Abstract:

Personalized feedback is important for the learning process, but it is time consuming and particularly problematic in large-scale courses. While automatic feed-back may help, not all forms of feedback are effective. Social comparison can offer powerful feedback but is often loosely designed. We argue that intertwining feedback with proper peer comparison in a learning analytics dashboard provides a solution.
Third year bachelor students were randomly given access to the IGuideME dash-board (treatment group, n=31) or assigned to the control group (no access, n=31). IGuideME users were asked to indicate their desired goal grade which was used to construct peer comparison groups. Personalized peer-comparison feedback about the learning process, learning environment and the learning out-come was provided via IGuideME. The effects were studied using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ), qualitative and quantitative data.
The treatment group had higher scores for the MLSQ components “self-regulation” and “peer-learning”, and the AGQ component “other-approach goal” compared to the control group. Furthermore, the treatment group performed better on both graded and non-graded reading assignments, and had higher grades for high Bloom level exam questions.
These data show that personalized peer-comparison feedback using the dash-board IguideME can be used to improve students’ motivation and academic achievement.

Keywords:

Learning analytics, self-regulated learning, self-directed learning, learning process, learning environment, learning outcome, social comparison.