Why is Feedback Important?
Feedback is an effective mechanism to enhance student learning. Offering feedback to students will help them understand the topic being covered and describing how to improve their learning. Feedback has also been described as “an essential part of education and training programmes”. It can be informal nature and occur as a result of casual interaction between peers or students and teachers. It can also be formal and form part of formative or summative assessment criteria. It should be part of the overall dialogic process between student and teacher in order to e effective. It can be utilised through multiple criteria, visual, written, recorded media or spoken. It can assist in constructively aligning the goals of the student with the goals of the lecturer and the educative programme.
It can be very effective if its own goals are met, i.e., if the recipient responds in the manner that gave rise to the need for it in the first place. It can assist in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and promote positive mental attitudes. It can assist in identifying positive educational goals and aspirations. It can add an element of pragmatism to the educational process. It can assist people in focusing on core competencies. However, it can also de-motivate, and cause the recipient to lose focus, direction, and in some cases abandon a course action altogether. It may not be completely objective and contain elements of personal antipathy, grudgery or resentment.
Perhaps the biggest issue around providing feedback to students is perception. The subjective nature of communication means that interpretation has to be entered into the equation. This has origins in two key philosophical tenets; 
Feedback can be more concise if it is embedded in the culture or ethos of the programme, its values, and the values of the educational institution. Feedback must be timely in order to promote its relevant, and a long or undue delay in its provision can reduceits relevance / effectiveness. Feedback should be easy to understand in order to be assimilated. Feedback needs to be provided on a pro-active basis and not necessarily as part of a formulated curriculum. Tutors need to understand when feedback to an individual, a group, or an entire cohort is appropriate. Feedback should always be delivered in an impartial manner and in a positive context. Feedback should be followed up on to ensure that it has been understood.
The simplified model will help with providing effective feedback in a number of different ways. It will simplify the steps involved in retrieving information when looking for ways to provide feedback. It will offer a “path” for educators to seek out information and resources in relation to the process. It will provide clear guidelines on effective feedback and introduce the basic “background” concepts such as bjectivity, communication and goal setting. It will assist in identifying the benefits and pitfalls of feedback provision. It will provide an overview of the topic that will hopefully reflect not only its specificity but its ambiguity. It will provide a rationale behind identifying opportunities for future feedback and monitoring. The provision of information and the link to resources will help introduce an element of consistency to the feedback landscape.
