Instructor Decision-Making During Studio Feedback and Critique

This capstone examines how an emerging studio instructor decides when to intervene, guide, redirect, or step back during feedback and critique in an introductory digital photography course. Rather than asking what good feedback looks like in general, it looks closely at the moment-to-moment choices a teacher makes, and what shapes them.

1. Q1

   How do I notice, document, and interpret my decisions to intervene, guide, redirect, or step back during studio feedback and critique?

2. Q2

   What classroom situations appear to shape those feedback decisions?

3. Q3

   What patterns emerge when those decisions are examined through scaffolding, guided questioning, formative feedback, critique as dialogue, emotional support, and artistic agency?

• Technical confusion
• Assignment goals
• Composition concerns
• Student confidence
• Critique discussion
• Time and pacing
• Equipment issues
• Student independence

These findings are being refined through cross-source analysis and critical-friend feedback.

1. Teach
2. Notice
3. Reflect
4. Adjust
5. Teach Again

The study drew on several sources so that in-the-moment impressions could be checked against later reflection:

• Feedback-noticing logs
• Literature-informed reflection
• Immediate post-class notes
• Classroom materials
• Critical-friend observations

This self-study was conducted during approximately five weeks of early technical instruction in an introductory digital photography course. Data came from feedback-noticing logs, literature-informed reflection, immediate post-class notes, classroom materials, and critical-friend observations. Three classroom observations were completed across two colleagues. These sources were compared to identify patterns in how feedback decisions were made and interpreted.