A comparative study across five countries on how students in Higher education perceive feedback and which demands they have Presented at the E-Learn conference 2012 in Montreal

1. Institut für Informatik und
Wirtschaftsinformatik (ICB)
Learner’s Perceptions of Feedback:
A Study across Five Countries
eLearn 2012, Montreal Thomas Richter
Picture:
Winding-tower, Essen
Pictures:
University of Duisburg Essen

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Open Discovery Space: European project as example
for specific research situation
n started April 2012, http://www.opendiscoveryspace.eu/
n 51 partners, 20 European countries, 14,3 Mio € budget
n Objective: Build up a Meta-OER-Portal for European Schools
o transparently connecting 1.5 Mio open learning resources
o penetrate > 1% of all European schools
o motivate teachers and students to use the resources in their daily school work
o & support building local and international communities
How to ensure that courses in selected repositories that originally
were designed for national contexts also are appropriate for
international contexts?

3. Learners‘ Perceptions of Feedback: A Study across Five Countries
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Previous Research: Obstacles in using learning
contents from other contexts (OER)
1. OPAL Project (EC funded LLP): International survey on Open
Educational Practices (500 samples) – Success factors and
obstacles (online survey)1
o Findings: One of the major challenges to adapt contents from other
(foreign) contexts is the missing awareness on possible (cultural)
conflicting potential
2. Investigation on German school teachers on special challenges
related to the use of OER (group-interviews)2
o Findings: German teachers almost exclusively use German learning
contents because they are not aware on how to determine cultural
adaptation needs and thus, they fear to cause conflicts
3. Study with e-Learning professionals in Germany, Austria, and
Switzerland on special skills, learners need for e-Learning3
o Findings: Self-motivation revealed being the most impacting ability
and motivation the core success-factor
1. Andrade, A., et al. (2011). Beyond OER – Shifting Focus to Open Educational Practices: OPAL Report 2011. Due-Publico, Essen.
2. Richter, T., & Ehlers, U.D. (2011). Barriers and Motivators for Using Open Educational Resources in Schools. eLearning Papers, No. 23,
March 2011.
3. Richter, T. & Adelsberger, H.H. (2011). E-Learning: Education for Everyone? Special Requirements on Learners in Internet-based
Learning Environments. In: T. Bastiaens & M. Ebner (Eds.), Proceedings of the World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hyper-
media and Telecommunications 2011, (Lisbon, Portugal), Chesapeake, VA: AACE, pp. 1598-1604

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Open Questions …
What can educators do to foster the learners in on-
line-scenarios to keep their motivation on the
necessary high level?
We at least can give feedback!
Consideration: If I know my local students, I can give them proper
feedback, but … aren’t as well the demand for feedback as also the
expected/required method/context culturally different? How to do it
properly?

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Feedback – Can it be wrong?
n International distribution of learning resources meets national and
thus, cultural borders
n The consensus regarding “culture research” is that the concept of
errors and the relationship to authorities have a cultural
background1 … but what about perceptions of feedback?
n Does the concept of errors in a society allow deducing if, how, and
when learners want to receive feedback?
n Investigated Culture-related aspects of Feedback: (various sources)
o When to give feedback (point of time?)
o Scope (item- or task-related?)
o Situation to give feedback (in group situations or individually?)
o Transmission code (explicit or implicit?)
- Form (just evaluation? tell what’s wrong? How to do it better?)
o Is laud actually considered being motivating?
o Is critique motivating or discouraging?
o How about not providing any feedback?
1. Hofstede, G., Hofstede G. J. (2005). Cultures and Organizations. Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance for Survival. USA,
revised and expanded 2nd edition, McGraw-Hill Publishers.

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Survey Questions (Feedback)
1. When to give feedback?
o Directly when mistake found
o At the end of the task
2. Scope/Situation
o Item related
o Task related
o Directly in group
3. Transmission code
o Clearly point on errors
o Show how to do it better
o Just fair evaluation
o Show errors and explain why
o Point on errors but don’t explain why
o Show errors, explain why, and how to do it better
4. Laud effects my motivation
o Positive
o Negative
5. Critique effects my motivation
o Positive
o Negative
6. I feel confused if there is no feedback

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Survey Settings
n Survey with university students from Bulgaria, Germany, South Korea,
Turkey, Ukraine: July 2010-May 2012
n Questionnaire using 4 point Likert-scale
n Only fully (100%) completed questionnaires were evaluated
n Settings per country:
o Bulgarian students: online survey; language Bulgarian; link distributed
through local students’ associations; 30 evaluated sample elements;
response-rate unknown
o German students (in-depth study): online survey; language German; full
investigation in 3 universities; 1817 evaluated sample elements; response
rate: 2-5%
o South Korean students (broad study): paper survey; random path algorithm
for choice of sample-elements; students from 39 universities in and around
Seoul; 286 evaluated sample elements; non-response rate 50%
o Turkish students: online survey; language Bulgarian; link distributed
through local students’ associations; 40 evaluated sample elements;
response-rate unknown
o Ukrainian students: online survey; language Bulgarian; link distributed
through local students’ associations; 53 evaluated sample elements;
response-rate unknown

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Survey Results
!
Displayed here: % positive answers (fully agree & agree);
No significant differences between male and female students were found.

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Findings
n Amazingly little differences have been found between the national
contexts.
n In all contexts, laud as well as critique have positive effects on the
motivation of the questioned students. In general, students in both
contexts are irritated if not receiving any feedback.
n Students in all contexts expect and want to receive qualified
feedback. Just pointing on errors or evaluating is not enough: The
students in all contexts like to receive explanations on what the
mistake is like and how to do it better.
n Feedback should individually be given in the Korean and Bulgarian
contexts. In Germany and Turkey, receiving feedback in the group-
context seems to provide little conflicts.
n German, Bulgarian, and Turkish students prefer item-related
feedback while Korean and Ukrainian students rather like to receive
task related feedback. Turkish students prefer feedback after a
task is finalized while all others prefer it directly when the mistake
gets obvious.

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Are there any questions?
(Feel free to contact me via e-Mail)
contact: thomas.richter@icb.uni-due.de