{"id":166,"date":"2022-03-14T11:54:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T15:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/?p=166"},"modified":"2023-08-29T10:50:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T14:50:43","slug":"feedback-that-nourishes-mind-and-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/edvice\/2022\/03\/14\/feedback-that-nourishes-mind-and-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Feedback that Nourishes Mind and Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cliff Rouder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ll never forget the feedback I received from two professors when I was an undergraduate (and here, I\u2019m quoting them): \u201cYou missed the point of this question\u2013badly!\u201d and \u201cPretty good about what Sewall thought; totally baffling about why.\u201d The first gem was on a practice question to help me prepare for the big essay exam. We call this formative feedback, where there\u2019s an opportunity to put into practice the feedback we\u2019re given. The second gem was feedback on a big essay; we call this summative feedback coming at the end of a unit or instruction. It\u2019s designed to be evaluative and typically counts for a significant portion of the course grade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did either of these gems accomplish anything except deflate my motivation? The answer is a resounding NO for those of you playing at home. Now fast forward a couple of decades. As a conscientious instructor early on in my career, I\u2019ll never forget returning students\u2019 papers on which I must have spent 50 hours providing massive amounts of feedback, only to watch a few students crumple up their papers right in front of me and shoot a 3-pointer into the trash can. Woah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The feedback we give to students\u2013what it focuses on, how it\u2019s expressed, how much we give, and how frequently we give it\u2013can have a positive (or in my case above, negative) impact on motivation, and thus, on learning. Do I remember getting feedback that was motivating? Absolutely. Try this one on for size and take a moment to reflect on how it differs from the less than helpful feedback above:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I like where you\u2019re going in this paragraph because you\u2019re leading me to your main argument. What I\u2019d like you to think about is how to better connect it to the prior paragraph.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, now here\u2019s something I can work with. I was on track with the second paragraph but needed to make a better connection between the first and second paragraph. I could do that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

L. Dee Fink, a noted teaching and faculty development consultant, uses the acronym FIDeLity to describe characteristics of useful feedback. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

F=<\/strong>Frequent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I=<\/strong>Immediate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

D=<\/strong>Discriminating<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L=<\/strong>Loving<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last two are not self-evident, so let me explain what he means by \u201cdiscriminating\u201d and \u201cloving.\u201d \u201cDiscriminating\u201d feedback targets the most important areas for improvement. By \u201cloving,\u201d Fink refers to the spirit in which the feedback is expressed, i.e., wanting your students to improve rather than wanting to demoralize or discourage (see again the two pieces of feedback above). While the feedback I gave in my early teaching career was meant to be loving, the sea of red ink calling out every little thing I found positive and negative was hardly that\u2013nor was it discriminating. Lesson learned.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point you may be thinking, \u201cYeah, yeah, this all sounds good, but in the real world, I teach large lectures and don\u2019t have endless hours to give FIDeLity feedback. Besides, students don\u2019t seem to use my feedback anyway, so nice try.\u201d Both are legitimate concerns, so let\u2019s look at strategies for giving FIDeLity feedback in the real world. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n