According to the model that was presented in class, feedback plays an essential role in the learning process. As learners send out probes, they are met with some type of feedback. This communication is essential to learning. Brooks and Schraw alluded to the research done on traditional classroom instruction versus tutoring which showed 2 standard deviations improvement over traditional instruction. The research correlated this to the amount of questions asked by a learner in a given hour (happening 10+ x's more often in a tutoring session). All of the papers agreed that feedback is essential to learning.
In Brooks and Schraw's study, I found it very interesting that they claimed that computer learning can model human development. They claimed that a computer can learn something with 22,000 exposures that a 2 year old child can learn with 5-6, but that the computer can have these many exposures in seconds.
This made me wonder to what extent can a computer learn? How is learning connected to recognizing patterns? Is learning more than recognizing patterns?
In Pashler, Cepeda, & Wixted's study, I was impressed with the similarity between learning words and learning facts. This study pointed out that correct response feedback was 3-5x's more effective than no feedback at all. The study mentioned this, but these results made me wonder about the levels of knowledge and how they relate to the effectiveness of feedback. In both of these studies, subjects had virtually no knowledge of anything connected to the things that they were learning. To me, this means that the conclusion that correct-response feedback is more effective than no feedback, or even delayed feedback is only relevant when the subject has had no exposure at all to the information. If the subjects were proficient in Luganda, and they were to learn new words that they didn't already know, I would bet that the delayed response/no feedback option would be more helpful than in the first study.
From all of these papers, I am still left with the belief (which is admittedly only founded on some experience and lots of opinion) that the type of feedback given is highly dependent on the content/subject matter, the individual learner, and timing. Observing and training teachers at the MTC, I have learned that feedback can take many forms, and that giving the right type of feedback is among the things that teachers struggle with most. The teachers that give the best feedback seem to be those that are most aware of the learners personality, proficiency level, and environment.
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