How to Ask for and Get Helpful Feedback from Professors, Instructors, and TAs, Part 2

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by Stokes Schwartz6 views·Updated Nov 15, 2020
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  1. Well, hello, everyone.
  2. Professor Schwartz here again at the beginning of Week 12
  3. with Part two of how to ask for and get
  4. useful feedback from your professors, instructors or graduate teaching assistants.
  5. I'm not really sure where my my image is today.
  6. My cameras doing something funny, but let's get on with
  7. it. Uh, today I'll talk about five more points listening
  8. to learn, asking, clarifying questions during your feedback meetings with
  9. professors, instructors or teaching assistants taking notes during these meetings,
  10. your commitment and follow through after those meetings and finally
  11. remembering to say thank you.
  12. So let's jump right in with 0.1.
  13. Listen toe learn 0.6, actually in the context of last
  14. week's discussion.
  15. So listen toe learn.
  16. Remember that when you meet with a professor, instructor or
  17. teaching assistant, you are listening to a perspective that might
  18. be very different from yours.
  19. Nevertheless, try to remain calm and open to what the
  20. person is telling you about your work so far in
  21. the course, and how you can improve the situation.
  22. Make sure you listen carefully so that you understand what
  23. is being said to you, not just the parts that
  24. might loosely resonate with your own perceptions.
  25. It's natural for most of us to prefer the positive
  26. and Onley here.
  27. What we want to, but a willingness to pay attention
  28. to and digest everything being shared with us is necessary
  29. to change or improve the situation.
  30. After a surprise in a course and and a related
  31. disappointing grade, let's say, moving right along.
  32. Let's talk about point to ask clarifying questions.
  33. Ask clarifying questions when you meet with a professor or
  34. an instructor or your teaching assistant about a disappointment in
  35. the course.
  36. Clarifying questions are a great way to confirm that you
  37. understand what your professor, instructor or teaching assistant is telling
  38. you and also enables them to provide you with even
  39. more specific and helpful feedback in many cases simply asking
  40. questions like Why is this particular point important?
  41. Or how might I approach this situation differently the next
  42. time around are great ways to start 0.8.
  43. Let's talk about taking notes, something that in my experience,
  44. a lot of students don't do whenever they come to
  45. meet with me.
  46. So take notes on all feedback that you receive when
  47. you have a feedback meeting with a professor instructor or
  48. teaching assistant.
  49. It's professional to come prepared to a feedback meeting with
  50. with your professor, instructor or teaching assistant with a notebook
  51. or a tablet and a pen or pencil so that
  52. you can write down the key concepts that come up
  53. during your conversation.
  54. Taking notes also shows that you value the information you
  55. receive and that you wish to remember the feedback provided
  56. to you.
  57. You'll want to consider these notes as a handbook to
  58. help you improve your performance in the course.
  59. Later on, you can refer to your notes to evaluate
  60. how you have improved the situation.
  61. Treat your feedback notes like a commitment with yourself to
  62. change and improve as a student in the course.
  63. Let's move on now.
  64. 2.9 post meeting.
  65. Commit and follow through.
  66. Commit and follow through.
  67. Here is where personal agency enters the picture as soon
  68. as possible.
  69. After your feedback meeting with your professor instructor or teaching
  70. assistant, sit down to develop a plan for how you
  71. will go about improving your performance in the course.
  72. Don't delay.
  73. It might be as simple as procrastinating, less starting the
  74. work sooner and managing your time more efficiently.
  75. It might mean reading and taking better notes on assigned
  76. course material or following project or assignment directions more closely.
  77. In any case, make sure to follow through with your
  78. plan to improve in the course, since nothing will change
  79. unless you choose for it to change.
  80. And that decision again must come from you.
  81. Last of all, let's talk about 0.10 something too many
  82. people forget in the rush to get their work done
  83. and and turned in.
  84. Remember to say thank you.
  85. I know I sound like Mom and Dad, but you
  86. know, there we are.
  87. Remember always to say thank you.
  88. It's a good idea to show your gratitude after a
  89. professor, instructor or teaching assistants has taken their time to
  90. help. You show that you appreciate that help by telling
  91. them in person or follow up a day or two
  92. later with a brief email.
  93. Following up is important to help you foster beneficial relationships
  94. with the people teaching you.
  95. It is also an effective habit to cultivate now for
  96. your professional act activities in the real world after graduation,
  97. showing that you're thankful will likely make professors instructors and
  98. ta is more open to assisting you again during your
  99. undergraduate studies as well as future colleagues, team leaders and
  100. supervisors. Once you start your career and enter the working
  101. world after college, Okay, everyone, that's it for this week.
  102. Part two of how to ask for and get useful
  103. feedback from your professors, instructors or graduate teaching assistants.
  104. I'm Professor Schwartz.
  105. Keep up with your, um, your student learning team discussions,
  106. and you're related reflections and other work this week.
  107. Make sure that you get those uploaded to the correct
  108. d2l Submission folder by 11.
  109. 59 PM this Friday evening.
  110. And I will see you next week.
  111. Thank you, everyone.
  112. Have a good week.
  113. Bye bye.