Giving Feedback and Receiving Criticism

Guidance on giving and receiving feedback

You will be in a position to review others’ work providing them with feedback, and to receive the feedback from other learners.

What does it mean to provide feedback?

• Please be fair and balanced in your feedback and evaluate against the criteria given in the assignment guidelines. You are doing this to help each other improve your work further.
• Please be considerate and make sure your feedback is constructive and relevant.
• Know exactly what the assignment is and use the given guidelines as criteria to compare against.
• Familiarising yourself with somebody else’s work first will lead to a more helpful review – so read the work you are reviewing more than once, before attempting the critique. Make sure you understand what the other person is talking about.
• Reflect on how and what you have written. Ask yourself whether you would like to receive similar feedback, and whether it would be helpful? If not, update your feedback, and reflect on it once more, before sharing it with your fellow learner.
• Remember to critique the ideas, not the persons who wrote them.
• Do not correct grammar and spelling, as English is not everybody’s first language – concentrate on the ideas the other learner is trying to express/present.

What does it mean to receive feedback?

Feedback can come in many different formats. Most often it comes from the authority figures, such as teachers or lecturers, in writing or in conversation. It is also very valuable to hear what other people, such as friends, peers, colleagues think.

When you receive your feedback, even if it feels like it is negative for you, use it as an opportunity to rethink your work by reflecting on how you can improve it. Try not to take constructive criticism personally. If you do notice comments which seem unfair or insulting you personally rather than commenting on your assignment, do flag this with a FutureLearn moderator.