.edu