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Sense-making note

The Goal of Good Feedback Is to Make Itself Unnecessary

How feedback refines the learner’s declarative knowledge until they can evaluate their own performance and self-correct without depending on an external expert. It explores how instructional design can gradually transfer evaluative judgment from the teacher to the learner.

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In the last episode i spoke about my first realisation of Feedback which was ;

"Declarative knowledge sets the standard for feedback".

Building up on where i last stopped, my second realisation with feedback will be that

"Feedback refines the model of declarative knowledge"

Through feedback, our model of declarative knowledge gets refined by the practice it was guiding. Knowing improves doing, and doing, via feedback, improves knowing.

That feedback doesn’t just correct the attempt, it updates the learner’s own mental model. They now know something more precise about what “correct” looks like and why.

The deeper principle hiding in Clark’s comment for me was that

Following the loop long enough makes the standard migrate from outside the learner to inside.

The novice needs the teacher to say “that was wrong.” Where as the expert hears it themselves mid-performance. Researchers like Royce Sadler framed this as the real goal of feedback: developing the learner’s own evaluative judgment so they can self-correct. Put simply, good feedback is designed to make itself unnecessary. That’s the bridge to automation : once the learner can monitor themselves, practice becomes self-correcting, chunks automate faster, and working memory opens up for complexity.

What this means for instructional design

  • Feedback should cite the principle, not just the verdict. “Incorrect” corrects one attempt. “Incorrect, because the rule is X” refines the model and transfers.
  • Fade the external source deliberately: teacher feedback → checklist the learner applies → learner self-assesses then compares to the expert.
Slide titled “Feedback internal to the learner”. Step 2 banner: “Feedback refines the model of declarative knowledge. Feedback here becomes a self-evaluation tool, so learners can self-correct.” The same diagram now shows the arrow reversed: feedback refines the model held in declarative knowledge. Practice attempts are still judged by feedback, and feedback still affirms and reinforces practice. Text below reads: “Then, through feedback, declarative knowledge gets refined by the practice it was guiding. Knowing improves doing, and doing, via feedback, improves knowing. That feedback doesn’t just correct the attempt; it updates the learner’s own mental model. They now know something more precise about what ‘correct’ looks like and why.” The instructional design box reads: “Feedback should cite the principle, not just the verdict. ‘Incorrect’ corrects one attempt. ‘Incorrect, because the rule is X’ refines the model and transfers. Fade the external source deliberately: teacher feedback, then a checklist the learner applies, then the learner self-assesses and compares to the expert.”

Day 93 of Instructional Design

#InstructionalDesigner#LearningAndDevelopment#LearningExperienceDesign#LearningInPublic#BuildInPublic#SenseMakingNotes#MentalModels#TAWIQM#QuinnSeeds

In case you missed the Quinn Seed articles 👇

Quinn Seed #1- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #2- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #3- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #4- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #5- CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #6 CLICK ME

Quinn Seed #7- CLICK ME

Where this comes from

  1. Check out "Learning Science" by Clark Quinn — If you design learning, teach, or train people, you need to understand what is actually happening when someone learns. Learning happens at the neural level, but we design for it at the cognitive level. There’s a lot more in Clark Quinn’s book that I can’t share because of **intellectual property**. Get the book and experience the learning yourself. 📚You Would Love It!
  2. Check out "40 L&D Stakeholder Challenges: Of L&D Leaders, Practitioners, Clients, and Learners" by Guy W. Wallace — This book shares the answers I got from my EPPI-PACT Guidance Bot. The free EPPI-PACT Guidance Bot is a digital, interactive knowledge-transfer resource designed to help Learning and Development (L&D) practitioners, performance consultants, and business leaders master and apply Guy W. Wallace’s Performance Improvement and Performance Based L&D methodologies.
  3. Check out " 30 books made available as free PDFs" by Guy W. Wallace — Guy shares his Proven Resources for Adopting/Adapting to Improve Your Measurable Impact via Performance Based Enterprise Instruction – Performance Guides & Learning Experiences
  4. To Learn More Join the "Learning Development Accelerator" — Click the link to join the Amazing Learning Development Accelerator Group Where practice meets evidence