A friend of mine, Brent Brewington, sent a link to Bill Gates’ latest talk, Teachers need real feedback, at TED. It was nice to hear some of the same ideas we discuss in our own department, being articulated in a similar fashion.

The basic thesis of Gates’ talk was that teachers can only improve themselves via feedback. Gates suggests student surveys and video recording analysis (gathered and analyzed by the teacher) as two methods for gathering this data. Once areas that can be improved are identified, a to-be-created network could be used by the teacher to watch other teachers who have mastered a particular lesson or concept to continue the improvement process.

I agree that self-reflection is perhaps the most powerful tool to improve oneself. The questions I anticipate coming from teachers regarding these two systems are:

• Will the student surveys be used in any formal evaluation process and therefore affecting rating?
• Who will have access to the student survey information?
• Will anyone besides the teacher have access to the recorded video content?
• How do we change the current school culture to include feedback as part of the daily routine?

A question of my own: How do we expand these types of feedback systems to the students, administrators, and parents? All parties involved in the educational process would be better served by meaningful feedback and periodic moments self-reflection. Maybe would could expand the already State mandated moment of silence to include such personal insight?

I know we have proposed using a student survey system similar to those found in universities, but now we have a reference of Bill Gates supporting our idea.  The next steps for us will be to try and identify some teachers who would be willing to participate in a pilot of both these types systems.