Alternatives to Correct and Incorrect
Alternatives to Correct and Incorrect
Alternatives to Correct and Incorrect
By Connie Malamed
January 27, 2021
Summary
If we're striving for higher order thinking and maximum learning transfer, then we're giving up a golden opportunity when we forgo informative feedback and instead resort to corrective feedback.
Corrective feedback informs the learner whether their response is correct or incorrect but gives no explanation.
If your design has frequent opportunities for learners to respond, then you can catch and remediate misconceptions as the learner is constructing meaning.
Using scenarios, simulations and virtual worlds, you can allow learners to explore and make real world decisions while learning in a safe environment.
Epistemic feedback provides a hint that moves the learner closer to the correct answer without giving it away.
In one study, an intelligent tutoring system provided hints as participants learned to solve problems using the database programming language SQL. The hints were well accepted and "Drastically reduced the distance to correct solution even after several steps upon using the hint." Researchers found that after a student was stuck on the problem, the hint proposed a new approach to solving the problem, providing a way to explore alternative paths to the solution.
As the learning designer, you can present thoughtful questions that encourage learner reflection, self-evaluation and self-assessment.
They are thought to be effective with learners who have limited prerequisite knowledge because these types of examples reduce cognitive load. As learners gain skills and knowledge, you may want to scaffold the learning by thoughtfully omitting some of the steps, allowing learners to fill in the gaps.
If the focus of your instruction is problem solving, you can provide worked-out examples for learners to study and then again as feedback after they solve a problem.
In explanatory feedback, there is evidence that positive feedback can reduce uncertainty if learners were unsure of the correct steps to solving a problem.
Reference
Malamed, C. (2021, January 27). Alternatives to correct and incorrect. Retrieved April 06, 2021, from https://theelearningcoach.com/elearning_design/alternative-feedback/