How To Give Students Specific Feedback That Actually Helps Them Learn
I definitely think highlighting specific things done well is immensely more helpful than just saying good job. Highlighting specifics makes it so much easier to know how much you are improving in certain areas, and how much you still need to improve in others.
Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback
This article makes some great points, however, the author seems to be under the impression that all feedback focuses on mistakes instead of making suggestions to improve. In my opinion, the whole idea of feed forward is one of the most important parts of feedback. If you don't tell someone how to fix something, there is almost no point in telling them that they messed up in the first place. Suggestions on ways to improve are so important when giving feedback. I played soccer from when I was about 5 years old until the end of high school. By far the coach I disliked the most was one that just yelled at me when I messed up instead of telling me what I did wrong, why it was wrong, and how to fix it. While I like that the author is highlighting the benefits of giving suggestions to improve into the future, I do think they are confusing bad feedback with feedback in general.
I definitely think highlighting specific things done well is immensely more helpful than just saying good job. Highlighting specifics makes it so much easier to know how much you are improving in certain areas, and how much you still need to improve in others.
Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback
This article makes some great points, however, the author seems to be under the impression that all feedback focuses on mistakes instead of making suggestions to improve. In my opinion, the whole idea of feed forward is one of the most important parts of feedback. If you don't tell someone how to fix something, there is almost no point in telling them that they messed up in the first place. Suggestions on ways to improve are so important when giving feedback. I played soccer from when I was about 5 years old until the end of high school. By far the coach I disliked the most was one that just yelled at me when I messed up instead of telling me what I did wrong, why it was wrong, and how to fix it. While I like that the author is highlighting the benefits of giving suggestions to improve into the future, I do think they are confusing bad feedback with feedback in general.
Feedback
Courtesy of lunarbaboon
I agree that they are confusing bad feedback with a more general sense of feedback. You are absolutely correct that just yelling at someone for doing something wrong doesn't fix things. Adding a clear explanation of exactly why it is bad, and where it can be improved is a great way to help other people learn. I also really like that picture; those comics never fail to be great.
ReplyDeleteI liked the point you brought up about not being too vague in feedback, rather, for both the good and the bad, highlighting the specific instances of note and then adding either praise or critique to them. I also agree with your point about the author confusing bad feedback with feedback as a whole, the article felt to be upset at the too general feedback of saying words without substance.
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