Relating variance in feedback effectiveness to learning styles
Keywords:
Feedback, Learning Styles, Feedback Effectiveness, Conceptual ModelAbstract
Introduction: Students consider feedback to be an important aspect of good teaching, and meta-analyses confirm its influence on academic achievement. Anecdotal observations in pharmacy practice workshops at our institution suggested variance in students’ perceptions regarding the effectiveness of feedback.
Aim: To explore reasons students perceive the effectiveness of feedback differently from each other.
Methodology: As a conceptual paper, this article does not conform to the standard format of empirical research papers. Instead, it develops an argument by drawing on two established theories about the learning process, Vygotsky’s theory of Social Constructivism and Learning Style theory.
Results: The effectiveness of feedback may be influenced by factors other than quality. We propose an original model that links feedback preferences with learning styles, and make recommendations to pharmacy educators grounded in research findings.
Conclusion: The Matched-Mismatched Feedback Model may account for some of the variation in feedback effectiveness. Further empirical research to explore the validity of our model is recommended.
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