Formative Feedback Mechanism Shaped by Learning Assistants

Abstract

Formative feedback's usefulness and power have been thoroughly demonstrated, though the way it is administered varies greatly by context. We illustrate how undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs) interact with a formative feedback mechanism employed in a flipped, introductory physics course at Michigan State University. Feedback is given in this class via weekly, individualized, written evaluations from LAs to their students, with the goal of improving scientific practices. Our interpretivist case study on the feedback mechanism demonstrates how and why LAs carry out feedback in the ways they do. We find that the LAs take on central roles in interpreting and implementing the feedback mechanism. The LAs' unique perspectives on feedback suggest that they should have a seat at the table in deciding how a feedback mechanism like this one should be implemented.