Feedback is a Skill: Deepening Design Thinking through Feedback Literacy
AITSL Focus Area: 5.2 – Provide feedback to students on their learning
Standards Addressed: 3.6, 5.1, 5.2, 6.3, 7.4
“If you give feedback after the task is completed, it’s too late. The learning moment has passed.”
— James Nottingham, Teach Brilliantly (2023)
Situation
As a teacher of Design, I work at the intersection of creativity, iteration, and inquiry. Design Thinking cannot flourish without feedback: critique and revision are fundamental to progress. But I recognised a persistent problem in my classroom: students didn’t know how to use feedback meaningfully. It was seen as correction, not as guidance for growth.
My journey into reframing feedback began with a whole-staff professional learning day led by James Nottingham at John Curtin College of the Arts. His statement about the importance of timing in feedback radically shifted my perspective. Feedback needed to happen while the work was still live—not after submission. This insight sparked a shift in both my classroom practice and my leadership.
Action
Following Nottingham’s session, I led a small group PL at my school, exploring his book Teach Brilliantly with colleagues. We examined how feedback works best when embedded into the learning process, and what it means to explicitly teach feedback as a student skill.
Soon after, I was invited by a colleague to contribute to our Instructional Playbook initiative. I proposed and co-authored the double-page spread “Feedback is a Skill.” Page one captured key theory (Hattie, Nottingham, Van der Kleij), and page two translated that theory into practice—including ways to use AI as a feedback literacy tool.
I overhauled feedback practices within my major design tasks. I introduced mid-task checkpoints where feedback could be given before final submission. I reframed assessments as drafts-in-progress and embedded peer review and AI-supported feedback loops, teaching students to use ChatGPT to clarify teacher comments, generate revision suggestions, and reflect on vague or confusing peer feedback.
In line with Nottingham’s view that feedback is most effective during learning, I now distinguish between feedback and post-task commentary. I no longer label comments after submission as “feedback.” Instead, I use terms like Teacher Comment and Performance Review. This clarifies the intent—evaluation, not transformation—and is supported by detailed rubrics co-developed with students and moderated marking with colleagues for fairness and consistency.
Outcome
By introducing mid-task checkpoints, reframing assessment tasks as drafts-in-progress, embedding peer and AI-supported review processes, and replacing post-task “feedback” with Teacher Comment and Performance Review, I have cultivated a culture of continuous dialogue around learning. I am now working with students to establish a genuine community of practice where feedback is expected, understood, and exchanged as a normal part of our classroom environment. This evolving culture supports feedback as a shared responsibility—between teacher and student, and between peers—where critique and reflection are seen not as isolated interventions, but as an integral part of deep learning in design.
📚 References
Nottingham, J. (2023). Teach Brilliantly: Small Shifts That Lead to Big Gains in Student Learning. Routledge.
Hattie, J. & Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.
Hattie, J. (2023). Visible Learning: The Sequel. Routledge.
Van der Kleij, F., Adie, L., & Cumming, J. (2019). The student role in feedback: A meta-review. International Journal of Educational Research, 98, 303–323.
Black, P. & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan.
Teaching for Impact. (2022). Western Australian Department of Education.