Before I get to the heart of this week's blog, I have to relate another example of the stark contrast between the impact of technology on society and the painfully slow adaptation of technology resources in education. A quarter century ago when I used to go bowling with my friends, we would argue over who has to keep score. It had to be someone who was trustworthy, had good math skills and legible penmanship because it was all done by hand. I just finished an afternoon of bowling at an alley where the players names are entered electronically along with their handicap. The automatic scoring system detects which pins are still standing (which was many in my case) and suggests a strategy to pick up the spare. The computer calculates the scores and before we could finish off a post-game libation, the tournament organizer handed us a printed summary of our scores. At the end of the month, final tournament results will be posted online. If bowling can adopt this level of technology, why can't education. How can we justify a society where technology tools are more pervasive in bowling alleys than in classrooms?
Now on to this week's article, Feedback That Fits by Susan Brookhart. Giving student feedback is not a topic I have really considered much before so I found the article rather interesting. Specifically, it puts a lot of pressure on the teacher when you consider the potential harmful effects of ineffective or poorly crafted feedback. This is another area, like setting learning objectives, creating learning activities and formulating summative assessments that has to be carefully considered when planning a lesson or unit.
I must say that I have experienced much more ineffective feedback than effective feedback in my academic life as well as my professional career. As a manager, a lot of the concepts presented in the article - like carefully considering the timing, amount and mode of feedback - could easily be applicable to employee and teacher evaluations. Just as it is important for students to know where they stand and what they need to do to reach their learning goals, it is equally important for employees to know how they are doing and what they need to improve on to meet organizational and professional development goals.
Now if I could just get some effective feedback on my bowling game...
I have to agree that it is a pretty sad state of affairs when bowling alleys can adapt to using technology easier than the educational world! I, too, had a similar experience when bowling with my son over his winter break--it's pretty amazing how much things have changed.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you've experienced more ineffective than effective feedback isn't surprising; in fact, that was the concensus among the members of my study team as well. I agree that even though you and I don't work directly with students, we are providing feedback to our employees on a regular basis. I've learned over the years (the hard way) how important it is to be thoughtful in the feedback I give to my staff, but also be direct. Sugar-coating leads to mixed messages and the ultimate result is having to repeat the same conversations. Having clear-cut objectives and expectations is definitely the way to go when setting professional goals; just as that's the way to go when setting learning objectives in the classroom.
Other than evaluations, what are some other ways you find yourself providing feedback to your staff?
I too have had much more inneffectual feedback than useful feedback. The unfortunate thing is that I also am probably guilty of giving too little feedback or giving it too late also. With about 200 students in my 5 classes, just grading all the work produced is a huge task. Giving individual feedback on each piece of work is almost impossible. This is why I have used group feedback when I notice that a group is not attaining the knowledge that I am expecting them to. This group feedback could come in the form of a discussion about the work or reteaching a section if the majority of students missed the knowledge. When dealing with a large student to teacher ratio, individual feedback can be great when possible, but needs should be addressed even if it is only via group communication.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about feedback being important to the world of work really opened my eyes to something. We are supposed to be teaching students how to succeed in life after school. It seems to me that teaching students not only how to receive feed back is important, but also how to solicit and how to give feedback is important as well. No one likes a boss that cannot tell you why what you are doing is wrong or a manager that tells you everything is fine and then bursts out in anger over some small thing you thought you were doing well. I feel that we should be a little more explicit in schools about how we communicate with one another in order to avoid the problems you outlined above. Yeah, I know it is pie in the sky, but what person in education is not a little bit of a dreamer. What do you think? Is teaching how to give and take feedback as important as the feedback itself?
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