Using ICT-enabled feedback to improve student learning in secondary schools in New Zealand - Literature review Example

?Using ICT-enabled feedback to improve learning in Secondary Schools in New Zealand (Literature Review) What is Feedback? Feedback is often described as a systematic dialogue between teachers and students. A proper feedback can help both to assess their strategies. To be more precise, for students it is a method to ascertain the effectiveness of their learning strategies. On the other hand, for teachers, it is a method to assess the problems faced by students. As a result, the teachers are able to adapt more student friendly teaching methods. A carefully designed classroom lesson attracts more attention from students (Black and William, 1998, pp. 139-148). In many literatures the description coined by Ramprasad (1983, p. 4) “Feedback is information about the gap between the actual level and the reference level of a system parameter which is used to alter the gap in some way” is used to define feedback. However, many scholars are of the opinion that such definitions of feedback, makes it a complete responsibility of the teachers. On the other hand, an effective feedback requires both the teachers as well as the students to give their serious effort. (Black and William, 1998, pp. 139-148) In 2006 Boston Consultancy Group (BCG), conducted a survey in the primary school of Bellfield in Victoria, Australia. The survey clearly indicated that Feedback in school level balances positive aspects of teaching with room for future improvement. The survey also showed that feedback encourages teachers to build up their confidence. The survey further showed that constructive and properly tailored feedback help teachers to formulate new methodologies to improve learning in their class. Positive feedback with constructive suggestions encourages teachers to make an effective impact on students. (Fleming and Kleinhenz, 2007) Teachers must be very careful when they give their feedback to the students. They must keep in mind the student’s self-perception regarding his or her current and future goal. The feedback should not make the student believe that their capability is lower than other .This can harm their future performance. The purpose of feedback is not to discourage the students but to give them a realistic picture of their current state. This should be done in a very sensitive manner. The teachers must gain the student’s confidence. A feedback, which is very critical by nature, can make students feel incompetent. In feedback, teachers need to highlight the achievements of the students in a realistic yet positive manner. By providing students non-judgmental feedback, the teachers can become their mentor. The greatest fear that students have is the fear of being wrong, and it is the responsibility of teachers to encourage them to come out of their inhibition. (Gager and Berliner, 1991 p. 143, 349) Feedback can be categorized into two category, namely “Formative” and “Summative” assessment. Formative assessment involves regular feedback throughout the academic year. On the other hand, summative feedback is the assessment done at the end of the academic term. Formative assessment In case of formative assessment, the approach is a combination of formal and informal processes applied by students and teachers for improving the learning experience. Formative assessment done by teachers mainly focus on the following points (Heritage and Stigler, 2010, p. 56) The direction in which the student is heading, i.e. the strategy the student is following. The current state of the student The direction the student must take next to make further improvements The priority in formative assessment is to set the learning goals along with the success criteria for each lesson. The feedback help teachers to shape up their curriculum in such a way that the students are able to close the gap between his or her current learning ability and the goal they have set for themselves. The teachers must be aware of certain factors, when they formulate their formative assessment strategies. There are certain factors, which must be taken under consideration by the teachers while selecting their strategies. Their strategy must be aligned to the set learning goals and success criteria. They must keep in mind the very purpose of assessment is to guide the student towards the right track. The main purpose of formative assessment is to keep designing new curriculum in order to facilitate the changing demands of the students. The evidence regarding the requirement of new curriculum or teaching pattern must be very strong. The curriculum must be designed keeping students of all levels in mind. Every classroom has a range of levels of understanding amongst the students. Hence, when the assessment is designed it must be inclusive of all the students. The teachers must imply more than one strategy to provide evidence regarding the success level being met by all the students. (Heritage and Stigler, 2010, p. 59) The meta-analysis research conducted by William and Black (1998, pp. 138- 140) asserts the importance of formative assessment. He observed that the success rate of formative assessment is much higher than any other intervention method implied, to encourage leaning improvement in schools .He further noted that implementing this style of assessment in schools require some significant change in classroom environment. The success of formative assessment depends on student engagement. Students must be actively involved in their classroom learning as well in their assessment process Summative assessment Summative assessment in contrast to formative assessment can also be seen as, “Overview of previous learning” (William and Black 1998, p.28).Summative assessment can also be defined as a process of summing up the achievement or rather doing a status evaluation on accomplishments at a specific point of time. The data derived from this assessment are used only to make judgments about the achievement of the student. Compare to formative assessment, summative assessment gives less information about the students. Summative assessment is more achievement centric; this method of assessment mostly assesses cumulative result achieved by the student. However, it has been observed that successful students do not make much distinction between these two types of assessment. To them both assessment styles are school curriculums and something they must be a part of, to meet the teacher’s expectations. If summative assessments are to reap learning benefits for students, then these assessments must be aligned with the intent to design the future curriculum to benefit students in future. The root purpose of summative assessment is to give final assessment on completion of projects and academic programs. The users of summative assessment are not limited to the students only; they include parents and future schools. The effect of summative assessment is often acknowledged as less obvious, since post effect of this assessment is often minor. A student at the end of the curriculum is made aware of his or her success in summative assessment. A student, who has not performed well, does not know his or her shortcomings. The student who has fared well is not interested to know about further improvements he or she should aim for. Thus, many often term the impact of summative assessment on learning pattern of students, as pro-active. (Joughin, 2008, p.89) There is ample evidence that the pre –assessment effects on learning pattern of students outweigh the post- assessment effects of the feedback. The main agenda of summative assessment is to determine the extent to which a student has mastered the skills and knowledge associated to an academic curriculum as opposed to revealing the methods implied by the student to achieve the outcome. The summative evaluations focus only on the outcome of the individual as opposed to the formative assessment. (Butterfield, Riding and Ridding .J, 1990, p.229) In most cases, summative assessments are mostly used as a diagnostic or evaluative tool. Because summative assessments are result oriented, they are often seen as an assessment style with “high –stakes.” These assessments generally have rewards and certain consequences linked to their results. (Caffery, 2011, p. 6) Importance of feedback In any Academic Institution, the significance of feedback is very evident. Any student regardless of their age and the educational institute they are attending, be it primary school, Secondary school or College require proper guidance. After reviewing 8000 studies, Hattie (1992, p.9) stated, “The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback. The simplest prescription for improving education must be dollops of feedback.” It has been debated by many scholars though that feedback must be regular and systematic in nature. Feedbacks help students to identify the gaps between their desired and current state of knowledge and acquired skills (Ramprasad, 1983, p.4). It has been seen that significant gains in learning can be achieved by students if proper feedback in given to them, especially students with lower achievement (Black and William, 1998, p. 139). An accurate and open feedback also provides students, the ability to grasp the concepts of the study material in a better manner. Feedback also empowers students with self-regulation and self-evaluation, regarding the learning methods they are following. It reinstates self- esteem in students. Feedback also encourages students to reflect on their past and current performance and the learning methods they have been following. It gives the students the window to discuss their doubts regarding their study and their strategy with their teachers. (Carless 2006, pp. 219-233) Feedback also plays an important role in helping the educators to do their job effectively. The information gathered by the educators by conducting formative assessment, helps them to design their lessons accordingly. It helps them to assess, whether their teaching methods are helping the student or not. It gives them information regarding what approach they must take to help students understand the lessons better (Maclellan, 2001, pp. 307-318). The teachers can become better mentors with the help of feedback system. Feedback process help teachers to get a better insight in their students approach towards learning. It gives the teachers an avenue via which they can mold their students. They can mentor their students in a proper way. This will make students start learning not only to answer questions but also to understand their field of study. Feedback must be done timely and regularly to keep a proper track on the learning development of the students. (Gibbs and Simpson, 2004, pp. 3-31) Feedback must be used as a corrective measure. The approach must always be constructive; the main aim behind the feedback must be to encourage students to do their best. Feedbacks should help students analyse their mistakes and strive to do better. Feedbacks must be designed in such a way that they address all those important issues the students are facing. It should point out the mistakes the students are committing along with the corrective measure the students must take to improve. It should encourage students to look at their studies in a different light. Students must be encouraged to focus on learning and understanding their subjects instead of searching for answers to the questions asked in the classroom. Many researchers point out the importance of the timing of feedback .feedback must be given as soon as the event on which evaluation was done is over. If it is delayed, the students will not find it very useful or will be less inclined to act on the suggestions (Freeman & Lewis, 1998 p.49). Also, if the feedback is given very early, before the task is complete the students tend to get discouraged. Especially low achieving students often get discouraged from making an attempt if the suggestions are given before they attempt their task. (Anthony, 1996, p.44) Students learn best, if they are aware of the importance of the lessons in the class. It is very important to make students self aware regarding their education. Once students have an idea about the importance of learning in their lives, they pay more attention. Thus, making students aware of the importance of education makes them more attentive. In addition, students must understand that, how they acquire knowledge is more important than the quantity of knowledge they acquire. Getting through the tests should not be the only motivation for students; they must learn to grow as an individual. Self-awareness makes a student very confident and gives clarity to their thoughts. Feedback from teachers gives students an opportunity, to become self-aware. A constructive feedback gives a student ample of space to introspect and realize his goals. Feedback also incorporates self-regulation in students. They start observing their own strategies. Students start evaluating the effectiveness of their own strategy. Feedback brings a personal touch in teacher-student relationship. It is very important for students to be able to trust their teachers. The need for students to be able to trust their teachers is immense. To mentor students into better learners, their trust must be won by teachers. Feedback is an effective way to achieve the above mentioned. Feedback has a lot of importance for teachers also. It gives teachers the ability to relate to their students as an individual. Knowing each student individually is very essential for an effective feedback. With the help of feedbacks, teachers are able to understand the shortcomings of their students individually. They are able assess the strengths and the weakness of all their students at a one to one level. Feedbacks make it easy for the faculty members to keep a track on the progress of the students. A proper understanding of the progress of each student helps teachers to design their lessons accordingly. They are able to mentor each student according to their specific need. Feedbacks also play an important role in self-assessment of teachers regarding their lessons. Teachers get a proper idea about the effectiveness of their classroom techniques. They also get a feel of, how students perceive their class. All these information that teachers gather via feedbacks help them to design a classroom lesson that can help all the students. Feedback is also a method for teachers to get a proper prospective on the students with low achievement level. It is very important for educators to understand the various reasons that lead to low achievement by certain students. Understanding their shortcomings can help educators to come up with teaching techniques that will help them to learn better. Even for teachers feedback assessment is a method to incorporate their personal techniques and experiences in guiding each student. Teachers can impart their experience and guide students in taking up more effective learning strategies. (Gage and Berliner, 1991, pp. 138-149) Improving Student Engagement Teachers are quick to point out that both, motivational elements and active learning elements of student engagement are required to make the lessons successful. A classroom filled with motivated students is a very good sign but is immaterial if it does not lead to active learning. Similarly, students who are learning without an open attitude and are reluctant cannot be considered as engaged. Student engagement is a combined outcome of motivation and displayed active learning. Both of these factors need to be present in a classroom to command student engagement in the lessons. Briefly, student engagement can be also defined as the participation and attention showed by student during their lessons. To encourage student engagement the teachers must look after few fundamentals. These factors are esthetical, physiological, and psychological issues. These factors must be tended to before any implementation of certain procedures for improved student engagement is implied. Teachers must take active interest in implementing certain methods to encourage student engagement. A clean classroom with, attractive bulletin boards provides student with visual stimulation. Teachers must be aware of, what exactly an engaged classroom looks like. A very quite classroom and a very chaotic classroom both are very good examples of less attentive students. Teachers must be able to strike a good balance to have the attention of the students. The lessons need to be interactive in nature to harbour interests from students. Teachers must be very perceptive of students’ moods and emotions. Teachers should be constructive in their approach. They should ask students to openly discuss their opinion to get an idea, whether students are able to follow the lessons. Teachers must use interesting and relevant examples to explain new facts. Use of models to teach students new structures is also very effective. Enthusiasm and humor from teachers can also encourage student to engage in the lessons. Teachers must encourage students to be disciplined, but not frightened. They must respect the contributions made from all the students. Games and other interactive methods must be applied to make the lesson appear more interesting to the students. At the end of the lessons, teachers must emphasize on brushing up the topics, to help students revise the concept. A classroom environment must immerse all the students in the lessons with the help of models, maps and other interactive modules. Feedback should be incorporated in educational curriculum as a tool to increase student engagement and measure the effectiveness of classroom learning. To make feedback more effective the students should be allowed to monitor their own performance. This will lead to student engagement. To encourage student engagement students must be given the freedom to distinguish their achievements in different course work. Disengaging the mark system from feedback will also ensure active participation of students in their improvement. Many researchers argue that by withholding the marks or grade of the student, greater involvement of the students in their feedback can be achieved. Students tend to loose interest in feedbacks once their grades have been declared to them. Thus, feedback conducted before declaration of marks often encourages more student engagement. Student engagement has been observed more when instead of marks comments were declared to the students (Barkley, 2009 p.74) Many institutes have realized now that student engagement can be increased with the help of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). ICT enabled feedbacks are more interactive in nature and thereby encourage student engagement. Due to the interactive interface, nature of the ICT incorporated feedbacks; students get involved in the process. . Since it also gives them a taste of new technology and makes them feel updated, students tend to show more interest in ICT enabled feedbacks. Students are able to incorporate ICT enabled feedbacks in their daily lives. With the help of ICT enabled feedback students are able to stay connected wit each other. Students are able to connect to their peers with help of ICT enabled feedback. The freedoms to discuss their opinions and doubts with their peers encourage students to actively participate in their lessons. Students are able to self regulate their strategies. They are able to analyze their strategies against their peers to understand their shortcomings. This kind of feedback is fast and rapid, thus students are corrected quickly.ICT provides students the freedom to keep track on their own progress. The portability of most of the ICT devices, make it favorite among most students. The students have the ability to access their data whenever they want. Students are able to publish or broadcast their own opinion freely without any inhibition. They are able to work on their assignments according to their convenience. The students feel more involved in the entire process and give their opinions regarding the lessons in classroom. This active participation by students becomes a win- win situation for both teachers and students. Students are able to learn better and teachers are able to guide students in a better way. Student engagement helps teachers to design a more student friendly curriculum. The interactive nature makes the lessons more interesting. The fact that students are able to reply and can be corrected immediately, makes them to get more involved. Students are able to weigh their answers with their peer’s to get a proper prospective. In schools ICT, enabled teaching makes it easier for students to comprehend the lessons. Presentations and visual graphics give students clarity regarding the topic. Discussing it among themselves gives them freedom to understand the lesson, with their own approach. The ability to access web pages related to lessons help them to clear out their doubt. The students are able to download their lessons and work on it, give their suggestions and comments. Thus, incorporating technology with education encourages student engagement to a large extend. Sending tutors their opinions and suggestions electronically (e-mail) with the help of internet or VLE (Virtual learning Environment) can help students to look at feedbacks in a friendlier manner. It enables them to respond to their tutors feedback or queries in different manners and at different times. Online feedback also provides students the privacy they require to discuss certain matters with their tutors. Producing feedback online, electronically give them options like track changes and ability to alter their comment. The benefits of ICT enabled feedback are editing before returning the assignments back to students, tracking individual feedback of all the students, and building up data for external review. This reduces the time spent on circulation of notes and assignments. More importantly, it reduces paper use. In-house systems can give schools the benefits of using online mark sheets for feedbacks and tracking. It can use of certain MS –Office applications for making presentations and word documents. It can also be used to maintain a bank of comments posted by students for future reference. These efforts can definitely improve the quality of student engagement in classrooms. (Hepplestone, n.d) Technology Enabled Feedback There is ample evidence derived from research that concludes that ICT (Information and communication technology) help students do better in their learning process. Findings suggest that even though ICT can improve the learning experience for students, there are some issues that need to be addressed. The first issue that requires due consideration is the effect of ICT compared to other methods used for feedback. The second is the use of ICT in general. Some of the ICT used for online and face to face learning are Virtual Learning Environments (Discussion board & Test Manager), Electronic voting system, Podcasts, Personal digital assistant, Text messaging, Tablet PCs. (Higgins, 2003, p. 55) Virtual Learning Environments (Discussion board & Test Manager) Online educational environments, which is also referred to as virtual learning environments have become a main component in teaching and learning in many educational institute. Specially institute dealing with higher education. These environments have a different impact on the relationships between the student and teachers. They have an influential pedagogical implication. Under virtual learning environments, the discussion board is a very useful and widely used concept. It has a very significant impact on the quality of interaction that takes place. Online discussions provide students the wide opportunity to learn, not only from their curriculum content but also from their fellow students. VLEs play an important role in bringing a community of learners who gain a lot from each other by discussions. Also it has been observed by some that student community is not an ideal situation but a necessity in helping students to learn. Garrison and Anderson (2003, p.23) noted that higher education community have “become a practical necessity in the realization of relevant, meaningful, and continuous learning.” Some speculations have been there regarding the quality of work output by using discussion board environment. This is a clear indication of the design and the way the discussions in the discussion board are conducted plays an important role in encouraging student engagement. The awareness of the fact that the students are being monitored prompt students to participate and contribute. VLEs can be used to monitor different kind of assessment. The various activities, which can be set up to evaluate students, include, setting up lesson related quizzes, handing down students a self-check test. The students can take the self-check tests, as many times they want to check whether they are ready for the formal one time test. Essay based assignments and assessments can be formulated with the help of VLEs. However, the process will require someone to upload and grade the assignments. The VLE can also act as a rank management structure, where the teachers and students can use the reports of the individual or group of students to monitor their progress. (Marzano, 2003, p. 37) Electronic Voting System Electronic voting systems usually contain a collection of handsets, interactive software, and a receiver. However, this is the standard composition but many variations do occur, depending on the functionality and nature of communication. For education, purpose handsets are provided so that students can give quick response to their teacher’s question. The question given by teacher is delivered with the help of EVS software. The software has the ability to store the student response for future reference. Questions can also be amalgamated to form tests. Electronic voting system is a very useful device, when it comes to student assessment and feedback. It can provide students a very quick feedback. It also helps the students to compare their answers with their fellow students. It empowers self-assessment and learning. It is a system that reinforces knowledge among students. (Russell, 2008) Podcasts Podcasts have become very popular amongst students and teacher in many schools across the globe. It allows students to share their work and experiences with other fellow students and their teachers. Podcast is similar to a radio show but instead of live broadcasting, a podcast is recorded and then distributed. This gives students as well as the teachers the freedom to listen to their lessons, whenever they want. Podcasts have come across as a very effective medium for assessment because it is comparatively inexpensive, it is easy to record, and it gives students an exciting experience. And the fact that it is portable makes it more user-friendly. This gives students the freedom to actually reflect on their lessons whenever they have time. Thus, podcast has a twofold advantage, it gives students access to their lessons, according to their convenience. Plus being a new technology it makes the students curious and in turn they get themselves involved in the study. Podcasts have become very successful in many libraries. Students often do not have ample time to screen the book contents to get their data. Podcasts gives them the freedom to download their entire lesson and go through it later. Podcasts give feedback a very personal touch. Students pay more attention to the feedback than on the marks they have obtained. Being oral in nature, it gives student a proper idea as in, what are the areas the student is being judged on and needs improvement. It has been observed that students get more involved in oral feedbacks than in written form. (Ribchester and France, 2011) Personal digital assistant (PDA) A PDA is a device, which is a combination of a computer, telephone, and fax and has networking features. Some of the basic benefits that students get from using PDA are the mobility it has, increased communication with the teachers, also easy access to lessons whenever required. The PDA allows the teachers and students to keep their data in one place. Important data regarding lessons, schedule, class notes, tasks and reminders of submission are kept at one place and can be accessed on at one go. For teachers PDA, can be more than just data storing device it can act as a device, which gives them easy method to keep track on their students’ progress. PDA is also a very versatile tool. With the help of some plug-in software modules, PDA can be use as a digital camera and a communicator, similar to mobiles and e-mails. Teachers can use it to run multimedia presentations, which give students a better grasp about their lessons. And their small size makes them even more popular with students and the teachers. . Devices like Palmtops can be used as a study interface via interactive lessons and quizzes they can also provide quick feedback for the benefit of the students (Wetzell, 2005, p. 10; Russell, 2008). Tablet PCs There are several advantages of using Tablet PCs in the classrooms. Teachers can use the tablet in combination with an overhead projector. The journal property in this way can be used to create a whiteboard. Teachers can also use tablets to give Power Point Presentation to students. Teachers can also access any webpage and explain students from the specific webpage. Students on the other hand can utilize the tablets like their note pads. They can also access web pages to get a proper understanding of the lessons and incorporate their own thoughts on the lessons .Students can also give their presentations by using the tablets and their peers can give their valuable feedbacks by writing on the tablets (Reed, Berque and Prey, 2008, p.15) A thorough study of the literature regarding feedback in schools shows that feedback plays an important role in improving education in schools. Feedback provides students as well as the teachers with the information required for improved performance. Students get the benefit of being mentored by their teachers at a personal level whereas teachers get a good idea regarding the effectiveness of their classroom techniques. Student and teachers both are able to assess the effectiveness of their strategies with the help of feedbacks. Students learn to look at their classroom lessons as more than a lecture. With the help of feedback, students are able to get clarity about, their approach towards their course. Tutors are able to design their classes to help students better with the help of feedback system. Feedback helps teachers to understand the different difficulty levels faced by their students. Feedback also brings tutors closer to their students. They are able to guide their students towards a better direction. Students on the other hand are able to choose better learning strategies. Feedback plays an important role in grooming the learning ability of each and every student. Students are able to compare themselves with their peers to get a better idea of their current standing. With the help of feedback, students are able to decide their future course of action for better learning. References 1. Stigler J W. (FRW) and, M Heritage, (2010), Formative Assessment: Making It Happen in the Classroom, Crowin press 2. Marzano R. 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