What does the research say about providing feedback?

As shown in this image, it can cause discomfort for both the sender (typically the educator) and the recipient.

Is the sender’s job over once they have sent the information?

• Learners complain that they do not get enough feedback or it is vague
• Both parties may describe it as confronting and the educator may be afraid of undermining the learner’s self esteem – hard to give and take
• Educators can get frustrated when they put considerable time into generating feedback and learners take little notice of it
• Educators may think that their feedback is more useful than their learners think
• Feedback is typically ‘telling’ and diagnostic in flavour, often lacking strategies for improvement, and often lacking opportunities for further task attempts