Giving Good Feedback

As of 2024, there is a Judging Guide which should be printed for the use of inexperienced judges at the competition event. The tips below are taken from that document:

Giving good feedback is a skill that can be learnt. Feedback is an important and expected part of the process, as it can help people understand where their work was good and how improve their skills or knowledge.

A common reason people enter A&S competitions in Lochac is to seek feedback on their work. Harsh or thoughtless commentary can make someone give up on A&S altogether.

The Judging Criteria are designed to work well with a physical item or a performance. Some entries will not match this at all – an essay, for instance. If you have such an entry to deal with, one solution is to award only a ‘total’ score, without assigning numbers to the different categories. Include a comment for the entrant, explaining why their result looks different from the rest.

When formulating feedback, consider the entrant’s skill level.
• Beginners need lots of encouragement.
• Intermediates may appreciate ideas for improvement, or suggestions for resources.
• Experts will probably be glad to have taught –you– something through their entry.

If you are actually speaking to the person, ask them questions to elicit what they think is good about their entry.
• How many of these have you made?
• What worked well here?
• What did you learn from creating this?
• How would you improve it?
• What’s your next step?

If you are giving written feedback, remember to stress the positive aspects of the entry, and be gentle. Even the lightest criticism can seem severe to someone feeling anxious or fragile. Try some approaches:
• Sandwich – mention two things you like, then a helpful suggestion, then two more things you like about the entry.
• PHI – (Positive-Helpful-Interesting) – say something positive, then offer a helpful suggestion, then point out an interesting thing about the entry.
• Give reasons for any criticism.
• Bullet points can help keep comments brief and focussed.
• Offer a good resource you know of, or the name of a helpful person working in the field.

• Your words will matter a lot. Use phrases like:
“Could be more successful if…”,
“….would improve the overall look”
“You could try…”
“(this resource) would help with…..”
“You’ve worked hard on…”
“This looks good because…”
“Very impressive for your level”

 

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(Below are some older feedback notes. They are archived here because they may still be helpful to new judges)

Step one in providing good feedback is understanding what has motivated someone to do something. Some of the reasons people may enter an A&S competition:

  • Motivate themselves into trying something new
  • Motivate themselves into finishing a project
  • See if they can challenge themselves in their chosen field of study
  • Would like to see how they do against their peers
  • Would like recognition for their hard work
  • Share their knowledge
  • Help improve their practice
  • Help improve their documentation

Step two is to talk about what you liked about the work. Praise the good points. Each entrant has put time and effort into their work and is proud of it at some level. Your courtesy in acknowledging their effort and pride adds to the strength of A&S in the Kingdom.

Step three  – suggest areas for improvement. Think carefully about what would be most useful to that person right now. Perhaps answer questions they raised in their documentation, or give them a tip that would help with the next version they make. Suggest further resources or people to talk to.

Some dont’s:

  • Don’t advise them on something they’ve acknowledged as a decision in their documentation i.e. if they have acknowledged they used non-period materials but know what the period material is and have explained why they didn’t use it, then telling them they should have used it sounds dismissive.
  • Don’t tell them why they missed out on points, they’re (generally) not entering to get more points, they’re entering for practical advice.
  • Don’t critique the writing of documentation, unless specifically asked. Our artisans come from a variety of educational backgrounds and as judges we are considering the execution of the item they have decided to make, not their quality of academic writing.

Other tips:

  • Helpful, constructive commentary is good, blunt and harsh is not.
  • If you say something is good/not so good – say why – people need to know the reasons for your comments
  • Using ‘because’ and ‘this was’ to link up your reasons.
  • Use descriptors when talking about why you like something or why something wasn’t successful.
  • Using words like ‘not successful (in this way)’ or ‘could have improved (the overall look)’ are gentle ways of giving constructive commentary.