Fail Forward with Feedback

Feedback improves the understanding of information or skills and accelerates the rate at which growth can happen for any learner.

Feedback improves the understanding of information or skills and accelerates the rate at which growth can happen for any learner.

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

What is a “fail forward” philosophy?

The main principle of this learning method is that students can engage in learning new information at their own speed, receiving feedback only when they “fail.” The use of the term fail can take many forms, but for this idea, it is when a student doesn’t immediately grasp a concept, as evident in a performance-based task.

How does feedback allow a “fail forward” system to work?

Feedback is the support that a student needs to help them overcome the “failure.” First and foremost, the feedback must be specific enough so that the individual can reflect on the new information and make the necessary adjustments to not fail in the same way again.

The specific nature of the feedback is important because in complex tasks, there may be many points of possible failure and the feedback should be specific to that failure This allows students to fully engage in the inquiry and discovery process and not receive feedback that they did not need to succeed.

The goal of the feedback is to prevent repetitive failures of the same task. Even if a student “fails” at completing each element of a complex task, the feedback will help so that through reflection and iteration, the student can perform the required individual tasks or synthesize the information to complete the performance task.

What does this look like in the learning cycle?

The nature of the learning cycling using this process is much akin to the design process of a new product. While there may be initial ideas, designers must test their ideas and use the provided feedback to improve the final product. In my case, as a teacher, the final product is student understanding. The challenges and feedback are the testing process that helps students reflect on errors and apply that to their learning.

Important Point of Clarification: At the moment I don’t use the term “fail” in the classroom when students encounter a challenge. Even with hopeful acronyms like “First Attempt In Learning,” the term is still too loaded in the current culture of schools and families. It is my hope in the future this changes and we can see a failed attempt as that, an attempt… something that does not define us, but is a needed element for growth and understanding.

My name is Andrew Julian and I am a computer science teacher and seeker of outdoor adventure that is on a journey in seeking my best life. I have a website at andrewjohnjulian.com that outlines some of those visions and also my Medium page that documents my thoughts on a variety of topics.

If you decide to read my posts, I appreciate the value of your time and hope that your experience with my ideas brings you closer to your goals.