Voxpop: When was the last time you received good feedback on an assignment?
Omnibus asked three of the students who participated in the Student Council's feedback event when they had last received good feedback on an assignment, and what made the feedback good.
During my exam in theatre and cultural policy, where I received both positive and negative criticism. I was told that it was not a poor assignment and they also gave me a good mark, but at the same time my teacher pointed out some problems. She said that my language could lose me marks and that I could work on improving it by reading the text aloud to myself.
So she didn’t just tell me what wasn’t so good – she also told me how I could do better. I already knew that I needed to work on my language and my teacher also said that I certainly wasn't the only one. Even though I, like most other people, prefer to hear positive things in any feedback, it was good to be told how I could do better, because I was also given some tools so I could work constructively to do so.
Even though I also received negative feedback, I came out with a positive feeling, because I was told that I had written a sound assignment. That really gave a sense of relief, because many of us ask ourselves whether we can really find out how to write this kind of assignment. And I had been given the answer: Yes, you can. You have the potential; you just need to do such and such. Apart from relief, my positive feeling also had to do with the fact that I felt my teacher understood my problems and that we had an equal dialogue.
Sissel Marie Pedersen, seventh semester biology student
I had a course where I had to write a review, and subsequently there was a supervisor who was so nice that he spent forty-five minutes giving me feedback, even though it wasn’t his job. Our lecturer hadn’t told us anything about what a review was beforehand, or how to read one, or how to approach trying to write one. So it was only when I went to my supervisor that I found out how to do it and it was also only because I talked to him that I received any feedback on the assignment at all.
The reason I went to my supervisor rather than my lecturer was because the lecturer didn’t invite you to come to her. She doesn’t exactly send out a “come to me” signal! That’s also one of the reasons why no one questions things they don’t understand, because that’s something she doesn’t invite you to do during the lectures. My guess is that half of the class didn’t understand the assignment, without saying anything.
But for me personally there’s also another reason, which has to do with the demands I make of myself. I feel that I have to be so clever, and I also feel that others around me expect the same of me, so I don’t want to lay myself bare by showing that there’s something I don’t understand.
Anders Rohde, seventh semester law student
Last autumn in the sociology of law course in connection with individual supervision of my assignment. It was an in-depth discussion. The teacher asked whether I’d been aware of various aspects, various ideas and if so, why I hadn’t continued to work on them. What was good about it was this course, which is a bit fluffy and philosophising, had a teacher who was interested in finding out the thinking behind my assignment. He showed interest.
