Exploring Real-Time Feedback Seeking in an Online Learning Task

A Clustering Analysis

Abstract

This empirical study investigated how students engage with feedback seeking within an online learning environment. Four distinct student profiles emerged based on their feedback-seeking tendencies: Disengaged Learners, Paradoxical Independents, Proactive Feedbackers, and Consistent Seekers. The findings suggest that students' perceived difficulty of tasks and their understanding of the value of feedback significantly impact their likelihood of seeking it. Interestingly, even positive experiences with the online learning platform and reported learning gains did not guarantee active feedback seeking. These results highlight the need for educators to explicitly emphasise the importance of feedback and cultivate a learning environment that encourages its seeking and utilisation. Additionally, the study suggests that interventions may influence student engagement with feedback mechanisms. This study addressed a research gap on the use of learning analytics to uncover feedback practices in elementary education, a field with limited research in feedback literacy and learning analytics integration.