Feedback Matrix
This is a quick intro to the Feedback Matrix and why it’s helpful in peer feedback, peer assessment, group work and students giving feedback to the teacher.
One of the biggest problems I encountered with feedback while working in Further Education is that we often throw it into a lesson without discussing the nature of feedback itself. We have to teach students how to give and receive feedback for it to be high quality and effective. We also have to set it up so that we are sensitive to any tensions in the class.
Another issue that can arise with feedback is that students might think they are generous by not giving any. They feel the quality of the work is high, and they shouldn’t give critique. But there are always ways to improve. Considering Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, we should always give students feedback, even if they are doing well.
Looking to see how creative industries deal with feedback, I came across Hedi Schaefer’s Feedback Matrix. It has a heart for “Things I like”, an X for “Things I didn’t like”, a lightbulb for “Here’s an idea”, and a question mark for questions you want the person to answer or consider.
I understand that this comes from UX Design and Design Thinking methods — so I had to assess how to bring it into a classroom. The question part is definitely something we should think about in terms of leading questions and reflective practice. Perhaps we can draw their attention to something or elicit them to explain their rationale.
One of the really successful things about this matrix is stressing that even if you liked everything, you still leave something in the “Things I didn’t like” area. Again, this is very ZPD and keeps everyone on their own journey to progress.
When I use this in a classroom, I try to dedicate one entire class to feedback itself. This means we start with some sort of pair discussion about times when we got feedback and watch a video on effective feedback techniques. We look at the tenants of good feedback, such as the buy-in “Can we have a chat?” instead of unsolicited feedback. We read several case studies and discuss best practice for feedback. Then finally — the students do their first Feedback Matrix on the class I just gave, and then I show follow-through by circling their ideas and showing I am going to take action. Only after will we start using it in a regular classroom context.
