Feedback: Here’s your score!

English: Measurement unit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I recently joined a MOOC on digital storytelling. I was up-front and honest about my experience and my reason for joining. I run a digital storytelling program and I wanted to see how another program might parallel, differ and/or otherwise inform me. There’s always room to learn.

As I engaged in the course, I felt good about participation and offering some thoughts and resources that others might find beneficial. I was excited and comfortable doing the first assignment and in retrospect, probably too excited and included information that more appropriately would fit into week 2: script development. Then…I waited. Part 2 of the assignment was to provide peer review of 3 other participants and then get feedback from 3 others. I was charged, ready to see the work of others, give feedback and to get feedback on my own work. But the design made me wait and the waiting began to disturb my flow. Finally, the day came to review others and I did that as thoughtfully as I could. I tried to provide positive support and make suggestions to help the development of their stories. One by one, I moved forward in a system that would not allow me to get feedback until all others had completed their work and the multi-day deadline had passed. Finally, the long awaited feedback came. Anticipating some thoughtful comments and advice, I was disappointed to get “grades”; numbers. Numbers that were a bit lower than I expected, but that’s OK. The disturbing part is that there was very little feedback and that it was anonymous. This made me rethink the value of peer-review, flow, anonymity and the inability to have a conversation about my work. This nameless, faceless, unconnected grading system left me clueless about how to improve my work. What’s worse, it killed my interest in the course. It became a bit of a canned process that ran on a schedule. However, all is not lost. It made me realize the value of open sharing and the possibility of instant or at least, very quick feedback. It made me realize the value of a personal connection to someone who actually cared about what they might say and how that might help me learn. It made me realize that through our open sharing, we might actually teach or learn from others and make new connections that might just change our way of thinking and in some cases, our lives.

Connected Learning

Leighblackall-64955397 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I just read The Problem ofLearning in Higher Education by Randy Bass.

As I move toward increased participation in in an open and connected world, I do so with both excitement and measured steps. The openness and connection I want is for sharing my thinking, my understanding and most importantly, to have those challenged in order to learn.

Randy concludes his writing with a reference to Steven Johnson’s (author of “Where Good Ideas Come From”) TED Talk tagline: “Chance favors the connected mind.” I like this notion. In many ways, I see too many connections and get deep into the weeds in a heartbeat. I jokingly compare myself to the image of John Nash (A Beautiful Mind), as I could easily see myself in a room full of images, information and strings to connect the ideas. Maybe I should be scared of that vision.

Randy breaks down connections into two parts: first, making connections between things and secondly, the sense of being socially networked. The first part is easy for me, but the social aspect requires some work on my part. I need to think about the word social. I think this word is not clearly defined and understood by many, particularly as our use of words like “friends” or “circles” are transformed by the use of technology and media. However, in the context of connecting ideas across realms of experiences in various settings and with various groups or individuals, I have long seen the connection of sharing ideas to the enhancement of learning. In this light, I see and welcome thoughtful inclusion of individual and collective experiences in learning design. Engagement with others, commenting and discussion, collaborative creations, the use of ePortfolios and community-based service projects are only a few things that come to mind. Just as engaging in and observing the world about us informs our learning from different perspectives, it is our learning that should impact the world, sometimes in small but meaningful ways. As Mary PeaceMcRay said at the end of her story The Process of Science "in science, observation of small and insignificant things, often leads to greatness."