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>> Meghan: Hey this is Meghan Hurley and I'm here with Tech Break, and today we're going to talk about feedback loops. I brought and friend and coworker Phil. Phil would you like to introduce yourself? >> Phil: Yes so hi I'm Phil Deaton, I work at MSU as a staff member doing accessibility work for persons with disabilities. And as an instructor I teach a class about Disability in Society Education and Pop Culture, and I'm also a graduate student. I moonlight as that, studying digital rhetoric and professional writing. And I'm really happy to be on the show today. Thank you for having me, looking forward to talking about feedback loops. >> Meghan: Yeah no problem! So how this conversation sort of began —for all of you listeners — is we were brainstorming what Tech Break episodes to have, and we were like " we can do another accessibility one" because you know accessibility is super duper important. And then when talking about accessibility we ended up just talking about the importance of feedback loops for all students, both disabled and otherwise, because having feedback loops between professors or TAs, and you know the people they're teaching is crucial and a really sore spot for a lot of students. So based on your experience, Phil, what sort of gaps in this feedback loop do you do you see often or do you hear about? >> Phil: So last year was actually my first year teaching a class at MSU and higher education in general. And I think that one of the things I quickly noticed was that it's — it can be hard to get feedback on my performance as an instructor. But I think it's just so valuable for people early on in their careers as instructors to be able to understand student experiences as related to how you design your lectures and your activities and your instructional material in general. And that's just a really valuable thing to get feedback on. That's you know kind of why I was really interested in feedback loops and how we can approach those and make them more palatable for students and faculty. >> Meghan: The thing that I was thinking about was "well what about the SIRS forms?" Like I'm always told that I need to fill those out and that they're super important! Do you know anything about what happens to those or like how they're used by professors, are they useful? >> Phil: Yes so I think that the SIRS forms, the S-I-R-S forms that you fill out are very useful and when we think about feedback there's like spectrums of feedback. So SIRS form is like a way to do that with like the least bit of conflict possible. It's something you get after the class, it's done over technology and it's very focused on scales. But on the other end of that we have being able to give feedback one on one in conversations casually and make feedback more approachable. So I think that while those forms are useful and as an instructor you can kind of see some of the output data from that, it lets you learn. It's also really useful to not just get a feel for the data but to get a feel for the experiences that students have when they're learning. And data can give you a sense of that but it can't let you understand the exact things that different types of students are experiencing in the class. >> Meghan: Yeah I think that that's really important because as a student it's so easy to get caught up in the lack of feedback loops means that professors don't care, right, and if I've learned anything from my position at the Hub is that professors care. A lot. And the staff here care a lot and so what role can can students and can faculty start to integrate or what could that potentially look like that good feedback loop? >> Phil: So I think that the ideal feedback loop needs to be something that is at the same time standardized and also personalized. If you are an instructor and you want to receive feedback and create an environment where it's safe to give feedback back and forth between the student and the instructor, then you kind of need to allow for that in your space. Some of that will probably be through, you know, repeatedly reiterating that yes this is something that I'm interested in as an instructor this is a way for me to grow. And then some of that will be a little bit less rigidly structured. But just making sure to let casual conversations develop into discussions around what's working, what's not working and focusing on the instructional delivery and and how that impacts the student experience. Not necessarily focused on like the content matter, but focused more on the design of activities and lectures and and the space in the classroom. >> Meghan: And so at least, for students —because that's all I can really speak to — remember that professors aren't the best at delivering, or seem a little bit more distant in the classroom. Use that opportunity to build a relationship because oftentimes they don't know how to ask for feedback. Do you, would you agree with that? Do you think that that's? >> Phil: Yeah I think that that's really accurate and instructors excel at different things. Some instructors might be really good at lectures, some might be good at like meeting one on one with students that might be where they shine. Yeah I definitely agree with you're saying with that. >> Meghan: So because of your expertise in accessibility, how does that tie into this conversation? How do professors or how should professors change how they're making these feedback loops available or how should that impact the creation of these feedback loops? >> Phil: Yeah so I think I have a long answer for you. So this might be a two part answer. I think that this was, again, this is one of the reasons why I was really interested in talking about this because it's so valuable to understand how different students experience courses and learning on campus not just in the classroom but experiential learning as well. But an important part of being a student with a disability is being able to, you know, navigate some of that with an instructor or with even with graduate assistants and stuff like that sometimes. And I think that that's really really hard because inherently as a student with a disability you are, you are examining the pedagogy and the technologies that an instructor might use. Because if you have to understand whether or not you might need an accommodation based on those two facets with the idea being that regardless of the content matter area there will be ways to teach in an accessible way. So I think that that's why thinking about student learning experiences is just so important. Because students with disabilities just have a variety of different ways of interacting with materials and you know even if we were to talk about a specific disability group there's just such a diversity in how different individuals within disability groups interact with things. >> Meghan: How can professors do this thing better? So thinking about experiential learning and thinking about how their students may be interacting with their content, but are there specific types of feedback loops that are more accessible than others? Or are there easier ways for students to say "hey I'd like to give feedback" than just a form online or just office hours, you know? >> Phil: Yeah I think the key to being inclusive with it is doing those two steps with those being on different ends of the spectrum and everything in between. So being open to receiving feedback in different ways in different contexts and maybe over technology maybe face to face. Always creating an environment where as a student you feel comfortable with that. I think that there are a couple parts to that. Part of it's just asking for the feedback and then the other part of it is maybe being open about feedback that you have received. Everyone I think has had like a lecture that goes really well and one that goes really bad as an instructor. And I think that being honest when you think that there was something that could have gone better in the classroom be honest when you're experimenting and trying new pedagogical strategies or technologies. That's really important, so if you're trying a new tool in your classroom a new technology you should definitely tell students that this is new. I mean I think there might be some pushback to that where you don't want students to feel like they're guinea pigs, but I think that that's part of teaching is really just constantly innovating and if you're not welcoming that, well then you really do need student feedback loops even more because that will help you understand whether you're actually impacting students in the ways that you would like to. >> Meghan: Yeah definitely so, just to sort of sum it together and I want to make sure that I'm getting the gist of what we've talked about today. So student feedback loops are crucial for a couple different reasons. One, it sort of gives permission for both parties — both the student and the instructor — to be human and to learn in the space right? >> Phil: Right. >> Meghan: And also it's, it allows for the classroom to be an ever-changing space that, that realizes that with new technology and new generations of students and new professors that things are going to have to change. And by having diverse and accessible student feedback loops, we are better able to make those changes that will positively impact everyone. >> Phil: Yeah those are a great summary I think. A good way of capturing like a lot of different things we touched on. >> Meghan: Is there anything else you'd like to add? >> Phil: I just think that it's important to consider this, this is one of the most important aspects of being an instructor and to being a student as well. And there's definitely awkwardness on both sides but if you're using student feedback if you're thinking about feedback loops in general, you're going to be innovating and learning and doing better at what you want to do. >> Meghan: Awesome, thank you so much for talking to me Phil. >> Phil: Yeah, thanks for having me it was fun.

Tech Break - Episode 4: Feedback Loops

From learndat Learning Design & Technology August 1st, 2017  

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