Feedback Mechanism

What is Feedback?

Feedback is a dialogue between people which reflects back how another person sees someone else behavior or performance. As people we get feedback from the way people react to us. As managers, coaches, trainers and peers we may have more formal conversations about performance, or how someone could carry out an aspect of their job role more effectively.

Types of Feedback

Positive Feedback – serves to sustain behavior that is appropriate and effective.

Negative or coercive Feedback – serves to change behavior that is inappropriate or ineffective.

Principles in Giving Effective Feedback

• Give feedback only when asked to do so or when your offer is accepted.
• Give feedback as soon after the event as possible.
• Focus on the positive.
• Feedback needs to be given privately wherever possible,  especially more negative feedback.
• Feedback needs to be part of the overall communication process and ‘developmental dialogue’. Use skills such as rapport or mirroring, developing respect and trust with the learner.
• Stay in the ‘here and now’ don’t bring up old concerns or previous mistakes, unless this is to highlight a pattern of behaviors.
• Focus on behaviors that can be changed, not personality traits.
• Talk about and describe specific behaviors, giving examples where possible and do not evaluate or assume motives.

• Use ‘I’ and give your experience of the behavior (‘when  you said…, I thought that you were…’).
• When giving negative feedback, suggest alternative behaviors.
• Feedback is for the recipient, not the giver – be sensitive to the impact of your message.
• Consider the content of the message, the process of giving feedback and the congruence between your verbal and non- verbal messages.
• Encourage reflection. This will involve posing open questions such as:
  • Did it go as planned? If not why not?
  • If you were doing it again what would you do the  same next time and what would you do differently? Why?
  • How did you feel during the session? How would you feel about doing it again?
  • How do you think the patient felt? What makes you think that?
  • What did you learn from this session?

• Be clear about what you are giving feedback on and link  this  to the learner’s overall professional development and/or intended program outcomes.
• Do not overload – identify two or three key messages that you summarize at the end.

Feedback Strategies

Characteristics	Purpose
Timing	For students to get feedback while  they are  still mindful of the learning target. For student to get feedback while there is still time for them to act on it.
Amount	For students to get enough feedback so that they understand what to do but not so much that the work has been done for them (differs case by case). For students to get feedback on “teachable moment” points but not an overwhelming number.
Mode	To communicate the feedback message in the most appropriate way. The following tools provides written feedback about a trainee’s performance: Answer Key Accomplished Performance Criteria Checklist Evaluative Feedback(Examination Result) Progress chart Achievement chart Trainees record book
Audience	To    reach     the     appropriate      students      with     specific feedback. To    communicate,   through    feedback,    that    student learning is valued.
Focus	To describe specific qualities of the work  in  relation  to the learning targets. To make observation about students’ learning processes and strategies that will help them figure out how to improve. To foster student-efficacy by drawing connections between students’ work and their mindful, intentional efforts. To avoid personal comments.

Characteristics	Purpose
Comparison	Usually, to compare student work with established criteria. Sometimes, to compare a student’s work with his or her own past performance. Rarely, to compare a student’s work with the work of other students.
Function	To describe student work. To avoid evaluating or “judging” student work in a way that would stop students from trying to improve.
Valence	To use positive comments that describe what is well done. To make suggestions about what could be done for improvement.

Barriers in Giving Feedback

• A fear of upsetting the trainee or damaging the trainee–trainer relationship
  • A fear of doing more harm than good
  • The trainee being resistant or  defensive  when  receiving criticism. Poor handling of a reaction to negative feedback can result in feedback being disregarded thereafter
  • Feedback being too generalized and not related to specific facts   or observations
  • Feedback not giving guidance on how to rectify behavior
  • Inconsistent feedback from multiple sources
  • A lack of respect for the source of feedback.

The Role of Feedback in Learning

Learning involves the interaction of new information provided by instruction with existing information already in the trainee’s memory. Feedback’s role in the learning process is not simply information processing, but a more complex milieu with feedback having an influence  on  the  learner’s affective and motivational processes, along with cues, participation, and reinforcement as one of his four elements to determine the quality of instruction. It is an important construct for improving instruction and performance.

Feedback is an essential part  of  education  and  training  programmes. It helps learners to 1) maximize their potential at different stages of training, 2) raise their awareness of strengths and areas for improvement, and 3) identify actions to be taken to improve performance. It is part of the overall dialogue or interaction between trainer and trainee and not a one-way communication. Feedback can be seen as informal (e.g. day  to  day  encounters between trainer and trainee, between peers or colleagues) or formal (for example as part of written or clinical assessment). It is very important to ensure that the feedback given  to  the  learner  is  aligned  with the  overall learning outcomes of the  programme/teaching session in which the learner is engaged.

Feedback in Competency-Based Learning

Feedback is vital to success of competency-based training, we all know that this is a self-paced approach, continuous and instantaneous. The learning materials provide the means for continuous progress checks. Results are known quickly, correction and reinforcement are immediate. It is giving specific information about a trainee’s current behaviour in order to help him/her either continue the behaviour or modify the behavior.

Providing regular feedback to the trainee regarding his/her work with you is the most powerful teaching tool a trainer has. It is also the area most commonly cited as lacking when trainees evaluate trainers. Quite simply, feedback is the sharing of information about the trainee’s performance. The feedback should be specific enough that the trainee understands which behaviours are appropriate and which ones need to be changed. It is most meaningful when it is based on solid data obtained while observing or interacting with the trainee. An experienced trainer who has worked on developing this skill can incorporate feedback comfortably and quickly into regular interactions with a trainee.

Tools in providing feedback

In CBT, feedback should be immediate and continuous. When using the modular self-paced method, the trainer is not always there to give face- to-face feedback but the following tools are used so that the trainee can evaluate the progress of his learning:

1. Answer key – the answer key in the module is a way of checking whether the trainee is learning what he has to learn from the Information Sheet. You should instruct your trainees to always compare his answers to self-checks  with  the  answer  key  provided in the CBLM. Apprehensions on developing dishonesty will be resolved if your trainees know that there will be a written test given  as a part of your institutional competency  evaluation.  Motivate them to learn knowledge on their own through this process.
2. Performance criteria checklist – this tool is provided in the CBLM. This is a tool that a trainee can use to evaluate his own performance when practicing skill. This is a list  of  criteria  which you should see in the performance of  the  task  or  job. Motivate  your trainee to use this as a tool for self-evaluation, peer evaluation and ultimately for trainer evaluation. Self-evaluation is only good if the criteria is well-written and well planned.

The Performance Criteria Checklist should include on the list the four dimensions of competency so that Knowledge, Skills and Attitude is checked against this list while the task/job is being practiced.

3. Evaluative feedback – this are feedback given by the trainer as a result of evaluation. This can be given in  a  written form as in  the use of the Competency Assessment Result or giving back  the  checked and scored test papers. This can also be given orally while evaluating the performance of a task or job or after a competency evaluation.

Feedback about the result of competency assessment such as scores and acquired competency are very important information which the trainee should be notified of as soon as possible. Immediate feedback is very critical in learning. The trainee should, therefore, be informed about his performance, his mistakes and the gaps in his performance just after the assessment.

• Other monitoring tool – monitoring tools such as the progress chart, achievement chart, trainees record book can also be effective feedback and constant reminders on the learning activities of a trainee.

Characteristics of Effective Feedback

• It is specific and performance based.
• It is descriptive, not labeling.
• It focuses on the behavior, not the trainee.
• It is based on observations, repeated if possible.
• It begins with “I” statements.
• It balances negative and positive comments.
• It is well timed.

• It is anchored to common  goals (for example,  the  trainee’s  learning or performance).
• It provides for two-way communication, soliciting,  and  considering the receiver’s input.
• It is brief. (Be alert to signs of resistance).
• It is based on trust, honesty, and concern.
• It is private, particularly if it is negative.
• It is part of your regular teaching process, not an exception to the norm.
• It provides for follow-up.

Guidelines for Providing Constructive Feedback

• All comments should be based upon observable behavior and not assumed motives or intents.
• Positive comments should be made first in order to give the trainee confidence and gain his/her attention.
• Language should be descriptive of specific behaviors rather than general comments indicating value judgments.
• Feedback should emphasize the sharing  of  information.  There  should be opportunities for both parties to contribute.
• Feedback should not be so detailed and broad. It should not  “overload” the trainee.
• Feedback should deal with the behaviors the trainee can control and change.
• Feedback requires the ability to tolerate a feeling of discomfort.