2.3.2. DEFINITIONS

  • Feedback. The response of students to learning is a key element for measuring the extent to which the quality of education is perceived in online learning (Nasir, Yaacob and Ismail, 2019). The very concept of feedback suggests that feedback is a source of information, needed for the improvement of a task or student performance or for modification of learning behavior, or inspiration and motivation (Wisniewski, et al., 2020). Feedback is a necessary precondition for fruitful and deep learning experience. 
  • Feedback Agent. The concept of feedback agent refers to any entity (human or digital) that estimates and monitors what is happening in terms of learning. Agents can be teachers, peers, software, etc. (Wisniewski, et al., 2020).
  • Feedback Loop. The concept of feedback loop refers to a process when students submit their assignments for evaluation, then they receive feedback, after that they adjust their assignment accordingly, in such a way improving their learning. A key challenge for feedback practice involves promoting student uptake through the closing of feedback loops (Carless, 2018). Single-loop learning tackles an identified problem or task, whereas double-loop learning additionally re-evaluates how the problem or task is approached. 
  • Learning-Oriented Assessment.  The idea of learning-oriented assessment relates to assessment strategy which puts the main weight on the prospective knowledge gained by assessment. The validation comes from the two-prong approach of reorienting the possibilities gained by a purposely created summative assessment in addition to constructing development from a series of assessments (Carless, 2015).
  • Student Agency - Within the scope of digital assessment, student agency refers to students’ active and responsive involvement in both learning and assessment practices. As opposed to “lecturer driven, one-way transmission of feedback” (Pitt, Bearman, and Esterhazy, 2020), student agency implies that students are engaged in a dialogic process of looking for (rather than just receiving) feedback from different sources and at different times, crosscutting it with their own experience and context, and using it to make informed and independent choices regarding their learning. Described as reflective and action-oriented, it relies on formative and constructive feedback (upon which students can act on), moving beyond specific tasks.
  • Peer Feedback.  The concept of peer feedback refers to a situation when feedback is given from one student to a fellow student, allowing students engage into learning process more actively, familiarize with assessment criteria, and develop feedback literacy skills (Boud, Cohen, and Sampson, 2001).


Last modified: Tuesday, 15 November 2022, 12:55 PM