Providing Feedback to Learners

A reflective post after participating and observing series of presentations/learning activities of students:

As an educator for more than the last 18 years, I have observed and reflected on various aspects of teaching and learning which are valuable for the learners and academe. Feedback to the learners on their learning activities is one of the most vital activities in teaching and learning. 

Feedback by Whom?

Because professors in classrooms are seen/regarded as ‘experts/gurus’ in their areas, that’s why learners look forward to getting comments from professors on their learning activities. In addition, professors perceive themselves as ‘experts’ and ‘responsible for the learning of learners, they are keen and quick to provide feedback on learning activities on the areas of their ‘expertise’.

Non-traditional teaching and learning methods recommend that professors should be the last ones in the classroom to provide feedback for learning activities. This is applicable if the teaching and learning approach used is aimed at developing a learning community in the classroom, where learners are encouraged to learn from each other and take the responsibilities of self-learning and learning of their peers too. An example of how to operationalize this non-traditional feedback process is:

After a presentation, the presenters are asked to sit back, while the peers work based on the rubrics of the presentation and draft feedback on the presentation. After a few minutes, the presenter is asked. “How was the presentation/How you feel about your presentation/ How do you assess your presentation?” In fact, the presenter can also use the same rubric to assess himself/herself. Following the constructivism approach of teaching and learning, even if the feedback is in a written form, it needs to be communicated orally/discussed in the classroom to provide an opportunity for the discussions, thus creating an experiential learning environment. After the self-assessment by the presenter or his/her sharing about his/her feeling with the presentation, the peers need to share their assessments of the presentation. In a large class, a predetermined number of peers can share their assessment/comments for each presentation. For a team presentation, members of two other teams can provide feedback or comments. The professor can invite other peers to add their comments if any. After the peer feedback round, the professor can provide his/her assessment to the presentation, to the self-assessment, and also to the peer feedback/comments.

The role of the professor in the above example is to create a safe learning environment, where learners interact with each other and perform learning activities facilitated by the faculty member or their peers. Of course, the professors should provide the feedback, but only after the peer-feedback round. Using this method, professors, when focusing on not only the learning activity but also on the peer comments/feedback, can gauge the learning obtained/constructed by the whole class/all learners from the learning activities. This makes the practice of sharing feedback and comment in a classroom, an extended learning activity in itself, and thus, contributes to enhanced learning for all. In addition, self-assessment of students also aids in wholesome learning.

Feedback on What?

Most of the time, the feedback is limited to the content/knowledge area of the discipline and the soft skills, and other aspects are missed. This issue emerges most frequently in a traditional setting of teaching and learning, especially if assessment rubrics are not used or rubrics are ill-designed. An effective rubrics should have multiple criteria for assessments aligned with the learning objectives of the activity/course.

How to give constructive feedback?

The words used in providing feedback need to be sensitive enough. Using abusive and derogatory words in feedback tends to defeat its purpose. Focusing comments on the performance/activity by learners, and avoiding comments on the person helps in maintaining a learning environment. Adding suggestions or recommendations on how the performance could be improved or the learning activity could be more effective, or what could get better scores in the rubric makes the feedback constructive. Most professors and peers forget to mention the positive points/appreciation in the feedback. It is almost impossible to find any learning activity that lacks at least one point of appreciation. I have noticed that mentioning positive/appreciation before the negative/improvement comments help in better acceptance of feedback by the recipient.

Why is it difficult to implement?

The problem/issue I have noticed is that it is very hard for the professors as an individual with their self-image as ‘experts and gurus’, and with the strong ‘responsibility of ‘providing’ and ‘transmitting’ learning to learners, to hold and to provide opportunities to learning peers to provide feedback to each other. Even students who are new to constructivism teaching and learning may feel that providing feedback or comments to peers is not their job or they feel incompetent or not qualified enough to provide feedback or comments. Another reason as frequently observed by me is the lack of time, or, feeling of threat/inadequacy among professors who feel that if peers provide all feedback or comments, there may not be much left for the professor to comment on. Also developing and using rubrics is time-consuming and requires more effort from professors. All these issues/problems can be solved by a careful design of activities, feedback time and process after the activities, and practice.

This kind of constructivist approach of teaching helps learners to learn the ways to provide constructive feedback to each other. It may require using formal peer assessment tools and providing training to learners in giving and receiving constructive feedback to each other.

The traditional form of teaching and learning where only professors provide feedback to learners, while focusing only on negative points, and using direct/hitting words (as perceived by the recipient of the feedback) might have worked or even transformed the learners in the 1990s. The sensitivity of millennia learners is higher than the previous generations and the adoption of non-traditional teaching and learning activities helps in connecting with the modern learners faster and in a more effective way. In addition, using peer assessments, peer feedback, and self-assessment for learning activities helps in developing a critical skill in learners – the skill of providing and receiving feedback, a must to have skill in the modern workplaces.