Feedback or Feed-forward? A Case Study in One Higher Education Classroom

How Powerful is Feedforward in University Education? A Case Study in Romanian Geography Education on Increasing Learning Efficiency

“…The first one refers to learners' actions and is described as "a concept that focuses on the responses of learners to feedback" (Hernández, 2012, p. 492). Lyster and Ranta (1997) named students' prompt response to professor's feedback as assimilation, similar to what other researchers have named feedforward (Duncan, 2007;Gibbs & Simpson, 2004;Hernández, 2012;Koen et al, 2012;Murtagh & Baker, 2009). Moreover, the "feedforward assessment implies that students recognize the goal of feedback and interpret and apply the suggestions in order to close the gap between the current level of performance and the expected learning objective" (Koen et al, 2012, p. 240).…”

“…In order to solve the problem by increasing students' success rate and diminishing failure, this study looked for the best educational mechanisms and tools for professors to use during their students' learning process during courses and seminars as well as apart from these formal activities, not after students have finished learning. Some researchers consider feedforward to be such a prevention mechanism (Baker & Zuvela, 2013;Cathcart et al, 2014;Goldsmith, 2008), but opinions about how to use it differ (Duncan, 2007;Gibbs & Simpson, 2004;Hernández, 2012;Koen, Bitzer, & Beets, 2012;Murtagh & Baker, 2009). …”

“…Their questions were proof that students did not have the competence to elaborate sketch maps, that they had deficiencies related to the map components, and that they needed the professor as a source of specific information about their performances, thus confirming Pajares and Graham's (1998) assertions. Student feedback occurred: in the moment; upon request (Hattie & Timperley, 2007), it was clarifying, direct, spoken and individual; negative (Murtagh & Baker, 2009); corrective (Mori, 2011), because it indicated that the task text was not complete enough for the students to understand the task itself; and also positive, as students had asked for information because they were motivated to solve the task (Irving et al, 2011) and because the questions' tone and content did not disturb the initial positive learning environment (Koen et al, 2012). Peer and student feedback was confirmed to be no less reliable or valid than professor feedback (Topping, 2010).…”

“…Few studies are found about using feedforward in education (Duncan, 2007;Goldsmith, 2008), and researchers have frequently approached it alongside feedback (Gibbs & Simpson, 2004;Hernández, 2012;Koen et al, 2012;Murtagh & Baker, 2009). Feedforward has two meanings.…”

“…Understanding and explaining feedforward has been enabled through a series of studies on feedback that focused on presenting the concept (Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Higgins, Hartley, & Skelton, 2001;Lyster & Ranta, 1997), its importance during learning (Brown, 2004;Brown, Harris, & Harnett, 2012;Clarke, 2003;Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Pajares & Graham, 1998), the receiver (Higgins et al, 2001;Irving, Harris, & Peterson, 2011;Wiggins, 2004), the feedback source (Brown et al, 2012;Peterson & Irving, 2008;Topping, 2010), administration conditions (Brown et al, 2012;Hattie & Timperley, 2007), the moment of giving feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007), the methods of giving it (Koen et al, 2012), typology (Fink, 2007; Harris, Brown, & Harnett, 2014;Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Irving et al, 2011;Mori, 2011;Murtagh & Baker, 2009;Shute, 2008), its impact (Brown, 2004;Gibbs & Simpson, 2004;Koen et al, 2012), and its efficiency (Akalin & Sucuoglu, 2015;Hattie & Timperley, 2007;Irving et al, 2011;Shute, 2008;Topping, 2010).…”