Written by: Merel Engelsman
Being naturally curious and fond of learning herself, Ljubov van Beek loves to get to the bottom of how to get students to learn. And after a university degree as an educational specialist, a PhD was the logical next step for her. The assessment of educational feedback became her topic. “In theory, it is an excellent way to help students increase their understanding,” she says. “But in practice, and scientific literature, you find that many (computer science) students are unsatisfied with the feedback they receive.”
Ljubov van Beek
A different take
The bulk of this literature focusses on the role of educators. And despite it resulting in well-defined guidelines – such as that feedback should constructive, given timely, and include directions for learning – a mismatch clearly remains. Ljubov therefore decided to focus on the role that students play in the feedback process. “Rather than a mismatch in communication, my hypothesis was there to be a mismatch in beliefs or perceptions.”
Using both questionnaires and interviews, she found that students’ perceptions not only correlate with how the teacher is perceived, but also with them putting feedback to good use or not. “There are many aspects influencing students’ perceptions: the stress they experience, how they woke up, did they prepare the material, personal issues, you name it. It makes it very difficult to predict if they will use feedback, even when properly communicated. And subsequently, if they choose to apply effective learning strategies based on that feedback.”
Feedback literacy
The threefold increase in computer science students, now that the TU Delft Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Sciences (EEMCS) has discarded the numerus fixus, complicates matters even more. “It makes having a wide variety in student perceptions much more likely. Moreover, the instructors and teaching assistants cannot assist everyone personally. They have to find a way to help the majority, to help them develop what is called feedback literacy.”
In an ideal world with high feedback literacy, students perceive instructional feedback as useful, and use it effectively to improve their learning. It requires students to comply with several conditions, many of which Ljubov investigated in her research. “They must have the right mindset, not seeing feedback as criticism but knowing that it benefits you to learn better. They must then know how to link the feedback to the quality of the material, identify the gaps in the material using the feedback, and draw a plan to change that – to close the gap.”
Up to this point, her research showed that teachers do not really have a lot of influence on the feedback process, and that students’ perceptions are highly individual. “It is not a completely new insight, with some published work pointing already in this direction, but my research solidifies the foundation for that kind of research to happen.” Moreover, the large scale of the computer science classes at TU Delft has given her research a unique depth.
Aha-moment
For her final study she decided to look at the other side, the instructors. Not so much to confirm that their perceptions on feedback differ from those of students, but to look for an underlying reason as to why they have certain perceptions. “Thankfully, many instructors in our department were eager to help and the department head went out of his way to help me collect the data, instructing them to participate.”
It was this study that yielded her an aha-moment. “Putting all the interviews together, we started noticing a pattern of beliefs about feedback that are transferred throughout the department; from educators to teaching assistants to students.” She stresses that, so far, it is only a hint of the pervasiveness of a departmental culture of assessment – and EEMCS certainly would not be unique. But if true, this culture can make it difficult to innovate. “A rule of thumb is that cultural change takes at least ten years. Thankfully, my department tries its best and has implemented many positive changes since I started my PhD in 2018.” Initiating and supporting this kind of research, 4TU.CEE is also on top of it.
Game changer
Interestingly, it took Ljubov herself a few years to fully appreciate the feedback her supervisors provided on her draft publications. “Similarly, we cannot simply tell students to ‘like’ feedback and take advantage of it. We must develop techniques to help them develop feedback literacy. It truly is a game changer when it comes to student educational success. I am very happy to have contributed to the acknowledgement that our TU Delft instructors need additional, personal support for them to be able to help students develop the required feedback literacy.”