Designing Feedback Systems: Examining a Feedback Approach to Facilitation in an Online Asynchronous Professional Development Course for High School Science Teachers

Abstract

Many researchers have identified the need for a more holistic understanding of the role of feedback in supporting learning in online environments. This study explores how our design, development, and implementation of an online feedback facilitation system influenced high school science teachers’ learning in an asynchronous teacher professional development online course. We then describe teachers’ and facilitators’, i.e., feedback providers’, perceptions of the effectiveness of the system’s features for supporting participants’ learning and engagement. Our work also responds to recent calls for developing a more nuanced understanding of how the complexity of feedback influences learning and the need for more qualitative research on online facilitators’ and learners’ experiences working with new technologies. Results demonstrated that, despite the difficulty of analyzing the complex variables influencing learners’ interactions and perceptions of the feedback system, designing adaptive feedback systems that draw on the principles of design-based implementation research (DBIR) offer promise for enhancing the systems’ contributions to teacher learning.

Seven design principles for teaching complex socioscientific issues: the design of a complex systems agent-based disease epidemic model and the application of epistemic practices in high school biology

“…We asked 2 teachers (who are also co-authors of this paper) to co-design the unit. They were both peer facilitators in our previous project (Marei et al, 2021) and thus were considered experts in using our complex systems modeling resources. As part of the first cohort of teachers with the present project, they had participated in PD during the summer of 2021 to learn about the next evolution of this work (i.e., incorporating a focus on epistemic performance).…”

Complex Systems Research in K12 Science Education: A Focus on What Works for Whom and under Which Conditions

“…The four studies selected for this Special Issue serve to illustrate efforts to address the aforementioned dearth of research on complex systems in science education that focuses on what works for whom and under which conditions [6][7][8][9]. They also demonstrate the versatility of the modeling tool for learning with diverse populations from elementary students to high school science teachers and with participant demographics that are less often studied in complex systems educational research, i.e., English language learners and underrepresented school districts.…”

Commentary on the Special Issue, Systems for Systems: Computational Systems Modeling to Promote Equity and Access in K12 STEM Educational Systems

“…Cottone et al [4] integrate data literacy and model-based learning through the usability cube framework for educational reform. Marei et al [5] integrate an online feedback facilitation system with asynchronous teacher professional development. Collectively, the four articles illustrate a rich array of conceptual perspectives on computational systems modeling.…”

“…Cottone et al [4] investigate the participation and engagement of all fourth-and fifth-grade students and their teachers in an urban school district. In an online asynchronous professional development course, Marei et al [5] investigate how an online feedback facilitation system influenced high school teachers' learning. Collectively, the four articles investigate computational systems modeling with both students and teachers from elementary school through high school, from classrooms to a school district, and within a teacher professional development course.…”

“…Cottone et al [4] investigate a districtwide reform with elementary teachers and students. Marei et al [5] investigate an online feedback facilitation system in an online asynchronous professional development course. Collectively, the four articles investigate the design, implementation, and impact of educational interventions to bring out desired changes at various levels of the education system.…”