Assess and give feedback to learners
Appropriate methods for teaching, learning and assessing in the subject area in the subject area and at the level of the academic programme
Feedback is information given to students about their performance, usually to help them improve. This could be as simple as telling someone their answer is right or wrong, or more detailed like explaining why their reasoning was correct or how to get better. In higher education, feedback helps students understand what they're doing well and where they need to improve. But not all feedback works equally — how and when it's given matters a lot.
Feedback has a medium-sized effect on student learning outcomes overall ➕➕➕➕ (Wisniewski et al., 2020). Elaborated feedback (giving explanations or strategies) is more effective (d = 0.49) than simple right/wrong responses ➕➕➕➕ (Van der Kleij et al., 2015; Swart et al., 2019). Feedback works best when it’s given immediately after the task ➕➕➕ and when delivered through computers ➕➕➕. Feedback that targets higher-order thinking (rather than rote memorisation) is more effective ➕➕➕➕. Negative feedback (criticism) can harm intrinsic motivation unless it includes clear, actionable steps for improvement ➖➖➖ (Fong et al., 2019). Praise and personal feedback are less effective than task or process-based feedback ➖➖.
This summary is based on five high-quality meta-analyses involving thousands of learners across many learning contexts. Wisniewski et al. (2020) included 994 effect sizes and over 61,000 students. Van der Kleij et al. (2015) focused on feedback in digital environments, while Swart et al. (2019) examined feedback on reading comprehension. Fong et al. (2019) focused on how negative feedback affects motivation. All studies used rigorous meta-analytic techniques, tested key moderators, and met high standards for transparency and reliability (++++).
