Encouraging Student Feedback to Strengthen Bonds

Time of the year to remind folks: Share your course syllabus as a Google Doc. And invite students to annotate it. For many years, the syllabus of every course I taught included some version of the following statement. My syllabus statement was simple, affirming, and it invited students to join a collaborative activity that strengthened their belonging and connection at the beginning of the semester. "Welcome to our Annotated Syllabus. This syllabus—like our course—is incomplete without you and your commentary. This Annotated Syllabus is the start of a conversation about our course, your learning, and shared accomplishment. We will annotate our syllabus by: ❓ Asking clarifying questions; 🗣 sharing opinions about readings and assignments; 😕 noting confusions and uncertainties; 💬 responding to policies; 💡 providing advice; and 💭 reflecting on what works and what can change. While your annotation may be critical, let us strive for commentary that is inquisitive and constructive. Your ongoing thoughts are welcome anytime so that this syllabus documents our learning together this semester." Please, borrow my statement. And adapt it. Make it yours so that it works for your course and students. And once you've created a syllabus that students can annotate, remember to: 🌱 "Seed" your syllabus with a few comments. Be the first annotator. I would always add a mix of annotations that were administrative, introductory, informal, and personal. This models the types and tone of commentary that students will then add. And it gives students a low-barrier scaffold to elicit their responses. ✍ Reply with care and feedback. If you’re annotating a syllabus for the first time, it’s likely that your students are, too. Your students may be apprehensive and a bit skeptical. Students may feel vulnerable. Students’ initial commentary may be hesitant, critical, or informal. That’s all OK. Reply with care. Welcome feedback. Revise the document. Iterate assignments. Co-construct your learning community. There's no need for a syllabus quiz this semester. Mitigate your concern that students won't read the syllabus, or that you'll repeatedly need to remind students "it's in the syllabus." Be proactive, creative, and collaborative. Remember, a syllabus is an educator’s draft vision of teaching yet enacted, a preamble to learning yet accomplished. It's OK that your syllabus isn't perfect (could it ever really be?). Rather, partner with students to improve both this draft document and their participation in the course. An annotated syllabus opens a door to dialogue, feedback, and shared growth. Looking for all of my #AnnotatedSyllabus resources? Follow the link in comments.

Why is feedback often resisted? 🤔 I often see people get defensive when receiving feedback and shy away from giving feedback. Feedback is a GIFT.   When done well, it can be a huge support in strengthening a relationship.  The best way to share feedback is to INVITE it. 5 SIMPLE STEPS TO SHARE FEEDBACK EFFECTIVELY: 1) Ensure the receiver is in a good energy space 2) Share it soon after you notice the behavior so you have a fresh example 3) Don’t direct the feedback at the person, inquire around what you were noticing they might have been experiencing so they have a chance to share their perspective.  For example, “I noticed you seemed a little uncomfortable in that customer meeting...how were you feeling?” This helps make it less personal so the receiver doesn’t immediately get defensive and feel ashamed that they did something wrong. Any change is also more likely to happen if it comes from the person themselves recognizing it and desiring it based on how they felt. 4) Navigate how you proceed depending on their response and share openly why you are asking #3 5) Ask for permission & start with the positive. Then, after they share their perspective, see if they are open to receiving some feedback from you on what you observed.  For example, I love how you opened the meeting by creating some positive energy with the customer.  It made me feel energized too and I felt a greater connection being formed.  Like you just shared with me, I too noticed you feeling uncomfortable with the materials you wanted to present.  Is there anything I can do to support you in that prep so you feel more confident in the next meeting? The key to effective feedback is to create a space where someone doesn’t feel attacked and takes something super personal. Couch the constructive in the positive. Not shying away from feedback and delivering it well is critical to build trust, connection, grow, and positively move forward together, both in business & in life! Thoughts? When have you experienced feedback that you took and it made a positive impact on you and your relationships? What did you learn that can help others? 👇 #PersonalDevelopment #Communication #EmotionalIntelligence

By the time students get to my classroom, they've been through 12+ years of compliance-minded education. My goal is to give them a different model. I ask them to "build in public." This means: ► Viewing the class as a community ► Being open to constructive feedback ► Embracing the messiness of learning ► Seeing their contributions as prototypes ► Approaching the classroom as a collaborative space But that's pretty abstract. So here are 3 specific ways I encourage a "build in public" mindset. 1️⃣ Open Assignments → Sometimes I ask my students just to share their ideas. → They can do this however they want (text, video, audio, image). → I want my students to embrace learning as an exploratory process 2️⃣ Designing Process-Based Assessments → I shift focus from the product to the process. → I ask students to submit Processfolios and self-reflections. 3️⃣ I Give Students Agency Over the Course → We build things together. → This gives them a model to work with. ----------------- Most importantly, the "building in public" model pushes against the idea (which many of my students have been taught) that learning only happens in isolation. It's not true. Learning is often a social practice. It asks us to be vulnerable because that vulnerability is essential to our humanity. It asks us to genuinely connect with others. It asks us to embrace the difficulty of doing things ourselves, even if we could easily hand over those things to AI. Speaking isn't just a way of communicating ideas. It's a way to work through our ideas. Writing isn't just a way of expressing our emotions. It's a way to work through our emotions.