Providing Feedback

Teachings in Education, 2021 (3:19)

Neil's Common Room, 2023 (1:58)

What & Why

Feedback is an important part of the learning process especially when coupled with deliberate practice so they can spend focus on practicing what they have not mastered. Effective feedback works as a map to guide students by letting them know where they are now and what to work on in order to get to their goal.

Effective feedback is: 1) targeted, 2) communicates progress, 3) timely, and 4) gives students the opportunity to practice and implement the feedback received. It communicates where the student is going, how the student is doing now, and what the next step is.

How To

Research provides ways to boost the effectiveness of feedback:

Give feedback as soon as possible.
Be as specific as possible.
Connect comments to the learning goals and criteria associated with the assignment.
Ensure feedback describes what students should do or think about, rather than just evaluating overall quality.

Share what exactly they did well, what may still need improvement, and if appropriate, what they are doing differently than before. There are many strategies, but here some to try:

2 + 1 method. Provide two positive and one constructive comment (with explanation of how to improve).
3-2-1 method. Provide three things they did well, two opportunities for improvement, and the one thing they did really well or contextual comment: X was good … because …. now/next time …
Record comments in a Google Doc for scaffolded assignments so students can see how they are progressing (and you can too).
Use symbols (e.g., star, paragraph mark) and abbreviations (e.g., EBI: Even Better If, HTI: How to Improve) to not write too much.
Follow up by asking students to record ‘What I did well’ and ‘What I need to do to improve’, or give them the opportunity to write 1 or 2 questions they would like answered to support them in making the identified improvements.

Ultimately, the only effective feedback is that which is acted upon. This means feedback should be more work for the recipient than the donor (Feedback practices and strategies (2023).

Teach student how to use feedback

Research by Martin Van Boekel and colleagues at the University of Minnesota found that students often considered teachers’ comments as just text to read, rather than a tool to improve their work. “We need to help students see feedback as information rather than just a score ... and develop this idea that feedback is part of a process” of reviewing and improving one’s learning (EdWeek, 2023).

“We need to shift our understanding of feedback from something given to something received. If students don’t understand it or think it is not useful, they will not use it.” Angela Lui, City University of New York.

Additional Resources

Baule, S.M. (2025). How instructor feedback helps students learn academic expectations. ECampus News.
Feedback practices and strategies (2025). State of New South Wales, Department of Education.
How to Give Feedback. (n.d.). Teaching + Learning Lab at MIT.

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