The Paradox of Feedback

Consider this startling statistic from a review of 3,000 research studies on feedback. While we assume feedback is always beneficial, researchers Kluger and DeNisi found that in 38% of well-designed experiments, giving feedback actually made student performance worse.

Why does this happen?

It happens because too often, feedback causes an emotional reaction rather than a cognitive one. It focuses on the ego rather than the task, leading students to reject the advice or give up entirely.

The Medical vs. The Post-Mortem

Douglas Reeves captures this challenge with a powerful analogy: too often, the feedback we give students acts as a "post-mortem"—an autopsy determining why the patient died. It is accurate, but it comes too late to save the patient.

Effective formative feedback must instead be a "medical"—a physical check-up that diagnoses issues while there is still time to improve the patient's health.



The Goal of This Course

In this course, based on the research of Professor Dylan Wiliam, we will explore how to ensure your feedback is the view through the windscreen, not the rear-view mirror. We will help you make the critical shift from trying to improve the work the student handed in, to improving the student who handed it in.