The Impact of Communication and Feedback

Validation. "Likes," comments, and "shares" on Facebook. FEEDBACK. As humans, we crave having that interaction, that communication from others that what we said or did was worthwhile, or at least that someone was paying attention.

Submitting assignments, evaluations, and activities in the educational environment is no different. Students, and instructors, need more than just a numeric or letter grade. Constructive feedback fosters improvement for the future.

Sources of feedback

Feedback can come in many forms: a grade, a comment. Feedback can be written or verbal. It is interesting to note that, when coming from instructors, audio feedback seems to have the most impact on students for long-lasting improvement (Johansson, 2017). Other sources of feedback included evaluations, which is typically to determine effectiveness of instruction; the use of feedback devices like polls and clickers (Sun, Martinez, & Seli, 2014), and written or media feedback on assignments. 

There exists a need for more effective and relevant feedback tools in the online environment. This is particularly true in the fields of the sciences and medicine. It is imperative that online instructors provide timely, relative feedback (Lewisson).

Effective Communication and Feedback

What comprises effective communication and feedback? First, it is not surprising to note that positive comments achieve the greatest results (Johansson, 2017). The most successful feedback promotes student (or instructor) reflection (Quinton & Smallbone, 2010). Self reflection then leads to deeper learning and understanding.

Feedback cannot just come in one form. Multiple sources are the most effective. Interestingly enough, the best source of feedback is from the student him/herself (Brinko, 1993). This active, and interactive, engagement enhances and deepens learning (Ezrailson, Terukl, Loving, & McIntyre, 2006).

According to Jackson and Back, the most effective instructor feedback incorporates:

1. Assessment of the learner
2. Assessment of the group
3. A safe learning environment
4. Goal-oriented feedback 

Additionally, these things plus instructor modeling should cultivate reflection among the students. 

Responses to feedback

The response to feedback can vary (Leeuw, Slootweg, Heineman, & Lombarts, 2013). In fact, for instructors, there may need to be an incentive to even respond to feedback at all (Kember, Leung, & Kwan, 2002).  The most influential response tends to come from the student him/herself (Branch & Paranjape, 2002).  Feedback is important, and effective feedback, as mentioned above, will elicit the most desired responses.

Conclusion

Feedback can take many forms. It can be written or verbal, but it has an impact nonetheless. The most effective feedback and communication is that which encourages reflection. Promoting self-evaluation also boosts reflection, and generates deeper learning and understanding. Feedback should be positive. Focusing on what one does well, helps strengthen those aspects. Constructive feedback is beneficial in the online learning environment.

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Works Cited

Branch Jr, W. T., & Paranjape, A. (2002). Feedback and reflection: teaching methods for clinical settings. Academic Medicine, 77(12, Part 1), 1185-1188.

Brinko, K. T. (1993). The practice of giving feedback to improve teaching: What is effective?. The Journal of Higher Education, 64(5), 574-593.

Chih-Yuan Sun, Jerry Martinez, Seli, Helena. Journal of Educational Technology & Society. Apr2014, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p234-244. 11p.

Ezrailson, Cathy Kamon, Teruki Loving, Cathleen C. McIntyre, Peter M. School Science & Mathematics. Nov2006, Vol. 106 Issue 7, p278-279. 2p. 1 Diagram, 1 Graph.

Ice, P., Curtis, R., Phillips, P., & Wells, J. (2007). Using asynchronous audio feedback to enhance teaching presence and students' sense of community. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 11(2), 3-25.

Jackson, Vicki A., Back, Anthony L. Journal of Palliative Medicine. Jun2011, Vol. 14 Issue 6, p775-780. 6p. 2 Charts.

Kember, D., Leung, D. Y., & Kwan, K. (2002). Does the use of student feedback questionnaires improve the overall quality of teaching?. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 27(5), 411-425.

Leeuw, Renée M1 Slootweg, Irene A1,2 Heineman, Maas Jan1,3 Lombarts, Kiki M J M H1. Medical Teacher. Oct2013, Vol. 35 Issue 10, p820-825. 6p.

Lewisson, Niclas. Quality improvement in clinical teaching through student evaluations of rotations and feedback to departments.

Ovando, M. N. (1994). Constructive feedback: A key to successful teaching and learning. International Journal of Educational Management, 8(6), 19-22.

Quinton, S., & Smallbone, T. (2010). Feeding forward: using feedback to promote student reflection and learning–a teaching model. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 47(1), 125-135.