{"id":3745,"date":"2025-02-04T14:38:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T14:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/?post_type=furman-update&#038;p=3745"},"modified":"2025-09-17T15:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T15:23:47","slug":"feedback-the-highest-form-of-agape-love","status":"publish","type":"furman-update","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/updates\/feedback-the-highest-form-of-agape-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Feedback: The Highest Form of Agape Love?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"none\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3747 alignright lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square-768x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square-512x512.jpg 512w, https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/108\/2025\/02\/feedback_love_square.jpg 1200w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/300;\" \/>Transformative teaching changes us\u2014teachers, students, and our community. Part of that transformation begins in belonging, which has ameliorative roots in radical presence\u2014seeing and being with one another&#8211;which is a kind of agape love. When we embrace agape love, that unconditional, selfless love that seeks only the highest good for others, which in turn, brings forth the highest good in us we set the stage for transformation. What does this have to do with feedback? \u00a0Keep reading&#8230;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Authentic educational equity flourishes through the agape lens, and one of the building blocks of that growth is feedback: both the feedback we give students and the feedback they give us. We have long been proponents of Specific, Actionable, and Kind feedback which deconstructs the \u201ccompliment sandwich\u201d formula.\u00a0 More recently, Wharton psychologist Adam Grant has provided a more direct and effective <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2023\/12\/13\/adam-grant-feedback-sandwiches-dont-work-use-this-sentence-instead.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">method for delivering feedback<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">: preface it with the sentence <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><\/i><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">I\u2019m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.\u201d<\/span><\/i><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Creating space for students to share feedback on your current courses <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">can support greater student satisfaction and self-reported learning in your courses while also providing you with rich feedback about the course (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cetl.uni.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/impact_of_learner-centered_by_hurney_1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Hurney et al., 2014<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">).\u00a0 <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Consider one of the following structures for this purpose:<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Share the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/furman.box.com\/s\/0ad73t93n2545s0f8khp21pdb6jllg4w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Furman-piloted mid-term survey<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> of teaching behaviors that incorporates student reflection on their own learning.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Request a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/programs-grants\/small-group-instructional-feedback\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Small Group Instructional Feedback<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> session or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/furman.az1.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_6swEpK56yqwvuSh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">peer observation<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> with the FDC team or one of our peer coaches<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">At a workshop series last February, Furman faculty generated \u201cconversation hearts\u201d to capture their highest aims in teaching (see image above). What does your teaching conversation heart say? How do you deliver that message and invite your students to share their learning conversation hearts with you? For fun, or if you\u2019d like to level up your heart game, consider enfolding your message in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-JTi1UtcdgU&amp;t=1s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">origami heart<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">While there is an &#8220;official&#8221; holiday related to love right around the corner, we hope you find many ways to enjoy agape love each and every day. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Transformative teaching changes us\u2014teachers, students, and our community. Part of that transformation begins in belonging, which has ameliorative roots in radical presence\u2014seeing and being with one another&#8211;which is a kind [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","update-categories":[],"class_list":["post-3745","furman-update","type-furman-update","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/updates\/3745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/updates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/furman-update"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/updates\/3745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4112,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/updates\/3745\/revisions\/4112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"furman-update-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/faculty-development-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/update-categories?post=3745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}