Megan Paje

Dr. Maynard
MUED 271
6 Oct 2020
Duke Feedback Summary

We receive feedback all the time. Most of it has no purpose, and often times, it goes

unnoticed as feedback. However, feedback can be seen as anything following a given behavior

that a learner associates with said behavior. It can be positive or negative. It can be intentional

or unintentional. Feedback can come from almost anywhere.

The function of feedback is independent of its intent, and feedback may function

differently for different learners and in different circumstances. Maybe a child is not looking to

learn anything from a situation but ends up learning a lesson in the end. That is feedback.

Feedback conveys information and influences behavior. What comes after that is the difficult

part of understanding and interpreting that feedback. The association between feedback and

behavior does not need to be explicitly recognized to be effective. A student can simply be told

“Yes” and know that they are doing something correct. In some situations, the understanding

can stop there, but most of the time, students need to internalize the feedback to gain the true

message a teacher wants them to take away.

There is such a stigma surrounding negative feedback in the classroom. Teachers

actively avoid giving back negative feedback and instead focus on positive things to comment

on instead. Although this can be effective in boosting morale and keeping the environment
positive, students are keen to recognizing when they do something wrong. They can sense that

something is off, and the avoidance of negative feedback can lead to them overthinking about

their decisions and losing confidence in themselves. They will then, in turn, not want to

participate again for fear of feeling that same sense of wondering since they never found out

what they did wrong that first time.