In today’s virtual learning environment, instructor feedback plays an even more critical role in an undergraduate student’s academic experience. To explore the art of giving good feedback, graduate student teaching fellows for Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie’s introductory global health course at Harvard College gathered for hands-on workshops.
During the workshop led by Nina Bhattacharya, the Incubator’s Instructional Design Specialist, teaching fellows reflected on their own “pivotal feedback” moments inside and outside academia before delving into a sample student policy brief. After crafting their comments, each workshop participant modeled a short “office hour” conversation with a student to deliver assignment feedback.
The Incubator’s Bok Pedagogy Fellow, Elizabeth Hentschel, and Scholar-in-Residence Terry Aladjem both joined for the workshop, providing thoughtful feedback to participants during the collective debrief of the exercise. Each participant opened with their own reflections regarding their delivery before opening the conversation to broader tips and feedback. Within this virtual community of practice, teaching fellows discussed the limitations and opportunities of supporting students online.
The feedback workshops are one of many approaches the Incubator is field testing for virtual teaching and learning environments, to explore choices about content and pedagogy design that promote accessibility, inclusion, and connection without physical presence.