I'll start by asking you the questions Grant Wiggins ask in "What feedback is and isn't" check out the article here to for more.
“Nice job on the project, Sheshona!”
“Next time, Sam, you’ll want to make your thesis clearer to the reader”
“The lesson would be more effective, Shana, if your visuals were more polished and supportive of the teaching.”
“You taught about ants, Stefan? I LOVE ants!”
If you skipped ahead to check out the article you would see that none of these are examples of actual feedback. Instead, these are examples of comments and suggestions. The reading challenges us to view feedback as "useful information about the effects of an action in light of a goal. This means quality feedback specifically discusses details and how they add to or detract from a set goal. Recipients of quality feedback can use it to assess their work and make decisions on how to change their work to better approach their goals.
In another article, Wiggins gives seven keys to effective feedback; feedback is goal-referenced, tangible and transparent, actionable, user-friendly, timely, ongoing, and consistent. And he differentiates feedback and advice. Advice does not get at the core issue. Instead feedback is best for those trying to make continual progress on their goal. Often, when they are able to see what effects have taken place, they will know how to act to change those effects. Advice comes in when there are specific details or strategies that learners are looking for. Advice should be sought by learners not given before or as feedback.
This post is in no way deep enough to give all the information one would need to build an opinion on the subject but I hope it is a challenge to consider how feedback should be given and what types of false feedback we might unknowingly give our students. Make sure to check out these links to find out more. And if you have more interest, one term to look into is "feedforward."
From reading through the article, and from trying to make an understanding on my own, I think I now can decipher between feedback vs. advice. I know in the past that genuine feedback (goal-oriented, specifically) was always very helpful for me as I maneuvered through my undergraduate English degree. If I were to receive comments/advice that simply stated, "Nice job! This paper is well-written, but could use some touch-ups," or, "You might want to check what part of the prompt you missed," I would have had no idea how to improve my work based on these comments. Differentiating feedback as useful information in light of a goal has been a helpful reflection for me, though, and I appreciate you posting about this, Jeremy!
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