Receiving Feedback Effectively in a Learning Environment- Overcoming barriers to receiving feedback

There is no textbook way in which a person receives and interprets feedback, its interpretation will vary depending on the way the recipient views their own practice, the giver of the feedback and their own ability (Eva et al, 2011). 

During my first year of professional training I found it difficult to have an effective response to a particular teachers feedback. His feedback during class was predominantly based around criticism and it would usually put me in a negative mindset for the lesson meaning that I didn't improve. Previously I had put my lack of progress in this class down to the ineffectiveness of the delivery of the feedback however as an area of learning it is important for me to consider the reasons why I was unable receive feedback effectively so that I can understand how to get the feedback that I need in order to progress in the future. 

Barriers to receiving feedback effectively

• My cognitive capacity was overwhelmed with the frequency of feedback given 

Too much feedback can also be detrimental to ones progress because as the frequency of the feedback increases our cognitive recourses are faced with the challenge of processing the feedback, reflecting in-action (Schon, 1991) and ultimately performing the task at hand. Naturally this causes increased levels of stress and the cognitive resources are diverted away from the task. (Lam, DeRue, Karam and Hollenbeck, 2011) My own experience is comparable with this literature, particularly when the feedback we received was given whilst we were performing the dance sequence or exercise. It became too overwhelming and felt impossible to implement all of the expected changes at the same time as performing the dance sequence. 

One way I could have overcome this issue is by setting clear achievable goals with my teacher. The feedback can then be tailored around these goals and I would have a clearer understanding of how to implement it within my practice. This is also another way that I could have controlled the amount of feedback given so I wasn’t overwhelmed.  Moving forward with my practice I will try to set myself learning goals for each class. By doing this I can take on board any feedback that will help me achieve these targets; at the same time, I will try not to focus too hard on any feedback that doesn’t contribute to the goals I have set myself for that class so that I am not trying to achieve too many things at once.

• More willingness to accept positive feedback and discount negative feedback

Self-serving bias is when cognitive responses and judgements are affected because of the need to protect our self esteem (Forsyth 2008) One example of this is when one is more willing to take credit for positive feedback internally, and to discount negative feedback blaming it on other things such as environmental factors. (Eva et al, 2011)  When reflecting on my own experience most of the feedback from this particular experience was negative and therefore it is probable that I found it easier to deal with by placing the blame on external features such as 'feeling ill' for example. 

In order to accept the feedback more affectively I could have used reflection in-action (Schon, 1983) to problem solve and understand where the mistakes were being made within my own performance. This would mean I could implement the corrections instead of focusing on external factors that I could not change. To implement this learning within my practice now, I will make a conscious effort to overcome any signs of self-serving bias by using reflection in-action (Schon, 1983) to look with more rigor at internal factors which may motivated the feedback. 

• Confidence prior to feedback

  It may be necessary that one must have sufficient levels of confidence prior to receiving negative feedback. Confidence often comes hand in hand with experience. (Eva et al, 2011) This is a possible explanation as to why I may have found the negative feedback difficult to comprehend. This was my first year of professional training, therefore I didn't have any prior experience in training to this standard. Consequently my confidence levels were already low prior to receiving the feedback. I think the way to overcome this would be to establish an interpersonal relationship with the person giving feedback so that there is a level of trust and understanding. In my experience, if I had developed more of a relationship with the teacher giving me feedback he would have been aware that my confidence levels were already low in this particular subject. Consequently he could have considered the ethics around his feedback methods and  delivered it in a way that would be more suitable to my needs.

• Learner must be fully engaged throughout the feedback process

Feedback must be seen as something more than a one way conversation. It is responded to most effectively when the learner is fully engaged with the feedback and is active during the feedback process. (Henderson et al., 2019) Due to fear of the teacher I did not fully engage myself with the feedback I was receiving and therefore had difficulty understanding and processing it. To overcome this barrier, I could have been more active by asking for clarification on any of the feedback given that I was unsure about. This way I would have had a clearer understanding of how I can implement it into my practice and consequently it is likely that I would have made much further progress. From this experience I have learnt the importance of being active when receiving feedback and in the future I will make an effort to ask for clarification on any part of the feedback that I don't understand. 

Sorry if this blog wasn't very relatable to anyone else's studies, this was more to collate all my findings surrounding this area of learning. I tried using Gibbs reflective cycle to understand my experience further. I am writing this from a learner point of view, however I would love to hear any thoughts on this area from the teaching side of things and whether you can relate to these as the giver of feedback.

Shauna x 

Bibliography

Henderson, M., Phillips, M., Ryan, T., Boud, D., Dawson, P., Molloy, E. and Mahoney, P., 2019. Conditions that enable effective feedback. Higher Education Research & Development, 38(7), pp.1401-1416.

Schon, D., 1983. The Reflective Practitioner How Professionals Think in Action. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

Forsyth, D R , (2008) 'Caution: Praise Can Be Dangerous' Edited by William A. Darity, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, Detroit

Eva, K., Armson, H., Holmboe, E., Lockyer, J., Loney, E., Mann, K. and Sargeant, J., 2011. Factors influencing responsiveness to feedback: on the interplay between fear, confidence, and reasoning processes. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 17(1), pp.15-26.

Lam, C., DeRue, D., Karam, E. and Hollenbeck, J., 2011. The impact of feedback frequency on learning and task performance: Challenging the “more is better” assumption. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 116(2), pp.217-228.