I wanted to talk with you for a few minutes about this idea of feedback. So whenever I start discussing a topic like this, I like to set the baseline about what it means to give feedback. Traditionally feedback, of course, is this notion of assessment. It can be summative, it can be formative. The idea is checking in on and with your student in terms of their knowledge, writing, articulation of their argument or the logic of a discussion. I would like to add however, and we don't always think of feedback in this way. Feedback is also a way to have your own teaching, philosophy, and pedagogy reflected in everything that you do. So for me when I think about feedback, it's also an extension of community building and communication and connection with our students. So if we keep this in mind as we consider ways to give feedback and the kinds of feedback we could give, remember, what are your goals as a teacher, what is your pedagogy? Now we do know from the literature that a lack of feedback or giving less than quality feedback can reduce students motivation. They tend to get frustrated, they express dissatisfaction with the course and the process. Imagine, you're in a situation where you're working on something and you're just not getting any communication, you're just not getting any feedback or check-in. Think about how you feel working on a project. So of course it's going to decrease your motivation. Other things that the research tells us, of course, are obvious which are that learners without feedback, without quality feedback may be unaware of their strengths. May not know where they have areas for potential growth, or just how to apply the knowledge that they're learning. So keep in mind that our students sometimes enter these academic spaces, nervous, anxious, really wanting some feedback or check in with their instructor to say, "You're on the right track." Or, "You got this part right but let's take a look at this." They really need that scaffolding and that guidance, and feedback is one of the many ways that instructors can do this. There's also a good chance that if you're not giving high-quality feedback or any feedback at all, the students are going to tell their own story about the situation, which often leads to misunderstandings. So if we're not communicating feedback with our students, they're left to their own devices to interpret a situation, to interpret something, and oftentimes, it's interpreted for worse, that they tell these stories that perhaps make it seem worse off than it really is. So feedback can increase motivation, of course, elevates awareness of opportunities and strengths and growth in a student and can clear up misunderstandings and creates a feeling of transparency that would have otherwise been unresolved. I will also say, and this is particularly true in online spaces, good feedback, regular, high-quality feedback can also reduce this idea of transactional distance. Transactional distance is this feeling, the space between an instructor and a student and of course, in an online setting, this is made greater or this distance is made greater just by virtue of the fact that you are online. This can happen in face-to-face settings too, especially in our larger lecture hall traditional classes. So feedback is also a way, again, remember the pedagogy, connections, communication with our students. It can reduce that distance and lead the students to start feeling perhaps more part of the class, better connected or more strongly connected to the instructor as well as the material. So I would just like to add that in terms of why feedback matters.
