Use of Enhanced Feedback in an Electronic Learning Course “Fundamentals of Molecular Physics and Thermodynamics”

Abstract

Background: Being an essential part of the educational process, blended learning still faces some problems concerning the interaction between teachers and students. They include a decrease in the level of knowledge and in the number of graduates as students experience a lack of live communication with the teacher, lack of sufficient experience of independent work, lack of interactive assessment. Aim: This study aimed to elaborate the model of enhanced feedback in an e-learning course, “Fundamentals of Molecular Physics and Thermodynamics,” to increase student educational achievements. Methods: The effectiveness of the model of enhanced feedback in the learning process was measured with the methodology for calculating statistical indicators of the quality of education: knowledge quality, level of student proficiency, progress, and average grade. To measure the emotional and evaluative attitude of students to educational activities and interaction with the teacher in an electronic course, a test-questionnaire satisfaction with learning activity was employed. Results and Discussion: the results of the initial and final control of the statistical indicators of the quality of education including knowledge quality, level of student proficiency, progress, and average grade in students showed a significant difference between the control and the experimental groups. At the end of the semester, the difference in knowledge quality was 23%, student proficiency level – 13%, progress – 3.5%, average grade – 0.6 scores. The analysis of student satisfaction with the learning process also confirms an increase in satisfaction with the learning process and with the interaction with the lecturer. Thus, the experimental methodology contributes to a significant improvement in the learning process results. Conclusions: The experiment demonstrated that replacing formative assessment with the model of enhanced feedback raises student educational achievements and compensates for lack of live communication with the teacher.