FEED BACK IT GAINS WHAT YOU WANT

It seems as if it was my second year in diploma that I was a young middle collage student giving a class presentation on the Addressing modes of 8051 in micro controllers. While I was prepared, I was also horribly nervous. At the conclusion of my speech I was given verbal feedback from my lecturer in front of the entire class! Needless to say, it wasn’t glowing. I remember that feedback to this day because it was negative, defeating and very embarrassing.

Despite all of my hard work, my technical lecturer ripped my presentation into shreds. I understand now that the lecturer was trying to hone my presentation skills, but did she have to do it in front of the electronics class? Let’s just say that my speech delivery skills weren’t up to par and because of this experience, I stumbled through many public speeches for a long time afterward. It really is amazing I went on to become a writer.

it is essential that we make the process of providing feedback a positive, or at least a neutral, learning experience for the student.
Unfortunately, many students have similar “educational” experiences like mine everyday. Why is it that some teachers think that giving feedback must be negative and corrective because that is the only way a student will learn? The only thing I learned from my micro controller's class experience was that public speaking, no matter how much I prepared, was bound to be a disaster.

it is essential that we should make the process of providing feedback a positive, or at least a neutral, learning experience for the student Feedback is any response from a lecturer in regard to a student’s performance or behavior. It can be verbal, written or gestural. The purpose of feedback in the learning process is to improve a student’s performance- definitely not put a damper on it. The ultimate goal of feedback is to provide students with an “I can do this” attitude.

Thank you.
Dinesh Devireddy.