Giving feedback can be a double-edged sword. If done right, it can be one of the most effective ways to help someone improve their learning. However, research also suggests that 38% of feedback interventions actually do more harm than good.
So, what counts as good feedback? Is it really that complicated? Let’s take a look at the research and the questions you and your students can ask to make the most of feedback.
Is better feedback more complicated than we think?
Psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once commented:
“True intuitive expertise is learned from prolonged experience with good feedback on mistakes.”
But what actually counts as ‘good feedback’?
It can be quite tricky to pin down. It doesn’t just require giving students good advice; it also includes students asking for feedback in the right way, teachers being careful with their responses to avoid common feedback mistakes, and students accurately interpreting the feedback they’re given.
One of our favourite research papers on feedback is this one by researchers John Hattie and Helen Timperley, later revisited with a focus on learner perspectives. We recommend everyone involved in teaching or coaching give it a quick read. But if you are short on time, here are the three feedback questions that your feedback should answer.
1. Where am I going?
We often give feedback because we are trying to help our students get closer to their targets. But to do this, they have to have an end goal in mind. A goal can give your students direction, providing them with clarity and focus on what they’re working towards. It can also improve motivation and learning in your students, as they know what their required destination is.
When giving feedback it is important to define the criteria for success, often by focusing on a specific goal. If time permits, you could even co-create success criteria with students. This aims to help them not only become more intentional in their response to feedback but also support them to commit and work towards their goals.
For students who are struggling to think of objectives and how to make meaningful steps towards them, check out our blog on ‘How to Do Goal Setting Right.’
2. How am I going?
It is important to monitor how your students are progressing in regard to their pre-defined goals and targets, as well as from task to task. To do so, try to answer the question, “How am I going?”, reflecting on their improvements. This employs a type of strategy called Metacognition, which refers to examining your thought processes and designing plans to tackle challenges more effectively. It is often seen as one of the most effective ways to help students improve their performance.
However, Hattie and Timperley’s research paper does suggest caution at this stage, though. When we want to assess how students are progressing towards their goals, our instinct is usually to carry out assessments. However, teachers can often end up seeing their results as statements about their students’ abilities rather than an indication of how they can adapt their teaching and work with students to further their progress. Thus, the feedback they give can lack the necessary information to prompt improvement, learning and development.
Instead of just assessing students’ ability, try thinking about where they are in relation to their learning journey and goals. How have they been working towards their goals previously? Have they achieved them in their entirety, or do they need a firmer understanding of the concepts? Have they employed different methods to see what works best? Giving students feedback on how much progress they have made can give them a real confidence boost and help them reflect on their journey.
3. Where to next?
Once students know where they are going and how they are currently progressing, it is important for them to think about where they can go from here. With feedback that answers this final question, you help focus your students on the actionable steps that help them make progress toward their overarching goals. This is arguably the most important question to ensure your feedback can help answer.
In practice, this will likely look more like feeding forward – focusing on what they can improve on and choices they can make in future lessons. Putting an emphasis on improvement can also help to avoid students feeling judged, as you comment less on past performance and more on future potential.
Final thoughts
Giving good feedback to students isn’t easy, but it is crucial. If done right, however, it has the ability to transform someone’s learning and performance. If done wrong, it can actually do more harm than good. So, using these three questions to focus on what they want to achieve, how they are doing, and what they need to do next can help ensure we are giving students the tools they need to take their work to the next level.
