Challenging feedback myths: Values, learner involvement and promoting effects beyond the immediate task

Abstract

Context Research suggests that feedback in the health professions is less useful than we would like. In this paper, we argue that feedback has become reliant on myths that perpetuate unproductive rituals. Feedback often resembles a discrete episode of an educator “telling,” rather than an active and iterative involvement of the learner in a future‐facing process. With this orientation towards past events, it is not surprising that learners become defensive or disengaged when they are reminded of their deficits. Methods We tackle three myths of feedback: (a) feedback needs praise‐criticism balancing rules; (b) feedback is a skill residing within the teacher; and (c) feedback is an input only. For each myth we provide a reframing with supporting examples from the literature. Conclusions Equipping learners to engage in feedback processes may reduce the emotional burden on both parties, rendering techniques such as the feedback sandwich redundant. We also highlight the benefits for learners and teachers of conceptualising feedback as a relational activity, and of tracing the effects of information exchanges. These effects may be immediate or latent, and may manifest in different forms such as changes in learner evaluative judgement or professional identity.

Expanding the definition of learning: from self to social to system

“…The exercise of relational agency occurs as individuals draw on the resources of each other to co‐create the object of their actions . In this study, feedback and learning become a dialogical process as residents and supervisors co‐construct the practices involved in the operation . All of the interactions analysed in the study represent learning, but only a minority involve formal teaching.…”

First-Year Students’ Academic Self-Efficacy Calibration: Differences by Task Type, Domain Specificity, Student Ability, and Over Time

“…Thus, students who are already overconfident (i.e., most students in our first-year sample, especially at subject-level, and especially low achievers; see Table 2) are unlikely to benefit from approaches aimed at increasing self-efficacy. In this context, it is concerning that approaches to feedback seem to increasingly prioritise affective concerns and the protection of self-beliefs, as this may undermine lower-achieving learners' engagement with accurate diagnostic and "feed-forward" information that could assist in calibrating self-efficacy beliefs and enhancing future performance (Boud, 2015;Dinham, 2010;Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Molloy et al, 2020).…”

Overview of a novel paediatric surgical simulation‐based medical education programme in Myanmar

“…Throughout the SBME, core educational principles such as mastery learning, deliberate practice and feedback were utilized. 6,[15][16][17] Mastery learning involves the division of a complex task into individual steps which the learner must obtain competence in performing before proceeding to learn the next step. 18 This progressive achievement and demonstration of competence is incorporated in the SBME programme for increasing complexity of procedural tasks or mannequin-based scenarios.…”