Creating a Culture of Feedback
- Jeenie Yoon
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
I have a confession: I was in a college a cappella group (no punny name though, unfortunately).
I’ve been a singer my whole life and have always been invested in being as perfect as possible in my tone, technique, and resonance. When I was younger, I admit to being overly sensitive when someone tried to correct me or improve my sound - looking back it’s a little mortifying just how personally I took attempts at improvement.
Then one day, freshman year of college, I witnessed something that genuinely changed my entire outlook on feedback.
We were learning a new song. My fellow sopranos and I were clustered together trying to learn a complicated section of music. Our music director stopped us when she heard a mistake, and my fellow soprano (let’s call her Rebecca) raised her hand and very nonchalantly said, “That was me, I messed up, sorry!” and laughed.
It was simple - almost nothing. But I swear it changed my brain chemistry. I watched a very talented singer take ownership of a mistake she had made without drowning herself in shame. And I immediately recognized a behavior I wanted to adopt for myself. I liked that she took accountability without self-flagellating herself or diving into a shame spiral. It was the first time I’d ever considered that a mistake wasn’t a personal failure.
My a cappella group had done an amazing job at cultivating a culture of feedback, where everyone could help each other out for the good of the group’s overall sound and performance. Looking back, I see that there were some key components that made this culture of feedback possible:
Feedback was communal. Instead of one directional feedback, from our music director to us, feedback became something we were all responsible for giving and receiving (including feedback to our music director). It was everyone’s responsibility to make sure we were singing accurately and well. In a classroom setting, this could be:
Encourage students to respond to each other - when questions are posed about course materials or key topics, ask students to respond to each other instead of solely relying on the instructor.
Establish “community agreements” - co-create a set of community norms for your class that outline general expectations around how students can interact and debate with one another in a respectful and caring manner.
Feedback focused on the work. When giving feedback, we focused on the music itself and the accuracy, not someone’s voice or personal abilities. By focusing feedback on the work itself, we avoid making feedback personal and connect feedback to our overall goals. In an a cappella group, that’s the overall sound and accuracy of a song. In a class setting, that’s going to be how well students are able to meet the learning objectives that are set out for the course. Here are some ideas on how to make sure feedback focuses on the work:
Use rubrics - when feedback can be directly tied to desired competencies, we can use feedback to reinforce the things they are already doing well and redirect when students need to make a change (NYU login required).
Enable anonymous grading - enable anonymous grading in order to ensure your feedback focuses on student work and is less likely to be impacted by biases.
Feedback was ongoing. It became a normal part of our process to receive and provide feedback. We would sing through a section of music, stop, and identify any areas that needed attention. It was so normalized, in fact, that it stopped feeling daunting or anxiety-inducing. In a higher education context, this could be:
Build a “no judgment” space - carve out a space where students can ask any question in a judgment free zone. This could be a classroom conversation, a discussion board online, or a shared online chat space
Build in critiques as part of assignments - as part of an assignment or activity, build in time for critiquing and deep inquiry. (Read this example about the role of critiques from NYU Tandon student Deepalie Babuta). Students can pose probing questions to one another in an effort to help each other improve their work or expand their thinking. Consider using tools like Peerceptiv or PeerMark.
Creating a “culture” of feedback is hard work, but can create real opportunities for learning and growth. When feedback is delivered with care and regularly, everyone in the classroom, including the instructor, will learn something new and grow. And I struggle to find a better outcome for higher education than this.