Supervisor Feedback Research Articles

Making the most of feedback for academic writing development in postgraduate research: Pilot of a combined programme for students and supervisors

ABSTRACT Feedback from supervisors on written work is the primary tool for teaching writing in postgraduate research and is a pedagogical activity for academic writing development. Despite this, little effort is focussed on teaching supervisors to provide effective feedback, or students to understand and use this feedback (feedback literacy). Here we describe development and pilot of a novel, flexible combined programme to teach postgraduate research students and supervisors how to make the most of feedback on student writing. This online-supported programme, constructed using evidence-based educational design principles, significantly improved student and supervisor feedback literacy. Specifically, skills and experience in providing and responding to effective feedback were improved, along with an understanding of how to utilise feedback to achieve expected writing standards. We believe the strong theoretical basis underpinned success of our programme and propose that future expansion, tailored to specific cohort characteristics and needs, has the potential to improve the feedback process.

Proactive feedback seeking has a positive effect on career adaptability

We examined the impact of feedback seeking, including feedback inquiry and monitoring, on career adaptability via the mediator of supervisor feedback environment and the moderator of person–organization fit (P–O fit). Participants were 415 full-time employees in China, who completed the research measures in 3 waves each spaced 3 months apart. The results revealed that supervisor feedback environment mediated the relationship between feedback seeking and career adaptability, and that the effect of feedback inquiry and feedback monitoring on the supervisor feedback environment was moderated by P–O fit. The positive effect of feedback inquiry and feedback monitoring on career adaptability was significant only when P–O fit was poor (vs. good). Supervisors should encourage employees to seek feedback and organizations could also design training sessions to improve employee career adaptability, promote employee performance, and facilitate career development.

Supporting Emergent Bilingual Professional Development through Supervisor Feedback

This study examines the effects of professional development on the content and frequency of university supervisor (n=6) written feedback related to supporting emergent bilinguals in order to improve the quality of observational evaluations provided to elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Findings reveal supervisors’ post-intervention feedback more frequently addressed the needs of language learners and provided a greater breadth of issues related to emergent bilinguals. Interview data reveal key factors explain how the professional development addressed gaps in knowledge and affected confidence levels of university supervisors. Implications highlight the importance of supporting supervisors with targeted professional development opportunities around supporting emergent bilinguals to allow for critical reflection of feedback provided to pre-service teachers.

Research on the Effect of Supervisor Feedback for Undergraduate Thesis Writing

The guidance effect of teacher feedback in contemporary English writing has been a hot topic for research. More and more researches focus on the effect of teacher feedback in senior high schools or universities. This research analyzed the supervisor feedback on 32 undergraduate thesis revisions from 8 students from three aspects: error feedback, non-error feedback and the focus of supervisor feedback. The results show that both error feedback and non-error feedback can significantly improve the overall expression of papers; while their focuses are quite distinctive. Suggestions on how to optimize teacher feedback are put forward.

"It's yours to take": generating learner feedback literacy in the workplace.

Feedback can improve students' learning and performance on clinical placements, yet students are often dissatisfied with the process. Attempts to improve feedback frequently focus on faculty development programs without addressing learners' capabilities to engage with feedback. For feedback to be effective, students need to understand its processes and to translate this into practice. Developing student feedback literacy may enhance feedback engagement and, therefore, learning outcomes. This qualitative interview study aimed to problematise student feedback literacy in the healthcare setting, from the learner's perspective. Before commencing placements, 105 healthcare students at an Australian teaching hospital participated in a feedback literacy program. After their placements, 27 students engaged in semi-structured interviews to explore their feedback experiences. Informed by workplace learning theory, interview transcripts were analysed using the framework method of qualitative analysis. Students reported reframing feedback as a process they could initiate and engage in, rather one they were subjected to. When they took an intentional stance, students noted that feedback conversations generated plans for improvement which they were enacting. However, students had to work hard against orthodox feedback expectations and habits in healthcare. They privileged intraprofessional supervisor feedback over interprofessional practitioners, patients, or peers. Findings suggest that student engagement with feedback can be augmented with focussed retraining. However, further research examining the structural and cultural influences on students' capacity to be active in workplace feedback is warranted.

The Influence of Supervisor Developmental Feedback on Employee Innovative Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model.

Previous scholars have recognized the critical role of supervisors in stimulating employee innovative behavior, although it is still unclear whether and how supervisor developmental feedback impacts employee innovative behavior. To resolve this issue, the present study develops and verifies a moderated mediation model to explore the positive influence of supervisor developmental feedback on employee innovative behavior via creative self-efficacy, as well as the moderating role of a supervisor’s organizational embodiment in this process. Analyses of the multi-time data from 375 employees indicate that supervisor developmental feedback is positively associated with employee innovative behavior via his/her creative self-efficacy. Moreover, a supervisor’s organizational embodiment moderates the influence of supervisor developmental feedback on employee creative self-efficacy and the mediating role of creative self-efficacy. From these analyses, the present study not only further develops several views of pervious research in the field of supervisor feedback and employee innovation, but also provides a potential managerial way to promote employee innovative behavior from the perspective of supervisor feedback.

Exploring the Mediating Role of Feedback Environment in the Relationship Between Supervisors' Emotional Intelligence and Employees' Performance

This empirical study examines the relationship between the measured perception of the supervisor's emotional intelligence and the employee workplace performance, as it is impacted by the mediating effect of the supervisor's feedback environment. Data were collected from selected faculties of higher education institutions within Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) by means of a cross-sectional quantitative survey using a random probability sampling technique. Statistical techniques used for the purpose of data analysis include, descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. The data analysis confirmed all of the research hypotheses excluding the impact of a supervisor's use of emotions on the feedback environment. However, the data from the feedback environment indicates a significant mediating impact upon the relationship between supervisor's emotional intelligence and the subordinate's work performance. This study establishes the role of the supervisor's emotional intelligence in defining the feedback environment as they deal with faculty members' quality of work.

Improving healthcare service quality through performance management.

Healthcare service quality in the USA has gained importance under value-based payment models. Providing feedback to front-line staff is a vital component of managing service performance, but complex organizational dynamics can prevent effective communication. This work explored the performance management of appointment desk staff at Mayo Clinic Arizona, identified barriers to effective management and sought to standardize the process for monitoring service performance. Multiple data sources, including qualitative inquiry with 31 employees from the primary care and surgery departments, were used. The research was conducted in two phases - facilitated roundtable discussions with supervisors and semi-structured interviews with supervisors and staff six months after implementation of service standards. Participants were probed for attitudes about the service standards and supervisor feedback after implementation. While all staff indicated a positive work environment, there was an unexpected and pervasive negative stigma surrounding individual feedback from one's supervisor. Half the participants indicated there had been no individual feedback regarding the service standards from the supervisor. Presenting service standards in a simple, one-page format, signed by both supervisor and the patient service representative (PSR), was well received. Combining rapid-cycle quality improvement methodology with qualitative inquiry allowed efficient development of role-specific service standards and quick evaluation of their implementation. This unique approach for improving healthcare service quality and identifying barriers to providing individual feedback may be useful to organizations navigating a more value- and consumer-driven healthcare market.

Exploring student engagement with supervisor feedback on master’s thesis: Insights from a case study

ABSTRACTThis case study shows how three Master’s students engage affectively, behaviourally and cognitively with supervisor feedback on thesis drafts. The data sources are students’ drafts, supervisor’s oral and written feedback, and student interviews. Six themes of student engagement are identified in the data, namely (1) gaining reassurance from the supervisor’s compliments, (2) trusting the supervisor’s feedback due to his position of authority, (3) following the supervisor’s advice selectively, (4) engaging with academia by incorporating more citations, (5) not fully understanding the feedback and (6) ‘letting it go and moving on’.

Is coworker feedback more important than supervisor feedback for increasing innovative behavior?

A growing body of research explores human resource management practices that encourage employees to innovate. In this study, we examine the links between different sources of feedback (supervisor and coworker) and employees’ innovative behavior. Drawing on social exchange theory and the job demands‐resources theory, we first propose that work engagement and psychological contract breach mediate the relationship between supervisor feedback and employees’ innovative behavior. Second, we propose a moderated mediation model in which coworker feedback attenuates the relationships between supervisor feedback and employees’ innovative behavior through the mediating mechanisms of both work engagement and psychological contract breach. Using three waves of multisource data from 300 Chinese employees and their 64 supervisors, we found a dual‐mediation pathway by which employees’ work engagement and perceptions of psychological contract breach mediate the influence of supervisor feedback on innovative behavior. Our results also show that coworker feedback can be used to supplement the lack of supervisor feedback when required. Organizations are advised to ensure that employees obtain regular feedback from multiple sources because such feedback can promote employees’ work engagement and perceptions that the organization is upholding its side of the psychological contract, which fosters employees’ innovative behavior.

The Use of 3D Printed Vasculature for Simulation-based Medical Education Within Interventional Radiology.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has become a useful tool within the field of medicine as a way to produce custom anatomical models for teaching, surgical planning, and patient education. This technology is quickly becoming a key component in simulation-based medical education (SBME) to teach hands-on spatial perception and tactile feedback. Within fields such as interventional radiology (IR), this approach to SBME is also thought to be an ideal instructional method, providing an accurate and economical means to study human anatomy and vasculature. Such anatomical details can be extracted from patient-specific and anonymized CT or MRI scans for the purpose of teaching or analyzing patient-specific anatomy. There is evidence that 3D printing in IR can also optimize procedural training, so learners can rehearse procedures under fluoroscopy while receiving immediate supervisory feedback. Such training advancements in IR hold the potential to reduce procedural operating time, thus reducing the amount of time a patient is exposed to radiation and anaesthetia.Using a program evaluation approach, the purpose of this technical report is to describe the development and application of 3D-printed vasculature models within a radiology interest group to determine their efficacy as supplementary learning tools to traditional, lecture-based teaching. The study involved 30 medical students of varying years in their education, involved in the interest group at Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). The session was one hour in length and began with a Powerpoint presentation demonstrating the insertion of guide wires and stents using 3D-printed vasculature models. Participants had the opportunity to use the models to attempt several procedures demonstrated during the lecture. These attempts were supervised by an educational expert/facilitator.A survey was completed by all 30 undergraduate medical students and returned to the facilitators, who compiled the quantitative data to evaluate the efficacy of the 3D-printed models as an adjunct to the traditional didactic teaching within IR. The majority of feedback was positive, supporting the use of 3D=printed vasculature as an additional tactile training method for medical students within an IR academic setting. The hands-on experience provides a valuable training approach, with more opportunities for the rehearsal of high-acuity, low-occurrence (HALO) procedures performed in IR.

Assessment of the Utility of a Pedagogy Interest Workgroup for Graduate Teaching Assistants

Nearly 95% of doctoral students teach or mentor undergraduate students during their graduate programs. However, institutional emphasis remains squarely on research development and productivity, often at the expense of pedagogical training. While a graduate student's research skills are developed and evaluated through lab rotations, field‐specific course work, and thesis or dissertation projects, there are rarely any requirements for instructor or graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training, evaluation, or supervisory feedback. This trend is particularly concerning as GTAs are commonly used in large introductory and lower‐level classes to teach the smaller laboratory and recitation sections, as it often gives GTAs more direct contact with students than the professor. To address this deficit, graduate students from the Cell Biology and Anatomy and Anthropology Departments of Augusta University and Pennsylvania State University, respectively, have created a Pedagogy Interest Workgroup (PIW) to create an opportunity for students to come together and discuss educational topics, such as developing a teaching philosophy, student motivation, and types of teaching methods. Participation in the PIW is voluntary, with meetings occurring every other week. The purpose of this study is to assess perceptions and benefits of participation in the PIW. Graduate students and faculty at Augusta University, Pennsylvania State University, and Augustana College who have participated in the PIW will be included in the study (n = ~30). Perceptions and potential benefits of participation in the PIW will be evaluated through pre‐ and post‐participation surveys, semi‐structured focus groups, and interviews with PIW participants, covering teaching experience, self‐evaluations of teaching efficacy and self‐confidence, and opinions and recommendations for future PIW curricula. Pre‐PIW survey data has already been collected. Post‐PIW surveys, focus groups, and interviews will be completed after the first semester of the PIW concludes in late November 2018. Data are being acquired and analyzed under IRB protocols approved at Augusta University (IRB No. 1302688‐1). A comparison of means will be used to assess the relationships between variables for survey questions answered via a Likert‐type scale. Thematic analyses will be utilized for narrative responses from surveys, focus groups, and interviews. Data analysis will directly reflect which aspects of the PIW provide beneficial pedagogical training to graduate students. The data gathered will further be utilized to refine the curriculum for future cohorts in order to better provide pedagogical education and training for GTAs and future career academics.Support or Funding InformationN/AThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

When a Postgraduate Student Becomes a Novice Researcher and a Supervisor Becomes a Mentor: A Journey of Research Identity Development

ABSTRACTDeveloping a research identity is a critical space for novice researchers in teacher education. This self-study explores the experiences of a postgraduate Master of Education student who was working as a novice research assistant with her supervisor to explain how these experiences contributed to research identity development. As novice researcher and supervisor, we examine entries of a research journal and associated supervisor feedback to gain insights into experiences that both support and constrain positive research identity development. Specifically, we promote mentorship and collaborative research as an effective strategy in normalizing the typical feelings of vulnerability and self-doubt that novice researchers experience, but we concede that challenges associated with power imbalances between student and supervisor are difficult to navigate. Recording the personal learning journey as a self-study serves to not only support self, but also others endeavoring to begin research and those who supervise postgraduate students in research projects. This is aligned with the assumption that self-study should seek to facilitate research conversation, not only providing links to literature but also adding to the literature, to ultimately inform practice and development.

Qualitative Study of Supervisor Feedback on Nurse Managers' Reflective Journals

A total of 63 nurse managers participated in an experiential learning-based program that included writing entries in a reflective journal and supervisor feedback. The Experiential Learning Inventory on the Job (ELI) was administered before and after the program. Overall, 10 nurse managers showed apparent changes in their Experiential Learning Inventory scores after completing the program. We qualitatively analyzed the data from 41 reflective journal entries written by these 10 nurses along with the written feedback from their supervisors and subjected the data to descriptive analysis.

Professional Development of EFL Teachers through Rotatory Peer Supervision

Abstract Supervision in Iranian private language schools is carried out by one experienced teacher supervisor with too much authority. This paper reports a novel model of supervision, namely rotatory peer-supervision, in which supervision is delegated to English as foreign language (EFL) teachers themselves. In rotatory supervision, experienced teachers take turns observing each other’s classes and those of their less experienced colleagues and providing constructive feedback. In this study, we investigated the possibility of employing teachers as supervisors and analyzed what they focused and what type of supervisory feedback they provided. While observing their peers’ classes on a rotatory basis for 16 sessions, four experienced teachers evaluated their peer’s teaching performance using a researcher-made classroom observation checklist after receiving a sandwich course on providing constructive supervisory feedback. Their evaluative comments were categorized in terms of compliments, criticisms, and suggestions. The findings revealed that the teacher-supervisors offered compliments much more than criticisms and suggestions. Moreover, critical comments were offered using non-accusatory, mitigated, and face-saving language. This study calls for further recognition of rotatory peer supervision as a viable alternative to the practiced models and further research on this under-researched topic.

Adaptive master’s dissertation supervision: a longitudinal case study

ABSTRACTDrawing on supervisor and supervisee interviews, analysis of supervisor feedback on the supervisee’s draft chapters, and departmental supervisory guidelines, this study focuses on the roles a master’s dissertation supervisor plays during the course of supervision. These roles are discussed referring to models of supervisory pedagogy, the teaching, partnership, apprenticeship, contractual, pastoral, and non-interfering models. Supervisee and supervisor agreed that the supervisor aligned with different roles at different times for different purposes, showing this was a case of adaptive supervision. Nonetheless, the supervisor’s feedback indicated supervision was more directive than his interview data suggested, illustrating the need to collect data from multiple sources to capture the complexities of the supervisory dynamic. We conclude that the dangers of departments attempting to formulate homogenized supervisory practices are highlighted by our case.

The impact of abusive supervision on employees’ feedback avoidance and subsequent help-seeking behaviour: A moderated mediation model

AbstractBased on the conservation of resource theory, this study investigated a moderated mediation model in which perceived co-worker support moderated the mediation of supervisory feedback avoidance between abusive supervision and help-seeking behaviour. Data from matching dyads of 220 house officers and 86 postgraduate medical staff were collected from several hospitals in Pakistan. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses supported the hypothesized model that abusive supervision first positively led to supervisory feedback avoidance, which in turn positively led to help-seeking from co-workers. Moreover, the mediating effect of supervisory feedback avoidance was stronger at the high value of co-worker support than that at the low value of co-worker support. This study contributes to the recently emerged notion in abusive supervision research that supervisees’ perception of abusive supervision may not always lead to abundantly reported negative work behaviours; instead, it may also lead to positive work behaviours, such as help-seeking behaviour that is highly beneficial for both supervisees and the organization.

THE IMPACT OF PROGRESS FEEDBACK ON SELF REGULATED GOALS AND PERFORMANCE OF POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS

The demand for a continuous consideration of postgraduate supervision has risen because of the various problems reported in numerous studies, such as the high rate of dissatisfaction and attrition, supervisors’ inadequate knowledge about practical aspects of candidature, and unsatisfactory levels in obtaining feedback about students’ performance and progress. These studies indicated that giving and receiving constructive and ongoing feedback between supervisors and students plays an essential role in identifying both parties concerns. For postgraduate research students, the nature of their task requires them to work more independently. Thus, self-regulating learning becomes important, particularly at the early stages of the study where students start to set their study goals, and the social support of the supervisor becomes in need. Self-regulating learning is the process of setting a goal, employing goal-directed actions, monitoring strategies and adjusting them to ensure success. This paper discusses the effect of supervisor feedback on the student’s self-regulation based on a review of the literature of self-regulation theory, and how receiving positive or negative feedback may affect student’s goal setting and performance during the postgraduate study. Article visualizations:

Is Co-Worker Feedback More Important than Supervisor Feedback for Increasing Extra-Role Behaviors?

In the present study, we examine how and when feedback influences employees’ extra-role behaviors. Drawing on social exchange theory and the job-demands resource model, we first propose that work e...

HiSPEED: a system for mining performance appraisal data and text

Performance appraisal (PA) is a crucial HR process that enables an organization to periodically measure and evaluate every employee’s performance and also to drive performance improvements. In this paper, we describe a novel system called HiSPEED to analyze PA data using automated statistical, data mining and text mining techniques, to generate novel and actionable insights/patterns and to help in improving the quality and effectiveness of the PA process. The goal is to produce insights that can be used to answer (in part) the crucial “business questions” that HR executives and business leadership face in talent management. The business questions pertain to (1) improving the quality of the goal setting process, (2) improving the quality of the self-appraisal comments and supervisor feedback comments, (3) discovering high-quality supervisor suggestions for performance improvements, (4) discovering evidence provided by employees to support their self-assessments, (5) measuring the quality of supervisor assessments, (6) understanding the root causes of poor and exceptional performances, (7) detecting instances of personal and systemic biases and so forth. The paper discusses specially designed algorithms to answer these business questions and illustrates them by reporting the insights produced on a real-life PA dataset from a large multinational IT services organization.