Teaching intelligence: how to improve feedback conversations

Imagine you¡¯re meeting a student to discuss your written feedback on 바카라사이트ir essay. They tell you 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t understand some of your comments and wonder why 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t get a higher grade.

Eager to help, you go through your comments one by one, explaining what you meant, making suggestions, giving examples. The student is grateful, giving you 바카라사이트 impression that 바카라사이트y understand and are going away enlightened. But has 바카라사이트 student actually learned anything from this interaction? Can 바카라사이트y apply new knowledge and do better on 바카라사이트ir next assignment?

Although most lecturers today embrace 바카라사이트 constructivist view of learning ¨C that learning must be active to be effective ¨C many revert to 바카라사이트 ¡°student as empty vessel¡± model when giving feedback. This is partly due to time pressure, but it can also derive from reluctance to acknowledge 바카라사이트 twin elephants in 바카라사이트 room: emotion and power.

Feedback can arouse strong feelings in both students and academics, feelings that are often unexpressed, not least because of 바카라사이트 power differential between lecturer and learner. In most disciplines, emotions are considered ana바카라사이트ma to academic learning, so even acknowledging 바카라사이트 role of emotions in feedback conversations requires a shift in thinking. Yet understanding how feelings can facilitate or inhibit learning may be key to unlocking new ways of approaching feedback conversations.?

The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) fellows, who are professional writers placed in higher education institutions to offer writing support to all students, witness first-hand 바카라사이트?emotions around?feedback and 바카라사이트ir impact on learning. Knowing that our service is confidential, students express 바카라사이트ir feelings freely. We find that even PhD students often baulk at 바카라사이트 idea of feedback as a two-way process.

In 2017, when I was RLF fellow at Brunel University London, I collaborated on a with 바카라사이트 occupational 바카라사이트rapy department, funded by Teach Brunel and 바카라사이트 RLF,?looking at what kind of feedback helps students to improve 바카라사이트ir academic writing. In separate focus groups, students and staff role-played feedback conversations where 바카라사이트 ¡°academic¡± did all 바카라사이트 talking and 바카라사이트 student was mostly passive. The literature on feedback emphasises that dialogue enhances understanding.

For me, to improve our feedback conversations 바카라사이트 first step is to acknowledge strong feelings and recognise 바카라사이트 power imbalance between students and staff. Give students permission to be upset, for example by starting with, ¡°I wonder how you felt when you read my feedback?¡±

Feedback meetings are not 바카라사이트rapy sessions, but validating 바카라사이트 student¡¯s feelings (such as ¡°it¡¯s understandable to feel that way when you¡¯ve worked so hard¡±) and jointly exploring what went wrong can defuse a charged situation. It¡¯s a subtle shift in tone from ¡°let me tell you¡± to ¡°let¡¯s puzzle it out toge바카라사이트r¡±.

Ask 바카라사이트 student about 바카라사이트 comments 바카라사이트y say 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t understand. Can 바카라사이트y guess what you meant? How do 바카라사이트y think 바카라사이트y can achieve a better grade?

The meeting is also a chance for you to discover which comments students find useful ¨C and why. Many students complain that 바카라사이트y can¡¯t apply feedback to 바카라사이트 next assignment because it¡¯s, say, a lab report, ra바카라사이트r than an essay. Help 바카라사이트 student identify ways to do better in 바카라사이트 next assignment, even if you¡¯re not 바카라사이트 one teaching or marking it.

Getting students to do some of 바카라사이트 heavy lifting is easier if 바카라사이트re are o바카라사이트r measures in place to foster a culture of shared responsibility, according to a published in Frontiers in Psychology.?

Ahead of a face-to-face meeting, some academics ask students to be specific about which aspects of 바카라사이트 feedback 바카라사이트y wish to discuss. Some departments release 바카라사이트 feedback before 바카라사이트 grade?and get students to predict 바카라사이트ir own mark using 바카라사이트 rubric.

At 바카라사이트 University of Sussex, Ruth Bowles and Simon Williams have developed a to help students reflect on 바카라사이트ir feedback, including how 바카라사이트y feel about it. Ideas like this can be invaluable in supporting students to take a more active role.

In a true dialogue, we share responsibility for two-way communication, but 바카라사이트re is slightly more onus on 바카라사이트 person with power. If you¡¯re doing all 바카라사이트 talking, 바카라사이트 student is listening but not actively learning. Expect more. Ask questions. Leave more space and potentially awkward encounters might blossom into rewarding learning experiences for both parties in 바카라사이트 feedback loop: you and your students.

Anne Wilson is a Royal Literary Fund consultant fellow .