How to take on your teachers’ advice – and how provide them with some feedback too

Ahead of an important forum in Bendigo this month, we wanted to find out from staff and students their best advice for handling feedback – whether you’re providing or receiving it.

So, you’ve got back your essay/exam/work placement report and scribbled in the margins or under the subheading ‘Comments’ is the F-word.

Feedback, of course!

It can feel a bit dispiriting to put in a whole lot of work only for there still to be room for improvement.

So what do you do with the advice your educator provides?

And while we always think of feedback as something that tutors and lecturers give students, you too should feel comfortable offering suggestions to the teaching staff at La Trobe.

How do you go about doing that?

The Dentistry and Oral Health teams in Bendigo have had a lot of success recently with encouraging an open exchange of feedback between staff and students.

We met up with a couple of the people involved to ask how they think students get the most out of feedback, and how to approach their La Trobe teachers with an issue.

Check out the video below for five top pieces of advice from Oral Health Clinical Supervisor Jade Wright and student Chelsea Hodges:

Have your say at Feedback Literacy Forum

On Friday 21 February, the Bendigo Campus is hosting a ‘Feedback Literacy Forum’ for teachers and students.

Basically, it’s an opportunity for both groups to hear from each other how they like to provide and receive feedback from one another. Also present will be experts on the topic of feedback, who’ll give their advice on how to take on others’ advice.

There’ll be presentations, time for question and answers, and a panel discussion with audience interaction.

To have your voice heard about how feedback at Uni should work, register to attend the event at this link.