• Publish the learning outcomes – this is good practice, anyway. Tell the learners what they will be able to do at the end of the learning event, and the assessment criteria (if it is a piece of formal assessment) and give feedback based on them. For example, if you say that at the end of the workshop your learners will be able to find and evaluate sources on something, then your feedback should be about how far they have achieved that.

• Be specific, and tell the learners exactly what they have done well (so they can replicate it) or what they need to do to improve. ‘Well done’ is nice to hear, but: ‘Well done, your keywords for that search were very good’ identifies what they were doing right.

• Include ways to improve. All feedback should ideally be developmental, so if something has not gone quite right then provide your comments in terms that will help the learner to improve. ‘You'll need better keywords next time’ should really be: ‘Think about ways that that concept could be expressed differently’. You should give illustrative examples.

• Encourage peer support. In most groups there will be different levels of ability and understanding. Some of the most effective feedback comes from friends and colleagues as they help one another, particularly during practical tasks. Encourage this by setting up pair or small group work.

• Encourage critical reflection. Give learners time to digest and process your comments. This can be by setting up another task to reinforce the learning encouraged by your feedback or it could be by following up immediate comments later, perhaps by e-mail or through a virtual learning environment.