: Posted by Commodore Jack Dipper (Academy Commandant) in Discussion: Cadet Development
: Discussion number two!
:
: There is concern that the Academy does not provide enough structured feedback to all of the cadets both during the mission and at the end of it. To that end, a system is going to be put in place to better facilitate this and make the Academy more of a training environment than a 3 month mission. There are, however, some questions:
:
: 1. What format should the feedback take? (i.e. should it be a word document, email, PM, etc).
: 2. When should the feedback occur?
: 3. What should be contained in the feedback?
: 4. Should the cadet have to say what they are going to do with the feedback?
: 5. Should there be a way of highlighting cadets that need extra work and cadets that are exceptional to the Academy Commandant?
: 6. Who is permitted to see the feedback?
:
: Again, early bird Krys (<G>) had these comments:
:
: : I think we do need to clarify here who this for to be able to answer the majority of the questions. If it is for the Commandant then the feedback would be one way but if for the Cadet it might be entirely different, as it would then be skewed to offer encouragement and constructive criticism.
:
: I was looking at something the cadet would be able to read and actually comment back on. I'm actually robbing a concept they use on my training course at the moment, with a few tweaks. I was thinking of a report that follows this process:
:
: 1. The CO/XO write a report covering a period of time (say, a month). They detail what they like about the cadet and what the cadet needs to work on. A phrase that is used is "stop, start, continue". e.g. "Stop being telepathicly linked to everyone on the ship, including the COs fish. Start being more realistic with your character. Continue to post on a regular basis". The stop bit is something the cadet needs to stop doing, the start is something they need to start doing, and the continue is something they are already doing and should continue to do. That's one of main ways of providing feedback :-).
:
: 2. The cadet reads the comments, writes comments on how they feel that period of time has gone for them (this can be both self-reflective and also comments about the ship) and then write a small action plan on how they are going to improve themselves in the time they have left in the Academy.
:
: 3. The CO/XO reads the cadets comments and action plan and provides a final comment that goes with the report, which focuses on the points raised on the action plan.
:
: So, yes, the reports will need to be toned appropriately for cadets to digest. However, I don't think we should make it too pink and fluffy because, once they are in the mainstream fleets, people tend to be less tolerant and more direct. Of course, you can always inform the cadet at any time where there report is headed (in fact I would actively encourage that so that reports do not come as a shock to them).
:
: Thoughts?
:
: Jack

LOL constructive criticism doesn't need to be pink and fluffy just tactfully presented:) But Yes this would be an interesting idea, might I suggest that it may be a job for the CNS perhaps? The XO and CO already have quite a bit of responsibility IC and OOC. I think it would be a perfect thing to fall under the CNS expertise:)

Krys:)