There are no failures - only feedback (Richard Bandler)

Description

This week we covered the topic of feedback and examined strategies of good feedback and how to structure feedback to have the most impact on the students learning. At the end of the session we were given 2 blogs from other members in the class to review and give feedback to prepare for the next session. Saoirse had mentioned she would not be attending the class next week and as she received my critical reflection to review she decided to email me her feedback.

Feelings

My initial reaction to the activity was hesitation because not only did I have to review someone’s work and provide constructive feedback but someone in the class would be doing the same for me. It was not the activity of reviewing the blogs for my colleagues but the element of providing face to face feedback that made me uncomfortable. I correct lab reports and give feedback to students weekly as I am a lab demonstrator; however giving feedback to colleagues is a daunting task. As a postgraduate there is some element of seniority in the labs, and also I have completed these labs myself as an undergraduate so I feel very comfortable with this process. Providing feedback to a colleague on a reflective blog is a very different task. The questions that spring to mind are; who am I to say what is good or bad? Why would/should they take my feedback on board? Also the other side of this coin is the fact that someone else would be reviewing my work; how would they perceive my writing? Would they think the standard was good enough? Before I had found the time to review the papers I was given, Saoirse had contacted me through email, as she would not be attending class next week, to give me her feedback and I was anxious.

Evaluation

Opening the email and beginning to read the very constructive feedback put me at ease. Saoirse’s approach to feedback is definitely positive and reinforcing. Saoirse highlighted what I had done well and also, some things that needed improvement i.e. more referencing and better structure, in a very practical way. This gave me a bit of motivation to look at the two pieces of work I had to review with a bit more optimism. I went through both pieces of work and found myself enjoying the process. The positives were easy to highlight and praise however I found it challenging to give feedback in the areas that I identified needed some more work.

Analysis

One of the first questions Saoirse asked me was what type of method I had used to write my reflection. She had mentioned that she used Gibbs reflective cycle and found that this was really effective. Up until now I had been hesitant “conforming” to a style of reflective writing, I have practised reflective writing in the past but never valued a structured approach, as the application was not academic. This made me think that this could potentially be something I could try to strengthen my work and give it more structure. The second piece of feedback that resonated with me was the fact that there were no references. Again my experience with this type of exercise was never in an academic setting before this module, and referencing a reflective piece seemed unnecessary to me. However from Saoirse’s feedback, and reading the two reflective pieces I was given to review, I began to see the merit in referencing for this type of reflection and solidifying the theory of these methods on practice.

Conclusion

Through the exercise of giving and receiving feedback I have begun to realise the merit of peer review. My initial hesitation surrounding this exercise has eased. Although I still have to deliver my feedback to two colleagues face to face in the next pedagogy session, I am feeling more optimistic about the response I get. In a case study presented in an online guide by the Higher Education academy, (Charles Juwah 2004), other benefits of peer review include a greater understanding of a student’s own working style as well as others and self-directed feedback, enabling the student to become more self-aware. Peer-review may also provide a “safe-space” to voice ideas and concerns without judgement from the teacher or wider class group. Peer-assessment and feedback would be a practice I would like to include in a module or lab, when I have control over their design.

Action plan

This blog is my action plan in action!! I plan to write with a much more structured approach to the reflective pieces, using the Gibbs model. Also I will be incorporating referencing into my reflective pieces to demonstrate my understanding and contextualisation of the theories and pedagogical approaches we explore in this module.

References

Charles Juwah, D. M.-D. B. M. D. N. D. R. a. B. S., 2004. Enhancing student learning througheffective formative feedback. [Online] Available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/resources/id353_senlef_guide.pdf [Accessed 28 February 2016].