A reflective post after participating and observing series of presentations/learning activities of students:

Providing Feedback to Learners

As an educators for more than last 12 years, I have observed and reflected on various aspects of teaching and learning which are valuable for the learners and academe. Feedback to the learners on their learning activities is one of the most vital activity in teaching and learning.  

Feedback by Whom?

Because professors in classrooms are seen/regarded as ‘experts/gurus’ in their areas, that’s why, learners look forward to get the comments from professors on their learning activities. In addition, professors perceive themselves as ‘experts’ and ‘responsible’ for learning of leaners, they are keen and quick to provide a feedback on learning activities on the areas of their ‘expertise’.

Non-traditional teaching and learning methods recommend that professors should be the last ones in the classroom to provide feedback for learning activities. This is applicable if the teaching and learning approach used is aimed at developing learning community in classroom, where learners are encouraged to learn from each other and they take the responsibilities of self-learning and learning of their peers too. An example on how to operationalize this non-traditional feedback process is:

After a presentation, the presenters are asked to sit back, while the peers work on the rubrics of presentation and drafting a written feedback on the presentation. After a few minutes, the presenter is asked. “How was the presentation/How you feel about your presentation/ How do you assess your presentation?” Presenter can also use the same rubric to assess himself/herself. Following the constructivism approach of teaching and learning, even if the feedback is in a written form, it needs to be communicated orally/discussed in the classroom to provide opportunity for the discussions, thus creating am experiential learning environment. After the self-assessment by the presenter or his/her sharing about his/her feeling with the presentation, the peers need to share their assessments of the presentation. In a large class, predetermined number of peers can share their assessment/comments for each presentation. For a team presentation, members of two other teams can provide the feedback or comments. The professor can invite other peers to add their comments, if any. After peer feedback round, the professor can provide his/her assessment to the presentation, to the self-assessment and also to the peer feedback/comments.

The role of professor in the above eample, is to create a safe learning environment, where learners interact with each other and perform learning activities facilitated by the faculty member or their peers. Of course, the professors should provide the feedback, but only after peer-feedback round. Using this method, professors, when focus on not only the learning activity, but also on the peer comments/feedback, can gauge the learning obtained/constructed by the whole class/all learners from the learning activities. This makes the practice of sharing feedback and comment in a classroom, an extended learning activity in itself, and thus, contributes to an enhanced learning for all. In addition, self- assessment of students also aids in a wholesome learning.

Feedback on What?

Most of the time, the feedback is limited to the content/knowledge area of the discipline and the soft-skills, and other aspects are missed. This issue emerges most frequently in a traditional setting of teaching and learning, especially if assessment rubrics are not used or rubrics are ill designed. An effective rubrics should have multiple criteria for assessments aligned with the learning objectives of the activity/course.

How to give constructive feedback?

The words used in providing a feedback need to be sensitive enough. Using abusive and derogatory words in a feedback tend to defeat its purpose. Focusing comments on the performance/activity by learners, and avoiding comments on the person helps in maintaining a learning environment. Mere mentioning or highlighting drawbacks or negative points without suggestions or recommendations on how the performance could be improved or the learning activity could be more effective, or what could get better scores in the rubric makes the feedback constructive. Most professors and peers forget to mention are the positive points/appreciation in the feedback.  It is almost impossible to find any learning activity that lacks at least one point of appreciation. I have noticed that mentioning positive/appreciation before the negative/improvement comments help in better acceptance of feedback by the recipient.

Why is it difficult to implement?

The problem/issue I have noticed is that it is very hard for the professors as an individual with their self-image as ‘experts and gurus’, and with the strong ‘responsibility’ of ‘providing’ and ‘transmitting’ learning to learners, to hold and to provide opportunities to learners’ peers to provide feedback to each other. Even students who are new to constructivism teaching and learning may feel that providing feedback or comments to peers in not their job or they feel incompetent or not qualified enough to provide feedback or comments.  Other reason as frequently observed by me is the lack of time, or, feeling of threat/inadequacy among professors who feel that if peers provide all feedback or comments, there may not be much left for the professor to comment on. Also developing and using rubric is time consuming and requires more efforts of professors. All these issues/problems can be solved by a careful design of activities, feedback time and process after the activities, and practice.

This kind of constructivist approach of teaching teach learners to provide constructive feedback to each other. It may require using formal peer assessment tools and providing training to learners in giving and receiving constructive feedback to each other.

The traditional form of teaching and learning where only professors provide feedback to learners, while focusing only on negative points, and using direct/hitting words (as perceived by recipient of the feedback) might have worked or even transformed the learners in 1990s. The sensitivity of millennia learners is higher than the previous generations and adoption of non-traditional teaching and learning activities help in connecting with the modern learners faster and in a more effective way. In addition, using peer-assessments, peer-feedback and self-assessment for learning activities helps in developing a critical skill in learners – the skill of providing and receiving feedback, a must to have skill in the modern workplaces.

Crimes and Culprits in Education: A Rude and Harsh Piece of ……. From Me.

Please note that this piece reflects my personal views and beliefs and it does not belong to/reflect views of any institution/organization/group I belong to. Try not to judge me based on my writing (I know it is hard… not to judge). Just read it and enjoy (And, reflect on it if you want). And, please do not expect a well-structured, directed and smooth, perfect writing in this article…I do not think in structured manner. My mind never developed in a smooth and directed way (but my minds do get conditioned in structured and smooth way and I do not like 'conditioning', I like learning. I learn when I face something unstructured, confusing, chaotic, non-directed and abstract)....grow up!

When someone joins the education industry as a professor, teacher, or scholar, we tend to welcome him or her. But, did we ever think the reason we are so welcoming in academics? And, at the same time, is it good to welcome anyone and everyone in the industry?

Who are the educators? And what is Education? Are all educators really thinking about these questions? This article is an exploration into the area of education as a profession and practice. The most unfortunate aspect is that in various parts of the world, the academic industry is not still labelled as a practice based industry, which is evident from the way we try to differentiate between industry and academia. The norms and ways of so called ‘industry’ and ‘practice’ (sometimes even called real practice or professional practice) are believed to be different from ‘academics’ and ‘academia’. And, I have no reservations to express that this is the most disastrous differentiation and labelling ever existed in our world.

As a reader of this article, you may have already formed a view on this article, may have already decided to read it completely with full attention or just glance through it (like smart readers! And I have doubts about being smart readers!), or even not to read it further. And, it is OK. If this piece of writing is not of your interest, no problem, but wait, if you are in the profession related to academics and you want to read it ‘smartly’ or not to read it at all… there is a problem. Have you ever considered to change your profession? If I am perceived as boasting, high-nosed lecturing type, insensitive traditional and irritating academic because of the statements above…it is OK to me. In fact, I do not care. Because what I care is only about one thing….have you learnt by this writing or are you going to learn from this piece of …..... (Fill it up according to your preference/perception. I do not care!) Why I don’t care, because I am an educator and what I care about is only one thing, and that is learning. 

So let us start from the concepts. What is learning? What is education and, what is teaching and academics? Let us dissect these related concepts one by one. A simple Google Search will bring thousands of results if we search for these terms. Nowadays, I am calling Google as Professor Google. And, really Google is becoming and substituting professors, but only those professors who think that learning is providing information. Google and Books provide sufficient information and that’s why they are like information providing professors. But, the question remains. Does learning means just obtaining information? Are not we all looking for more and more information and that’s why Google Professor or Google like professors are so popular nowadays. No doubt, learning involves obtaining information, and more specifically, it entails developing the skills to figure out what information is needed and how and where to get such information. The Google professors and Google like professors if focus on not only providing information, but also on why and how to get information, it solves the purpose more or less to some extent. And, I (as an authority…., because I am writing this article to share my views) can accept such information providing AND information search skill enhancing professors as somewhat good professors…somewhat, because they are good up to a level. May not be for higher education. And, I am also being polite…I do not want to offend many of such professors who really think that providing information or skills to search information is the real purpose of professors (wait a minute…have I offended already some of you reading it?)…who cares?

You may ask...then what according to you (so called self-proclaimed authority….if you are not just glancing the article), is a perfect professor. If you are asking this, welcome… I like you and I want to share it with you but with a caution. (If you feel offended with what is written after this paragraph, please ignore, curse me if you want, write a hate email or hate comment, and have some beer and forget about it. If you do not get offended, you need to rethink… are you really serious about academics? Do you want to change your profession? Perhaps, there is still some chance to leave academics and go back to the so called ‘practice/industry’). Did you get it? I really want to offend the readers. And I want to get the comments and emails on this. If you are not offended, or disturbed, or agitated… may be it is because I am a terrible writer, or because you do not deserve to be in the profession of academics – yes…it is rude...feel free to hate me…yeah!)

So, where were we…Yes ... professor, practice, academics, industry, and education and learning. So many things to discuss. To me, a professor is the one who has a profession and the profession is ‘professing’. What is the meaning of professing? Let us go to the Wiktionary to get the etymology…”From Anglo-Norman professer, and its source, the participle stem of Latin profitērī, from pro- + fatērī (“to confess, acknowledge”).”

If you have never heard of the terms ‘etymology’ and ‘Wiktionary’, no problem…just read on (actually, there is a problem…hard to admit for me…I did not expect any academic with at least 15 years of experience, not knowing the meaning of these terms, others will lesser experience…it is OK you can take an excuse…you are still acadelings (yes, it is a new and creative word) to this world…do not ask me how I get to the ‘15’ magical number…remember… I am the authority now… and … I am enjoying it. Actually, I myself learnt about such terms after 8 to 10 years of being an acadeling... and when I mention 15 years, I am already generous and kind).

So according to the etymology, any person who ‘confesses’ or ‘acknowledges’ is a professor. The question is ‘confesses/acknowledges’ what? To get this answer, let us see the meaning of practice. Again, long live Wiktionary – etymology - From Middle English practizen, a variant of practisen, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, from Medieval Latin practizo, from Late Latin practico (“to do, perform, execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conversant with, contrive, conspire, etc.”), from prāctica (“practical affairs", "business”), from Ancient Greek πρακτική (praktikḗ), from πρακτικός(praktikós, “practical”), from πράσσειν (prássein, “to do”). 

To me, all the above etymological explanations of ‘practice’ signal one thing - ‘involvement’ (who says that…remember, I am saying it…authority). How much involvement is ‘involvement’? A research with etymology leads to ‘volvo’ or ‘roll’/volver, indicating the meaning as ‘actively rolling over with’. It indicates a very active engagement where the whole person rolls with it (‘into the rolling’). So, if you are very actively engaged in something, it means you are already practicing it and also you can confess/acknowledge/profess it. It means, to be a professor, one needs to confess/acknowledge that one is actively rolling into with… something (obviously the thing being done by the one- one’s practice). That makes all of us who are passionately, actively and really rolling hundred percent with our practice (whatever we are doing), capable of being a professor. Wait, this is the beginning. It just means that one is a professor because one is in a profession of a practice. It does not indicate how well (with any measurement) practitioner/professor you are. It also means you can practice something well, but, yet one may not confess/acknowledge the practice well enough (and that is unfortunate, because it indicates that one is not hundred percent rolling into it, or one is not a good communicator to confess or acknowledge it).

So, if one is ‘rolling into’ it…hundred percent involvement, actively, and can confess and acknowledge it, then one can be a professor. To confess is to admit/acknowledge, And, admitting and acknowledging is not possible without feeling of being guilty or favoured. And, one already feels like a criminal, who has done some crime, if one confesses. That makes all professors criminals!

The question is criminal of what? Criminal of acknowledging that we have been not perfect. And, believe me it is just impossible for anyone who is hundred percent rolling into a practice, to be a perfect. Only non-passionate persons (and thus, non-professing, and thus, ‘non-practitioners’), can claim to have acquired a perfection. So, only if one can find issues/gaps/problems which need to be addressed/filled/solved to move one step further towards perfection and thus, while doing this, construct several other issues/gaps/problems on the way, and acknowledges and confesses it, can be a professor. It means, a professor who is teaching a discipline, should be passionate about it (to be the practitioner), and at the same time should be in the forefront to criticize the discipline and practice, and along with that should feel guilty of not knowing enough/doing enough and professing the imperfections of the discipline knowingly (not unknowingly). And, also should be able to criticize oneself and one’s means and ways of practicing because of not being perfect.

Therefore, a professor, who tries to teach perfect ways of practicing, because of the thinking that he or she knows the perfect way and can teach it perfectly …is not a good professor (in my eyes…), irrespective of others (including peers/students/friends/enemies telling them otherwise). 

So what a professor should be teaching? Is it practice that needs to be taught? Is education really teaching and involves learning? And, what is the practice of academics? Well, I am not in mood of writing my answers to these questions now….Just raising these questions now...may write answers in my next piece of ……