What are you trying to tell me?

Feedback can vary widely in its content and delivery. Sometimes it’s hard to extract how to improve. Perhaps we’re only told that we went down the wrong path, and we have to continue the conversation to clarify
and identify next steps.

After the video, you’ll have a chance to share with the group a reflection on how it relates to your own experiences. As you watch, what resonates with you? 

Written reflection: what resonated with you?

• In the video, it says the "effective" feedback is the feedback that shows future direction for the improvement. Looking back if I was a good feedback provider, my answer would be no. Instead of providing the feedback, I realized I was giving evaluation. Now, I know the responsibilities of bing a good feedback provider. I realized that I need to find or practice my own strategy to be a good feedback provider.

• Feedbacks are from group members when you are doing a group project and cooperating with others. Also, it's not limited to the group member; still can be your teacher or friends who've witnessed an "event" or a stuff that happened and can be improved. Since they trust you can do it better, the speak out to you. Although in sometime or in some conditions, you will feel uncomfortable cause it's a "negative" stuff from the perception. However, feedback and comments are the stairs/steps in achieving success.

• Feedback isn't straightforward. Feedback is a box -- can contain anything that empowers or disparages, but I don't know if that's because I am sensitive of hard things. Signal your intentions. I really like the specificity -- it's a lot more constructive. I also like when positive things balance out "negative things." I feel like I ramble when I give feedback. Don't like hurting people's feelings -- how can I be constructive & critical without disparages? One thing that helps me is "I" statements that frame "you need to" as "I think it's..." "we can try..." "How does that feel..." so that I am assessing the project as a project and not the project as a reflection of its creator. Even if we praise a project by saying "OMG you're so smart/you're a genius" I think that can build ultimately negative "self-images."

• I love the idea to visualize feedback as a box with different shapes. And we can choose to react to that box in different ways. It is a tactful job to give a gift/box to people. And the best way is to be supportive but also clear about good & not good, also suggestion to move forward. As a receiver, this also reminds me to be more thoughtful and conscious when I receive a gift/box from people.

• I think the analogy of the box is a really great one. I also think in practice it is so important that when receiving feedback you take a step back and really try to see what you can gain or learn from it regardless of how helpful you initially see it as, often close to the presentation I think it can be hard to take what might in reality be helpful advice. I also agree that for that reason it is so important to make sure when giving feedback we are doing so as constructively as possible.

• I agreed with the video that good feedback must still have some content in it: feedback that just says "great!" but nothing else is still unhelpful. I think it's also important to keep in mind "where did this come from?" because if you wouldn't trust someone's advice, then you shouldn't trust their criticism. Depending on who is giving the feedback, it may be that you should take it to heart or ignore it entirely. I've also heard of the sandwich model of giving feedback, which is where you tell the person something they did well, then something that could be improved, then something they did well again.

• I agree with "we need to take some time to examine the feedbacks given to us. Since not all the feedbacks are beneficial or work for us, some can even harm us. We don't have to take them all. Sometimes we take in the feedbacks that are harmful to our pride and confidence.
  Another theme is that we should give different feedbacks under different circumstances. When someone just wants to talk about their situation, we can sit there and be a listener. We don't have to solve their problem. We can just be there and act as a supporter.

• I write creatively so I've always valued good feedback. Even if you've gone over a project several times there might be glaring issues that you missed when it was in development. Other people, people who have experience you lack, can you you catch those issues and fix them. Without their help, you may never reach your true crative potential.
  Despite all of this, I often feel unprepared to hand out feedback. I always feel like I'm not being understood or that I'm being too cruel. But I still want to help others like they have helped me, so I'm working on my communication skills.

• As we know that feedback is important to know how well or how much progress we made in a project. Giving effective feedback is important but with necessary tools. Because even if I have a box full of tools, I cannot make a use of it if I don't get the reason of those tools. Also it is good to have feedback with familiar elements because without the familiarity of elements it will be difficult to implement it in the improvement of the project.

On your web site, create a reflection entry. You can choose to complete this in a written (4-6 paragraphs) or spoken (3-5 minutes as audio or video) format.

Reflect on the role that messages you receive (and send) play in the choices you (or your peers) make to engage in, or turn away, from activities during the academic journey (e.g., a course, project, subject, event). Use the prompts below to guide your reflection.

• Consider the activities from this class (the woodshop and elevator pitches). 

  • Did you have a strong sense of belongingness in the world of woodworking prior to this class? How did the experience in the Fimbel workshop impact your desire to engage in woodworking?

  • What was it like to give feedback to your peers for their elevator pitches? Did you find yourself pausing to consider how the "packaging" would impact their reception of it?

• Consider your academic journey. 

  • Can you think of a time when you made an assumption about your ability to succeed because you did (not) think of yourself as a “_____ person”? 

  • What about a time when you made an assumption about someone else?

  • Have you ever received help in a way that made you feel like you did not belong? 

  • Have you ever gone out of your way to invite someone’s participation and help them to feel more comfortable?

Here are some takeaways for the topics:

Belongingness (part 2)

• • Even if we feel “at home” and valued in a space, this may not be the experience for others.

  • We can recognize the value of others’ perspectives and ideas. We can examine our own assumptions and biases, and notice if we might subconsciously view some people differently.

  • We can be intentional in deciding when it’s time to step up to contribute and when to step back to make room for others. 

Effective feedback

• When receiving, we can pause, and acknowledge how it was given to us. Sometimes, we may choose to walk away from it or find another person to seek feedback from.

• We can ask clarifying questions to identify action steps. 

• When giving feedback, we can signal intentions that we take them seriously and genuinely believe they can improve.

• Be specific about what went well and what did not go as well -- instead of focusing only on what’s wrong, provide a clear next step for them to take.