A Web 2.0 recipe for effective feedback

One of the most powerful tools for learning is feedback. In design education feedback is vital and integral to the learning process. Verbal feedback, while used regularly in class, is often forgotten or misinterpreted later. Depending on the delivery and timing of feedback it may have a negative effect on learning outcome. Reviewing the existing feedback given in a design education unit a decision was made to improve the type and methods of feedback given. With the expeditious growth of Web 2.0 technology, a part of students' daily routine, we incorporated it to augment feedback. The Web 2.0 technology has embedded skill-building properties and extended design education through peer-to-peer collaboration, analysis and critiquing the visual. Student outcomes improved through highly interactive and collaborative feedback techniques. Students now have access to a vastly superior system where feedback is accessed anywhere, any time, increasing knowledge and developing design principles.