eLearning Industry
Main menu
  • Articles
    • All Articles
    • Learning Management Systems
    • Authoring Tools
    • Trends
    • Free Resources
    • Design and Development
    • Instructional Design
    • Best Practices
    • Publish an Article
  • Press Releases
    • Submit Your Press Release
    • Press Releases Archive
    • Press Release Guidelines
    • Press Releases Guide Free eBook
  • Events
    • Event Marketing Services
    • All Events
    • Conferences
    • Congresses
    • Events
    • Seminars
    • Symposiums
    • Webinars
    • Workshops
    • Promoting Your Event Guide Free eBook
  • Directory
    • Pick The Right eLearning Partner
    • Top eLearning Companies Registration
    • Authoring Tools
    • Learning Management Systems
    • Content Providers
    • Course Marketplaces
    • Language Providers
    • Software Vendors
    • Translation Providers
    • Voice Actors
    • Promote Your LMS
    • Review an LMS
  • Jobs
    • Find Jobs
    • Find Candidates
    • Post your Job
    • Create your Resume
Post Here
  • Free eBooks
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • Get an LMS Quote
  • What is an LMS?
  • LMS Reviews
  • Find Top LMS
  • Sign In

    Sign In

    Get more than ever out of eLearning Industry by signing in with LinkedIn.

    Sign In with LinkedIn
    Already have an account? Login here

Sign In

Get more than ever out of eLearning Industry by signing in with LinkedIn.

Sign In with LinkedIn
Already have an account? Login here
Home / Instructional Design / Mastering Deeper Learning, Part 2: Feedback
Photo of Patti Shank, PhD
By Patti Shank, PhD
December 15, 2017
Time to read: 5'
Comments
Instructional Design

Mastering Deeper Learning, Part 2: Feedback

This is the second part of a two-part article about the significant roles that practice and feedback play in promoting deep learning. Here is why meaningful feedback makes the difference.
Mastering Deeper Learning, Part 2: Feedback
WAYHOME studio/Shutterstock.com

Why Feedback Is Crucial For Mastering Deeper Learning

Patti Shank, PhD, author of the Make It Learnable series, is allowing our readers to read portions of her new books. This article comes from Practice And Feedback For Deeper Learning.

In the first part of this article, Mastering Deeper Learning, Part 1: Practice, we talked about the role of practice in mastering deeper learning. Let’s now discuss feedback.

According to John Hattie—a noted educational researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia—feedback is one of the top ways to improve learning outcomes. But, interestingly, research also finds negative effects! What this means is that people who design and deliver instruction must understand the factors that improve the effectiveness of feedback.

Feedback has several roles to play during instruction, especially related to practice, including:

  • Confirming understanding when understanding is correct.
  • Correcting mistakes or misconceptions when understanding is incorrect.
  • Closing the gap between what people can do and what they should be able to do (learning objectives).

I will start by discussing the factors that influence the effectiveness of feedback. This information comes largely from Hattie, Valerie Shute (now a professor of education at Florida State University), and Susanne Narciss (professor in the Department of Psychology at Technische Universität Dresde).

Feedback That Hurts Learning

Research has found that certain types of feedback can result in less effort and reduced learning. They include the following:

  • Trivial goals
  • Praise
  • Rewards
  • Comparisons to others, such as rankings
  • Threats
  • Discouragement

Feedback research finds that praise and rewards hinder intrinsic (internal) motivation; therefore, we should consider not using them. Instructional feedback should emphasize the role of learning and growth in knowledge in skills with time and effort. When people feel unsure or wrong, feedback should help them see how they will get back on track. In other words, feedback should have a support-and-learning focus rather than a performance-at-any-cost focus. Anxiety about needing to perform while learning can make it harder to learn.

Skill And Prior Knowledge Affect Feedback

The amount of skill and prior knowledge a person brings to instruction greatly affect how we should offer feedback. Table 3.2 lists major feedback issues in the left column and shows how we should handle them differently at the different ends of the skill and expertise continuum.

Table 3.2 How skill and prior knowledge of the topic impact feedback

Issues Lower skill, less expertise in the topic Higher skill, more expertise in the topic
Type of feedback More directive More facilitative
Amount of information Specific Deeper understanding
Level Task specific Cues, hints, details
Support More support Less support
Timing Immediate Time for mental processing

One conclusion from Table 3.2 is that we need to understand the types of people we are training. Another is that we need to tailor feedback to the situation. That’s why the first strategy in my book is analysis. And Tactic 1 is Connect Learning Objectives to Job Tasks. Job tasks are likely to be somewhat (or very) different for people just learning those tasks than for those who are more expert.

Five Strategies And 26 Tactics

Table 3.3 lists the 5 strategies and 26 tactics discussed in Practice And Feedback For Deeper Learning.

Table 3.3 Practice and feedback strategies and tactics

Strategy 1: Analyze the Job Context Tactic 1: Connect Learning Objectives to Job Tasks

Tactic 2: Analyze Conditions Under Which People Perform the Tasks

Tactic 3: Evaluate What Must Be Remembered and What Can Be Looked Up

Tactic 4: Analyze Social Processes

Tactic 5: Find the Typical Misconceptions

Tactic 6: Find Out What Gets in the Way

Tactic 7: Assess Support for Skills

Chapter 5 Strategy 2: Practice for Self-direction Tactic 8: Work Toward Specific, Difficult, and Attainable Goals

Tactic 9: Use Self-directed Learning Strategies

Chapter 6  Strategy 3: Practice for Transfer Tactic 10: Make Training Relevant

Tactic 11: Build Practice that Mirrors Work

Tactic 12: Show the Right and Wrong Ways

Tactic 13: Train How to Handle Errors

Tactic 14: Include Whole-skill Practice

Tactic 15: Help with Post-training Support

Chapter 7 Strategy 4: Practice for Remembering Tactic 16: Use Real Context(s)

Tactic 17: Use Self-explanations

Tactic 18: Space Learning and Remembering

Tactic 19: Support Memory with Memory Aids

Tactic 20: Support Essential Skill Upkeep

Chapter 8  Strategy 5: Give Effective Feedback Tactic 21: Keep the Focus on Learning

Tactic 22: Tie Feedback to the Learning Objectives

Tactic 23: Offer the Right Level of Information

Tactic 24: Fix Misconceptions

Tactic 25: Give Feedback at the Right Time

Tactic 26: Structure Feedback for Ease of Use

 

Corporate Learning Best PracticesCorporate TrainingeLearning FeedbackInstructional Design Best Practices
  • Write or read Comments
Close

Read Also

  • 7 Creative Ways To Retain LMS Clients
  • 6 Tips To Make The Most Of Your LMS Demo Or Free Trial
  • eLearning Platform Development: Implementing 3 User-Centered Design Standards
  • 5 eLearning Trends To Watch For Your Restaurant Employee Training In 2018
  • Do eLearning Templates Matter? Considerations For Designers And Learners
eLearning Industry
The best collection of eLearning articles, eLearning concepts, eLearning software, and eLearning resources.
  • Articles

    • Post Here
    • Top eLearning Authors
    • How to Publish an eLearning Article
    • How to View your Stats
    • Archive
  • Press Releases

    • Submit Your Press Release
    • Press Releases Guide eBook
    • How to Post a Press Release
    • Guidelines
    • Archive
  • Events

    • Event Marketing Services
    • Promoting Your Event eBook
    • How to Post an Event
    • Archive
  • Directory

    • Get Listed
    • LMSs
    • Get an LMS Quote
    • Authoring Tools
    • Content Providers
    • How to Create a Business Listing
    • How to Create a Product Listing
    • Promote Your LMS
  • Jobs

    • Post a Job
    • How to Post and Manage a Job Listing
    • Create your Resume
    • How to Create and Publish your Resume
    • Job Openings
    • Resumes Database
    • About
    • Terms Of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Advertise
  • French flag ELEARNING INDUSTRY IN FRENCH
© 2011–2018 eLearning Industry.