To prepare for this session we watched a video on performing to an invisible audience. It was interesting to watch someone presenting online about presenting online, and listening to tips and tricks about ‘imagining’ your audience and ways to cope with the lack of feedback you can encounter in the online space. I found the presenter very polished, even though she advocated being natural and not to overthink mistakes/ worry about being perfect. However, I did find her calming and engaging and came away thinking I must make more of an effort to look into the camera rather than at my screen (so easy to do when other peoples faces are on it, as naturally that is where you want to look!). A lot of the things were small actions and common sense, but it was nice to have it re-enforced that some of what I was already doing (like smiling, embracing the awkwardness, and definitely not being perfect) were naturally helping me to cope and connect with my invisible online audience.
The second article we looked at was a case study, an excerpt from Bruce Macfarlane’s 2004 book Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice (Routledge). In this article there is a fictional lecturer named ‘Stephanie’ who receives feedback on her teaching. Reading through at first I felt a bit sorry for her, it sounded like she had a lot on her plate. But at the same time the tone seemed to suggest that in her role, she felt research had a much higher importance than student facing time, and perhaps it could be potentially the ethos of the institution as a whole- research based not student focused? I questioned why her religion was mentioned… why was that relevant?! I thought it was funny that it was mentioned that even ‘Professors!’, those even higher up academically, were not immune to student feedback. I found the assumptions about the students difficult to read. I can see why she would be upset about receiving poor feedback, its natural. But it was also easy to judge her slightly dismissive attitude. The idea that making resources available early could be seen as ‘spoon feeding students’ was surprising as its seen as good practice now! It very much reminded me of ‘old school’ attitudes that can be encountered within teaching- in particular one of my lecturers at art school who simply ‘didn’t do’ emails, and it was just accepted as his ‘way’ even though it was incredibly inconvenient and everyone else had to use it as a means of communicating!
During the session we went into groups of four and had 40mins to pick a question this article raised and discuss it. I really enjoyed the longer small group activity- I liked the idea of giving time (7mins) on our own to think and then coming back together as a group to work collectively. It gave me time to gather my thoughts rather than just panicking that I had nothing to say! I will definitely use this in the future as I can imagine it’s how a lot of students feel about group work. We focused on ‘How can feedback be more Holistic?’ and we used a padlet to collect our thoughts which we then came together to discuss.
https://padlet.com/reneemariaos/vcftft8l4cwydl3d
It was clear from our discussion as a group that feedback is most definitely a skill, both giving it and receiving it gracefully. We discussed our various experiences on this and felt that feedback on a course is so important, and empowers students to take responsibility for their own education. However, we questioned what then happens with feedback when it is given, and how the interpretation their tutor may have of said feedback is out of their control- especially in relation to given example in the text. This also got us thinking about the purpose of feedback, who benefits from it, why it is taken and and what point it is taken, and if this is always explicit enough when you are trying to gain it. We also discussed ideas around how to make feedback more holistic, ways to get students to feel comfortable giving honest constructive feedback (and staff), and perhaps training for staff (and maybe even students!) around this as it is an important life skill! Lindsay recommended some really helpful books on this topic when we discussed it afterword’s in the session- I will look into in particular ‘Difficult conversations: How to discuss what matters most’ by Douglas Stone, Shiela Heen, and Bruce Patton.
On recommendation,I also enjoyed watching a few Ted talks by Sugata Mitra, and listening to his views on teaching as he was brought up in conversation. It was fascinating to hear him recount his experiences with children self organising their own learning, achieving educational objectives on their own, and reading by themselves when provided with the right environment. It got me thinking about the need to give students agency to achieve more.
Engagement and building relationships is a key factor in the ability to give and take feedback. If you have invested in the relationship, trust and feel valued by the person you get constructive feedback from, you are more likely to be able to see this feedback within a positive framework. I do however feel personality and mental state also feed into this too. It is certainly a complex, multi-dimensional thing which is not particularly easy to measure on a large scale. Learning communities shape learning and persistence on campus and have a direct impact on how involved students get in the academic and social life of the institution (Tinto, 1997).
It was also great to hear other groups takes on the article and what they focused on. There was a lot of crossover of ideas around how to remedy ‘Stephanie’s’ situation looking at it from many different angles.
At the end of the session I thought it was really interesting to read the student excerpts and imagine what they were trying to say vs what they said and the extra information Lindsay gave because she had a longer chat with them and had more context. Again this re-enforced the need to have more background knowledge about students, and having established a relationship when seeking and giving feedback.
Vincent Tinto (1997) Classrooms as Communities, The Journal of Higher
Education, 68:6, 599-623, accessed here:
https://www-tandfonline-com.arts.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdf/10.1080/00221546.1997.11779003?needAccess=true
After the session, Lindsay added detailed notes. I found this very helpful both from a teaching point of view and as a student. It was very helpful to see laid out the style of lesson and what was covered in depth. Often in the sessions so much is packed in and it feels like a bit of a whirlwind when its over- there is so much food for thought and I sometimes find it difficult to keep track of all the elements. It was great to be able to go back and reflect on it afterwards reading through the session notes again.