bandwidth feedback

More Is Not Always Better

While feedback is extremely beneficial in skill acquisition, more is not necessarily better. In fact, asking learners to rate their own performance before providing augmented feedback may actually enhance the feed- back’s effectiveness and help players not become so dependent on the coach providing all the feedback. There are numerous ways to decrease the amount of feedback provided, helping players become independent learners. For example, having players perform several attempts of a skill before providing augmented feedback (called summary feedback) can allow them to engage in a cognitive/kinesthetic skill analysis before hearing from the coach. A method called self-selected feedback suggests players only receive feedback from the coach, when the players request feedback. Another approach of providing less rather than more feedback is termed “bandwidth feedback” which entails establishing an acceptable range or criterion of performance error, and only providing feedback once the player is outside that range. These approaches for reducing feedback delivery are helpful for coaches and players since it is a systematic reduction of feedback based on individual skill levels. So while feedback is essential for skill learning, more is not always better.

My own comments:

The principle #7, which was discussed by Denny (2010), is simply an extension of principle #6. As you will see, Magill and Anderson (2017) will address principle #6 and #7 as one single principle and call it Augmented Feedback (Chapter 15).