HOME	ACTIVE Reviewing Tips for dynamic experiential learning	HELP

Giving and Receiving Feedback

Active Reviewing Tips for Dynamic Experiential Learning - http://reviewing.co.uk Roger Greenaway's Active Reviewing Tips 3.9 ~ ISSN 1465-8046 This free opt-in publication from Reviewing Skills Training reaches over 1000 enlightened people a bit like you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A special welcome if you have joined since March. This issue marks the re-launch of Active Reviewing Tips as a monthly publication. Thank you readers old and new for your patience and for your encouraging emails! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IN THIS ISSUE INTRO: Giving and Receiving Feedback TIPS: 18 Active Feedback Exercises LINKS: Using Photos in Reviewing NEWS: workshops and new e-tutorial PAST and FUTURE ISSUES ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ A C T I V E . R E V I E W I N G . T I P S ~ ~ FOR DYNAMIC EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING ~ ~ the free monthly newsletter associated with the ~ ~ 'GUIDE TO ACTIVE REVIEWING' http://reviewing.co.uk ~ ~ Editor: Roger Greenaway roger@reviewing.co.uk ~ ~ Vol. 3.9 ~ ~ GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 1 ~ INTRO: GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK. What picture does the title 'GIVING AND RECEIVING FEEDBACK' generate in your mind. Close your eyes for a few seconds and look at your mental picture.... What did you see? - two people? - sitting down? - one giving, the other receiving? - a special event that doesn't happen very often? - a power game? - an ordeal? - important things left unsaid? Or did you see ... - lots of people? - moving around - everyone giving and receiving? - a frequent event that is part of a friendly learning culture? - an empowering exercise? - a fun and satisfying experience? - focused on what matters? Or did you see something altogether different? If you regret not closing your eyes, you can make up for it now by trying this exercise ... Hold you hands just above your desk and try to recall the number of times that you have received valuable feedback during the last 7 days. For each occasion that you RECEIVED valuable feedback, place one finger of your left hand on the desk. For each occasion that you have GIVEN valuable feedback, place one finger of your right hand on your desk. Now look at your fingers. Did you run out of fingers or are they still hovering in the air? You have just been doing some (slightly) active reviewing. You have been making pictures in your mind (perhaps). And you have been tapping your fingers on your desk (surely!). In a LEARNING culture feedback is part of the LEARNING game. In a POWER culture, feedback is part of the POWER game. However carefully givers of feedback choose their words, it is the quality of the culture and the quality of the relationships that will determine the extent to which feedback can be a source of valuable learning. If you placed lots of fingers on your desk just now, the chances are that you work in an excellent LEARNING culture. If one or both of your hands stayed hovering in the air, the chances are that you work in a POWER culture. It is in power cultures that feedback sessions get a bad name - such as 'slate a mate'. But the same feedback activity in a learning culture could be a way of making friends - not losing them. Weblink: Tim Pickles explores some of these themes in the context of appraisal sessions in the workplace. See:  Where Next for Appraisals? The Tips section (next) describes 18 active feedback exercises. Please write to roger@reviewing.co.uk if you can help to make this a rounder number. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 2 ~ TIPS: 18 ACTIVE FEEDBACK EXERCISES In structured learning events there are many things you can do to create a learning culture in which feedback can thrive. Here are some of my favourite feedback methods. 1. WALK AND TALK Write down a question about yourself that you would like everyone else to answer. Wander around asking your question to each person you meet. Present a summary of the feedback you received to the whole group. What question would you would like to ask next time? 2. PAIRED WALK With a partner walk out to an agreed point and back. On the way out one person asks for feedback about their performance in the last exercise. On the way back the other person asks for feedback. Find another partner for a second walk. This time start by summarising the feedback you have just received before asking for more. 3. QUESTION TRAIL In twos or threes follow a trail (outdoors) picking up a question at each marker you come to. Each person should answer the question before arriving at the next marker. Example: one of the questions might be ''What surprised you most about me in the last activity?'' 4. PAUSING ACTION REPLAYS During an action replay of the event (whether using video or re-enacting the event) pause the action and ask what each person was feeling or thinking at the time. Good places to pause are when one person has done or said something to which others are reacting. 5. PAUSING ACTIVITIES Warn in advance if you are likely to do this. I prefer to make only brief interruptions so as not to disrupt the activity too much. Ask for a show of fingers to indicate (say) motivation levels: 10=motivated 0=unmotivated. This is particularly useful if a leader seems out of touch with how people are responding - or if an unconfident leader doesn't realise how well they are doing. 6. GIFTS Subgroups make gifts to present to individuals in other subgroups. See: http://reviewing.co.uk/feedback.htm 7. HUMAN SCULPTURE Individuals take it in turns to arrange the rest of the group around them - with positions, postures and expressions that they feel represent that person's attitude towards them during the event being reviewed. Described in Playback 8. JOGGER CARDS Each participant writes 2 or 3 personalised action points on separate cards and gives them to an observer. If the observer feels the person needs reminding or praising, they quietly do so by showing the card together with a thumbs up (praise) or thumbs down (memory jogger). 9. BUDDY COACHES One to one observation during an activity. During time outs the coaches provide feedback to their buddy. Guidance to coaches will depend on what kind of coaching style you are encouraging (e.g. positive, critical, try ..., notice ..., or a question) 10. ROUNDS A sentence completion exercise in the whole group. To make it a feedback exercise choose suitable sentence beginnings e.g. ''I'd like to congratulate''. To ensure everyone gets equal attention, focus each round on a different individual e.g. ''I'd like to congratulate Ross on the way ...'' 11. EGOING or SPEAKING FOR A PARTNER During the review each person in one half of the group remains silent while their buddy takes part in the review as if they actually are their buddy. This can bring out a lot of intuitive indirect feedback. 12. 1: 1 OBSERVATION Participants do not know exactly what is on the observer's checklist (or guidance notes). This minimises the chances that participants will 'fake' their behaviour. To ensure this exercise does not result in unwanted feedback, ensure that the observers are only looking for positives 13. CHAT CARDS Twos or threes work through about 20 questions (one per card) in about 10 minutes. This is a fast-paced exercise that may lack depth, but can be fun and highly intuitive. It should result in each person getting an all-round picture of themselves during the event being reviewed - about 20 'snapshots' if working in pairs or 40 'snapshots if working in threes. 14. ACTION REPLAYS - TAKING THE PART OF ANOTHER Following one-to-one observation (half the group doing and half the group watching) the observers re-enact the activity as if they are the person they were observing. Role swaps can also take place during a whole group re-enactment. Seeing people stepping into your shoes can be a very powerful form of feedback - but it can also be careless or misunderstood. So ask if anyone was puzzled or confused ... or impressed and delighted! See http://reviewing.co.uk/stories/replay.htm 15. FIRST IMPRESSIONS This is how I saw you to start with. This is how I see you now. This feedback can be provided through words, pictures or actions. The final message should be a positive one. 16. PREDICTIONS Each person writes down a prediction about how well each other person will perform in an activity that they have never done before. Before doing this new activity, predictions are shared in the whole group together with the reasons underlying the predictions. It is not necessary to do the activity - but doing the activity usually leads to even greater insights. 17. FEEDBACK ABOUT FEEDBACK It is important to give learners a chance to express their own views about the value of the feedback they are receiving. Do they feel it is too critical, too shallow, too repetitive, too general, too embarrassing? Such sessions quickly reveal if any individuals are disappointed with the quality of the feedback they are receiving. Include a session of this kind while there is still plenty of time to ensure that everyone gets enough time to give and receive more feedback. 18. WARM SEAT An improvement on the hot seat. The receiver of feedback is in control of the whole process. See: http://reviewing.co.uk/feedback.htm 19. ? Thank you to Rajaram Subbian who has taken up the challenge and adds this feedback exercise that collects positives and then seeks explanation: POSITIVE FEEDBACK + EXPLANATIONS This is done with the group that is familiar with its members. Break the large group into small (four or five in each group). Each member is to note down three or four positive qualities observed in others (each by name) and on self! After everyone has completed, within each group a feedback is given in an agreed order, starting the feedback on one person - each person saying what s/he has noted down. While doing this members are encouraged to look eye-to-eye and say it using their names, so as to make it personal and impactful! The listener, after having listened would say what s/he has noted down on self. S/he is also encouraged to seek explanation from the reporter on the observation made. 20: ? Write to roger@reviewing.co.uk if you would like to add an idea or two. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 3 ~ LINKS: FREE PHOTO PROCESSING Did you know that you can send your 35mm films or digital photos to be processed and stored on the web for free. This is a very quick and easy way of sharing photos during or after a course. (If you want them printed and sent to you then you do have to send them some money.) This kind of service could really help with the transfer of learning after a course - not only continuing the sense of community - but also because it extends the chances for learners to find images that capture important aspects of their learning experience. http://www.ofoto.com (USA) http://www.photoisland.com I think these services have been around for about a year. Have you used them to assist with reviewing or the transfer of learning. Please share your thoughts - and tell us the url where we can see your photos! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 4 ~ NEWS OPEN TRAINING WORKSHOPS 2000 My next OPEN workshop in reviewing skills is in Hertfordshire (near London) on Sunday 12th and Monday 13th November 2000. There are enough bookings for the event to happen, but there are still a few spaces left. If you want to know more, please send an email to me at roger@reviewing.co.uk If you don't live anywhere near North London but are interested in attending or hosting an open workshop in your home town, I'll be pleased to hear from you. E-LEARNING TUTORIAL: THE ACTIVE REVIEWING CYCLE If you have attended one of my workshops this year you have probably seen this playing cards model. This is my first full write up of the model. I explain the symbolism, and I illustrate how various active reviewing methods match the 4 zones of the cycle. The TRANSFER section briefly shows how transfer can happen in any zone. I welcome your comments on this experiement in e-learning - and on the model itself. http://reviewing.co.uk/learning-cycle/index.htm ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 5 ~ ACTIVE REVIEWING TIPS: PAST AND FUTURE PAST ISSUES You may want to take a look at these selected past issues - or search the archives at http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/index.htm Encouraging Participation http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/3_2.htm Transferring Learning http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/2_7.htm Reviewing in Large Groups http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/2_6.htm No Questions Asked http://reviewing.co.uk/archives/art/2_2.htm FUTURE ISSUES The list of potential topics is continually growing. It includes: - more on the topic of transfer of learning - more on feedback exercises - the active reviewing cycle - developing decision making skills - developing group and team skills - developing leadership skills - developing learning skills - competencies in active reviewing - self-development as a reviewer - reviewing outdoors - difficult situations in reviewing - designing and improvising active reviews - achieving specific objectives in reviewing - reviewing at the beginning of a course - reviewing at the end of a course - would you really miss metaphors? If you would like to request particular reviewing topics or contribute to them please let me know at roger@reviewing.co.uk Take a look at this growing collection of feedback exercises for more ideas about giving and receiving feedback.

HOME

HELP