If you have seven targets to implement at the same time, good luck to you!

If you have one on which you can focus all your effort, I’ll wager that you’ll make short work of it.

Manageability is an important aspect of effective feedback.

Deliver too much information to learners and they will struggle.

Excess information tends to come in one of three forms:

• First, there can be too much information in total.
• Second, there is too much analysis of problems.
• Third, there are too many targets for learners to work on.

Here are examples illustrating each type.

Too Much Information in Total

The teacher provides extensive written feedback covering every aspect of the learner’s work.

This is not broken down into sections but is delivered in continuous prose.

It covers strengths, weaknesses and targets but these are not separated into different parts.

It takes the learner a long time to read what has been written and their immediate energies are spent synthesising the information and trying to identify which bits are most important.

There is Too Much Analysis of Problems

The student receives a piece of work covered in red ink.

To the extent that the original text looks like it is drowning.

The teacher has gone through every sentence in meticulous detail.

The annotations are legion.

Each one is relevant, precise and based on the teacher’s extensive expertise.

But there is just too much for the student to process.

By the time they have read through the first third of what the teacher has written they feel overloaded.

They push the work to one side and convince themselves they will return to look at it later.

Probably, they won’t.

There are Too Many Targets for Learners to Work On

It’s a practical lesson and the design and technology teacher is talking to a learner about their project.

The teacher is an expert.

They know everything there is to know about this project – about what works, what doesn’t, what good looks like and what causes problems to arise.

They try to share as much of their expertise as possible and end up giving the student eight different things to work on.

By the time they move on to talk to another learner they feel pleased that they have successfully given access to their expertise.

The original student, however, is completely overwhelmed.

So, they just go back to doing what they were doing before the teacher arrived.

Giving the Right Amount of Feedback

Notice how in each example there is no question about the teacher’s intentions.

They are good in all cases.

The problems arise when the teacher’s good intentions take over, to the detriment of manageability.

Excessive information ends up negating the very thing it was meant to achieve: the development of learner understanding.

In the first example, the teacher is keen to make sure the learner has a full understanding of everything they’ve observed about their work.

But this is too much for them to deal with.

They don’t need all this information to be successful.

They don’t need all of it to develop or improve what they’re doing.

A portion will be enough. Something specific to focus on.

In the second example, there can be little doubt that every annotation the teacher has made is correct – that it represents an accurate, unadulterated analysis of the learner’s work.

But the learner is not yet an expert, so there is too much here for them to process.

Too much to get their head round.

They don’t have the range of prior knowledge and understanding the teacher possesses.

They need the teacher to do some of the synthesis for them.

Then they can focus on changing one or two things and establishing some new habits.

In the third example, the teacher delivers information that is relevant to the task and which, if followed, would no doubt lead to a highly successful project.

But there is too much of it.

The learner is already juggling the different aspects of the task in their mind, at the same time as they are trying to bring their project in line with what they initially envisaged.

The learner does not have enough spare mental resources to process and act on the vast range of targets the teacher provides.

When it comes to manageability, then, less is generally more.

It is important to consider when formulating your feedback, be it written or verbal, how easy it will be for the learner to manage.

Ask yourself whether they will be overloaded by what you convey.

Ask yourself if you can break up your feedback or structure it so that learners can attend to different parts in turn.

Consider how you would cope if given an excess of information to interpret and work on.

Think about what else your learners are trying to do in lessons, in addition to decoding and acting on your feedback.

Finally, bear in mind that working memory is limited and that having to divide this between various targets seriously diminishes the likelihood of success.