On Friday 15th May the FeedBack project promoted a focus group to evaluate the outcomes of the project. Eight participants from four different European countries (Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, UK) shared their opinions about the FeedBack Toolkit that they have tested in the past months. They discussed how they managed to integrate the activities proposed by the Toolkit in their lessons (primary and secondary schools, universities, private companies and community projects).
The gathered feedbacks show how the practice of art-based feedback can enhance the teaching and learning experience, both for teachers and students. Art-based feedback supports communication, even in contexts where words are not very effective. It also increases self-awareness and facilitates decision making, both on an individual and organisational level.
A key challenge is “change”. We often prefer to deal with what is familiar to us and we are reluctant to experiment with new ways of working, including new ways of giving feedback. But our testers, who decided to left their comfort zone to test the Toolkit activities, seems to be very happy with their decision! They confirm that they gain very positive outcomes, building greater mutual respect (teacher/student) and valuing both their own work and students’ efforts.
The next steps? Using the training toolkit for trainers’ activities and… why not? A MOOC! Let’s see!
