Learning-Focused Feedback
Overview
We typically give feedback to communicate our evaluation of how a learner has done on a task or assignment. Learning-focused feedback can provide evaluative information, but that is its secondary purpose. The primary purpose is to support the learner as part of an instructional process. Rather than noting what is “right” or “wrong”, learning-focused feedback includes information on what the learner did well and what can be reworked or improved. Learners use the feedback to continue working on their assignment, learning by applying the teacher’s feedback.
Learning-focused feedback lets the teacher provide individualized support to each learner in a sense because the starting point is the work the learner has done. The teacher’s feedback affirms students for their effort, highlights what they are doing well, and provides specific information on areas they can further improve. This type of instructional feedback allows learners to develop and practice skills as they work towards learning goals and expectations.
When using learner-focused feedback in the classroom, it is helpful to set an expectation that learners will review feedback and apply it to revise their work. This sort of feedback is not “one and done”; rather, learners understand that the feedback is one step in completing the activity or assignment. When they start to see feedback as a helpful and supportive part of learning, students can start to see the teacher’s feedback not as a final grade or score, but instead as support to reach learning goals. Learning-focused feedback can help learners gain confidence that they can do well because rather than having their work marked and graded, they get feedback that helps them understand what they are doing well and how to address the areas that require improvement . Learning-focused feedback can be used as an instructional and formative assessment strategy.
The UDL guidelines include providing “mastery-oriented feedback” which is essentially learning-focused feedback. CAST provides details on how to provide mastery-oriented feedback on their UDL Guidelines website:
From https://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement/effort-persistence/mastery-oriented-feedback
Mastery-oriented feedback also emphasizes the role of effort and practice rather than “intelligence” or inherent “ability” as an important factor in guiding learners toward successful long-term habits and learning practices. These distinctions may be particularly important for learners whose disabilities have been interpreted, by either themselves or their caregivers, as permanently constraining and fixed.
- Provide feedback that encourages perseverance, focuses on development of efficacy and self-awareness, and encourages the use of specific supports and strategies in the face of challenge
- Provide feedback that emphasizes effort, improvement, and achieving a standard rather than on relative performance
- Provide feedback that is frequent, timely, and specific
- Provide feedback that is substantive and informative rather than comparative or competitive
- Provide feedback that models how to incorporate evaluation, including identifying patterns of errors and wrong answers, into positive strategies for future success
Videos & Examples
What is Learning-Focused Feedback and Why is it Important? (2:08)
In this video, we explain how learning-focused feedback can support multilingual learners and students with disabilities. The specificity of the feedback helps students understand what they need to do to meet the learning objectives and gives them credit for what they are doing well. Learning-focused feedback can counter feelings of learned helplessness, by showing students what they are capable of and providing individualized guidance on what you’d like them to work on.
How can you integrate this strategy in the classroom?
Learning-focused feedback can be used within many types of lessons. The table below illustrates how Learning-focused feedback can reduce barriers and address learner variability in alignment with the steps of the UDL Design Cycle.
| Goal for this lesson |
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|---|---|
| Potential barriers to reaching this goal |
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| Learner variability factors | Some students will appreciate the following things that learning-centered feedback provides:
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| Assessment | Learning-centered feedback is an assessment method in itself. When using this strategy, teachers can evaluate what additional information or support students need in order to master the content or skills of the assignment. |
| Methods | The type of learning-centered feedback you provide depends on the lesson and goals. The key is to give feedback and opportunities for students to use the feedback. Learning-centered feedback should:
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| Materials | The materials for this strategy will vary depending on the activity or assignment. If you use this strategy for written assignments, using a collaborative environment like google docs is useful. The commenting feature in Google Docs makes it easy to give feedback and track how a student has used it. |
How does this strategy support multilingual learners and students with disabilities?
This strategy aligns to the Foundations and Frameworks for supporting Multilingual Learners (MLLs) and Students with Disabilities in the following ways:
Content and Language Development | Learning-focused feedback can be used for any content and skill area. This practice can support content and language development in several ways. Comprehensible Input
Support for Language Production
Opportunities for Feedback and Practice
Learning-focused feedback addresses affective aspects of learning by:
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|---|---|
Universal Design for Learning | Learning-focused feedback aligns with UDL guidelines related to the principles of Action & Expression and Engagement: Action & Expression Guidelines Guideline 6: Executive Function
With this strategy, learners will start to see feedback as helpful and supportive, giving them a way to meet or exceed expectations. This, in turn, can motivate learners to take an interest in their own progress since they have supportive and affirming feedback with tangible information on what and how to improve their work. Guideline 7: Recruiting Interest
When an assignment is graded or evaluated, It’s typical for learners to focus on the final grade and not be as interested in specific feedback. Learning-focused feedback changes that dynamic, because the feedback is part of the learning process and the expectation is that the learner can improve their work (and grade) if they apply the feedback. By making feedback part of the process rather than the endpoint, learners have a more compelling reason to pay attention to and apply the feedback. Learning-focused feedback can make evaluation less of a cause for anxiety or helplessness (e.g., students feeling “I’m just bad at this and that is why I got a low grade) because the focus is on using the feedback to develop learning/language and meet expectations. Guideline 8: Sustaining Interest and Persistence
By providing specific information on what a learner can do to improve their work, learner-focused feedback is “actionable” and supportive. This can help learners persist with a task or assignment. Learning-focused feedback also focuses on effort and improvement, allowing students to thrive with small successes (rather than meeting a pre-set goal). Guideline 9: Self Regulation
Learning-focused feedback aligns closely with both these checkpoints because at its core, this type of feedback focuses on what learners “can do”, in order to foster and support their abilities. This type of affirming, supportive, and specific feedback supports the development of self-assessment skills, helping learners see that learning is not static and that by applying their skills and knowledge, they can do their best. |
Multilingual Learners and Students with Disabilities | Learning-focused feedback can provide clarity for learners on what exactly they need to do as they work on activities/assignments.. Rather than feeling like they did something incorrectly or not up to expectations, this feedback demystifies what the teacher is asking for.
Teachers can set clear and achievable goals by providing specific information on what can be improved and what students are doing well. |
Additional Resources
5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback
In this Edutopia article, Marianne Stenger provides clear and useful suggestions for making feedback useful and usable. She explains why being specific, timely, and careful with feedback can make a difference for learners and emphasizes the importance of involving learners in the process.
In this ASCD article, authors Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey explain how to set up an informative feedback system using three components of feedback: Feed up, Feed Back and Feed Forward.
Go Beyond the Letter Grade: A Step-By-Step Example of Mastery-Oriented Feedback
In this Novak Education blog post, Tom Thibodeau describes how he goes about providing mastery-oriented feedback and offers some valuable insights on how to make assessment manageable and meaningful.
Mastery-oriented Feedback Card
This handy reference card provides examples of mastery-oriented and learning-centered feedback, with some feedback phrases that teachers can consider using.
Research & References
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.(View article)
Shute, V. J. (2008). Focus on Formative Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 78(1), 153–189. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654307313795 (View article)