Medical Education’s Updates

Constructive Feedback: Reviews

Learning Intention: To identify what is helpful or constructive feedback when writing reviews.

There are three kinds feedback you can give, but only one kind is really helpful:

1. Unhelpful: Critical feedback, which says things are wrong with a work but the person giving the feedback does not suggest how the work might be improved. This feedback may even be hurtful if it uses language that is harsh.

2. Unhelpful: ‘Cheerleader’ feedback, which says things like ‘wow this is great’ or ‘great job’, but doesn’t explain how or why the reviewer thinks it’s great, or make additional suggestions so the writer can improve their text.

3. Helpful: Constructive feedback, which explains the reasons for a judgment and suggests changes that the creator might make to improve their work. You can refer to the rubric for specific suggestions to include in your feedback.

Find out more about reviewing a work in Scholar at Reviewing a Work and Submitting a Review and Annotations.

Comment: Do you have any questions or comments about how Scholar works at this stage? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student’s question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by including @Name.