Feedback in the Classroom: A View from the Control Theory

Abstract

Students often express dissatisfaction with the feedback they receive, and teachers express similar levels of frustration, because students do not read or apply, the feedback they have generated. This paper uses some knowledge of control engineering, in particular, the subject of feedback control loops to give a different perspective about this by comparing the use of feedback in simple control systems and feedback offered to students in academia. Initially, the way in which the level of understanding or learning evolves in the face of different types of student participation is analyzed. Then, the impact of the different levels of support or quality of the comments provided by the teacher in the training work is analyzed. Finally, it is concluded that the quality of the teacher's comments, which is what has classically been interpreted as feedback, has a significant impact on student learning. However, it is the students' action that generates the feedback, and determines the quality and quantity of it.