Why it works
Most feedback advice is about content, what to say, but two other variables quietly decide whether feedback works at all: when it arrives and how much of it there is. On timing, the key question is whether the student can still act on it. Feedback returned two weeks after a task, when the class has moved on and the work is closed, teaches nothing it could have taught in the moment; feedback given while the work is still live, with time and an expectation to use it, changes the next draft. The research complicates the simple 'immediate is best' rule in a useful way: for building fluency with facts and skills, quick feedback usually helps most, while for complex, effortful problem-solving, a short delay can be better, because immediate correction can short-circuit the productive struggle that builds durable learning. On quantity, more is not better. A piece returned covered in corrections overwhelms the student, who cannot tell what matters and acts on none of it; a small number of prioritized points, pitched to what the student can actually address next, gets acted on. This connects directly to workload: teachers often pour hours into exhaustive, delayed feedback that is both unsustainable and ineffective, when less feedback, delivered sooner and built into class time for students to use, would teach more for less effort. The workshop helps teachers audit their own feedback timing and volume, match timing to the type of learning, prioritize a few points over many, and, crucially, build in the time and expectation for students to act on feedback, because feedback that is not used, however well-timed, changes nothing.
The research: Research on feedback timing, delay, and quantity, and on feedback use.
The run-of-show
Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.
The core activity: time and size feedback to be used
The heart of the session is redesigning a feedback cycle so it arrives in time, in a dose students can act on.
- Return feedback while the work is still live, with time and an expectation to use it.
- Match timing to the learning: quick feedback for fluency with facts and skills, a short delay for complex problem-solving.
- Prioritize a few points the student can act on next, rather than marking everything.
- Build the time and the expectation for students to act on feedback into class, because unused feedback changes nothing.
Facilitator notes
- Act-on-able is the test; if the work is closed and the class has moved on, the feedback cannot teach.
- More marks is not more help; a few prioritized points get acted on, a covered page gets ignored.
- This is a workload lever too: less feedback, sooner, with built-in use, teaches more for less effort.
Adapt it
- Elementary: immediate, in-the-moment feedback during work, with one clear next step.
- Secondary: for complex tasks, a short delay plus protected revision time beats instant correction.
- Any setting: never return feedback without a plan and time for students to use it.
Participant handout
One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.
Timing & Frequency of Feedback: make it usable
Sooner, fewer, acted on: return it while the work is live, match timing to the task, prioritize a few points, build in the use.
- How long my feedback currently takes to return:
- How I return it while students can still act:
- Where I want quick feedback vs a short delay:
- The few points I will prioritize instead of marking all:
- The class time and expectation for students to use it:
Make it stick
Timing and dose are habits worth checking. Close by setting the follow-up:
- Name a check-in: is feedback arriving in time and getting acted on?
- Bring one cycle where sooner-and-fewer worked better.
- Keep protecting the time for students to use feedback.