Feedback in commercial educational applications: Guidelines and conceptual framework

Abstract

In recent years, schools made large investments to increase the integration and use of contemporary technologies in teaching and learning. Today iPads and educational applications are growing in popularity and are commonly used. These technologies have a potential beneficial effect on the learning, but studies show that some applications have flaws that hinder these positive effects, for example regarding the feedback provided to the user. This study has determined a number of guidelines for effective feedback in a learning situation and has further shown how well these guidelines can be reached in an educational application today. The study shows that there are both advantages and disadvantages of feedback in an application compared to giving feedback in a more traditional learning situation. Many of the guidelines for effective feedback were found to be possible to reach in an application, and the greatest advantage found in applications is that they can provide feedback timely on each action taken by the pupils.