Responding and Getting Response
Fears
4. What is the most important thing you want from other student's feedback?
The responses of the students to this question fell into seven categories (plus the usual 'other' category). The top category contained almost a third of the total comments, and the top two categories contained almost half of the total comments.
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Honesty (22 comments)
The most common request from students was for simply honesty in the feedback which is given. -
Clarity (11 comments)
Many comments requested feedback about the clarity of their writing. -
Constructive criticism (9 comments)
Several comments specifically requested constructive feedback. -
Caring (7 comments)
Several comments asked for positive, reassuring feedback. -
Ideas (6 comments)
A few comments concerned the desire to get new ideas from the feedback. -
Balance (3 comments)
Within the full context of any student's answer, there was often a request for a balance of positive and negative comments. These three comments called for it specifically. They could easily be categorized with the 'Caring' and 'Constructive' cagetories above. - Engagement (2 comments)
Only a couple comments referred to the engagement of the reader.
Collection of Actual Comments
Below are the actual comments of the students. The context surrounding some comments has been removed to leave just the actual 'important thing' expressed, but the words of the students have not been changed.
Other comments:
- [be] concise
- continued refinement of my written communicative technique
- criticism which is able to look past simple grammar, semantics and syntax
- Don’t try and make me see the world through your eyes only
- How to improve my writing
- specificity.
- that “good job!”s be left off
- the time to invest in my writing and look it over to give their suggestions.
Honesty...
- An honest assessment of the core ideas behind the paper
- be honest
- be honest
- Blunt, brutal criticism
- honest and thoughtful analysis of my ideas
- Honest critique
- honest feedback from my peers.
- honest feedback of my work
- honestly.
- honesty
- honesty
- honesty
- honesty
- honesty or "truth"
- Honesty!
- I dislike having my time wasted by people sugarcoating comments and softening blows
- I feel that honesty, even though at times harsh, is the best way to communicate
- I want anything and everything you have to say.
- I want honesty and sincerity
- I want honesty.
- The truth is what I want but be gentle.
- The truth!
Feedback on clarity...
- advice on how I may express myself with more clarity.
- clarity is nice also.
- feedback on the clarity and organization of my presentation
- I want to know which of my ideas I’m not conveying well, and which are simply wrong
- If I am unclear or my thoughts seem unorganized I want to know.
- If something does not sound right, or is not clear, or should not even be in the piece, go ahead and tell me.
- if you don’t understand what I’m trying to say or if I’m way off the mark, let me know
- making sure my format and layout is making sense
- to know that I am making my point understood (am I clear?)
- to know that i'm thoroughly understood, and that i can narrow my focus without needing to explain everything at once
- whether or not my explanations are clear and concise
Constructive criticism...
- ability to feel an openness in constructive criticism between equals.
- comments like 'I really like where you're going here and you should expand it' or 'Instead of approaching this idea from {}, i was thinking {...}' or 'This is good, but you need to address {...}'
- constructive criticism
- constructive criticism....give me something I can use
- Constructive feedback
- I love to receive feedback, both positive and negative as long as it is constructive
- i really appreciate constructive criticism.
- I want constructive criticism
- thoughtful feedback
Caring reinforcement...
- a sense of caring
- be kind,
- give me a personal opinion
- I want praise
- positive, logical analysis
- respectful, but thorough critique.
- The reader doesn't necessarily need to agree with my point but as long as we can agree to disagree agreeably
It's about ideas...
- comment on the heart and bones of an idea/story/essay.
- Good ideas
- I mostly want to hear where readers agree with what I wrote and where their ideas diverge from what I wrote.
- I would like someone to point out the bad points
- suggested alternatives
- to know if my point is worth a damn.
Balanced critique...
- Both the postitive and negative aspects of my paper.
- positive and constructive feedback
- positive feedback, in addition to critical feedback
Engagement
- to be engaged, not acting from a place of boredom.
- to know where I lost their interest at and some speculation on how I could have kept it.