Feedback Messages Research Articles

Structuring peer assessment: Comparing the impact of the degree of structure on peer feedback content

The present study examines the added value of structuring the peer assessment process, by providing students with a peer feedback template with a varying structuring degree, for the peer feedback content quality in a wiki environment in higher education. The present study took place in the 1st year of a university course in Instructional Sciences (N=176) and more specifically compared three conditions: no structure peer feedback (control), basic structure peer feedback, and elaborate structure peer feedback condition. Quantitative content analysis of students’ (n=41) peer feedback messages was performed, and an analysis of (co)variance revealed some discrepancies between the conditions regarding the proportion of peer feedback content categories: (1) peer feedback style, (2) verification type, (3) verification focus, (4) elaboration type, and (5) elaboration focus. This study demonstrated that a higher structuring degree in a peer feedback template during the peer assessment process might have an impact on peer feedback content with respect to the above-mentioned categories; the peer feedback content. Results revealed significant differences between the three conditions regarding the peer feedback content categories. This study illustrated how a practical instructional intervention in the feedback process can increase the potential impact of peer assessment and boost students’ learning in higher education.

When Does Personalized Feedback Make A Difference? A Narrative Review of Recent Findings and Their Implications for Promoting Better Diabetes Self-Care

Providing behavioral, biomarker, or disease risk feedback to patients is a key component of most behavioral interventions in diabetes, but it remains unclear what is necessary for such feedback to be truly engaging and effective. We sought to identify how personalized health-related feedback is most effectively designed and delivered, and how feedback may be tailored to meet the needs of individual patients with diabetes. To do so, we systematically reviewed recent findings concerning the effectiveness of feedback in eight health-related areas, including several specific to diabetes care (blood glucose monitoring and HbA1c) and others which touch on broader care dimensions (blood pressure, cholesterol, dietary intake, pedometer usage, self-weighing, and medical imaging). Five interdependent characteristics of health-related feedback were identified (clarity of the feedback message, personal meaningfulness of the feedback, frequency of feedback, guidance and support accompanying feedback, and interplay between feedback and patient characteristics) and applications for use in diabetes care were provided. Findings suggested that feedback will be most effective when it is easy for patients to understand and is personally meaningful, frequency of feedback is appropriate to the characteristics of the behavior/biomarker, guidance for using feedback is provided, and feedback is qualified by patient characteristics. We suggest that the effectiveness of feedback to promote better diabetes outcomes requires careful consideration of the feedback message, how it is delivered, and characteristics of the recipients.

Universal Network Coding-Based Opportunistic Routing for Unicast

Network coding-based opportunistic routing has emerged as an elegant way to optimize the capacity of lossy wireless multihop networks by reducing the amount of required feedback messages. Most of the works on network coding-based opportunistic routing in the literature assume that the links are independent. This assumption has been invalidated by the recent empirical studies that showed that the correlation among the links can be arbitrary. In this work, we show that the performance of network coding-based opportunistic routing is greatly impacted by the correlation among the links. We formulate the problem of maximizing the throughput while achieving fairness under arbitrary channel conditions, and we identify the structure of its optimal solution. As is typical in the literature, the optimal solution requires a large amount of immediate feedback messages, which is unrealistic. We propose the idea of performing network coding on the feedback messages and show that if the intermediate node waits until receiving only one feedback message from each next-hop node, the optimal level of network coding redundancy can be computed in a distributed manner. The coded feedback messages require a small amount of overhead, as they can be integrated with the packets. Our approach is also oblivious to losses and correlations among the links, as it optimizes the performance without the explicit knowledge of these two factors.

Development and Implementation of an Interactive Text Messaging Campaign to Support Behavior Change in a Childhood Obesity Randomized Controlled Trial

Text messaging is a promising means of intervening on an array of health issues among varied populations, but little has been published about the development of such interventions. The authors describe the development and implementation of an interactive text messaging campaign for parents to support behavior change among children in a childhood obesity randomized controlled trial. The authors invited 160 parents to participate in a text messaging intervention that provided behavior change support in conjunction with health coaching phone calls and mailed materials on behavioral goals. Throughout the 1-year intervention, the authors sent 1–2 text messages per week. The first asked how the child did with a target behavior the day before; parents who replied received an immediate feedback message tailored to their response. The second included a tip about how to work toward a behavioral goal. Baseline surveys indicate that text messaging is a common means of communication for parents, and many are willing to use text messaging to support behavior change for their child. Results at 1 year indicate a high level of engagement with the text messaging intervention, with nearly two thirds responding to 75% or more of the questions they were sent by text.

Prescriber and patient-oriented behavioural interventions to improve use of malaria rapid diagnostic tests in Tanzania: facility-based cluster randomised trial.

BackgroundThe increasing investment in malaria rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) to differentiate malarial and non-malarial fevers, and an awareness of the need to improve case management of non-malarial fever, indicates an urgent need for high quality evidence on how best to improve prescribers’ practices.MethodsA three-arm stratified cluster-randomised trial was conducted in 36 primary healthcare facilities from September 2010 to March 2012 within two rural districts in northeast Tanzania where malaria transmission has been declining. Interventions were guided by formative mixed-methods research and were introduced in phases. Prescribing staff from all facilities received standard Ministry of Health RDT training. Prescribers from facilities in the health worker (HW) and health worker-patient (HWP) arms further participated in small interactive peer-group training sessions with the HWP additionally receiving clinic posters and patient leaflets. Performance feedback and motivational mobile-phone text messaging (SMS) were added to the HW and HWP arms in later phases. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients with a non-severe, non-malarial illness incorrectly prescribed a (recommended) antimalarial. Secondary outcomes investigated RDT uptake, adherence to results, and antibiotic prescribing.ResultsStandard RDT training reduced pre-trial levels of antimalarial prescribing, which was sustained throughout the trial. Both interventions significantly lowered incorrect prescribing of recommended antimalarials from 8% (749/8,942) in the standard training arm to 2% (250/10,118) in the HW arm (adjusted RD (aRD) 4%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1% to 6%; P = 0.008) and 2% (184/10,163) in the HWP arm (aRD 4%; 95% CI 1% to 6%; P = 0.005). Small group training and SMS were incrementally effective. There was also a significant reduction in the prescribing of antimalarials to RDT-negatives but no effect on RDT-positives receiving an ACT. Antibiotic prescribing was significantly lower in the HWP arm but had increased in all arms compared with pre-trial levels.ConclusionsSmall group training with SMS was associated with an incremental and sustained improvement in prescriber adherence to RDT results and reducing over-prescribing of antimalarials to close to zero. These interventions may become increasingly important to cope with the wider range of diagnostic and treatment options for patients with acute febrile illness in Africa.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov (#NCT01292707) 29 January 2011.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0346-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Articulation Work: Insights into examiners' expertise from their remote feedback interactions

This study reports an exploratory reanalysis of data that was collected as part of an earlier project that focused on the remote feedback messages that passed between professional examiners working within an English awarding body[1]. The examiners in this study are contracted by the awarding body to assess the examination performances of students at the end of a two-year course of study that is a precursor to entry to academic courses in UK Universities.This paper takes its title from a play on the word ‘articulate’, which simultaneously references the notion of ‘expressing’ and Schmidt's (2011) concept of articulation as the coordination of interconnected work across individuals. In this way, the paper explores evidence that senior examiner feedback to other examiners embodies both codified and tacit elements of expert examiner work.This project, involving 59 examiners from six post-compulsory education subject areas, uses observation, survey and interview methods to gather information about the characteristics of senior examiner feedback. Focusing specifically on senior examiners who generate feedback, analyses suggest that these feedback interactions give insights into overt and hidden functions of examiner work. As a consequence, the analyses carry implications for the on-going development of the examiner community and the development of expertise.[1] In England, Wales and Northern Ireland educational qualifications are offered by awarding bodies that are recognised by the national body that regulates qualifications and examinations (the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation [Ofqual]).

신뢰성 있는 멀티캐스트 서비스를 위한 스프레딩 코드 기반 피드백 기법

In order to support reliable medium access control (MAC) layer multicast services in Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) networks, we here propose spreading codes (Cumulative ACK (CA) code and ARQ Feedback Request (AFR) code) based reliable multicast feedback scheme. The status indications based on the automatic repeat request (ARQ) mechanism are needed in some multicast services. In accordance with various wireless channel environments, we demonstrate the performance excellency of our proposed scheme with respect to required uplink resources compared with the original feedback scheme based on unicast ARQ feedback messages. In addition, we analyze packet error rate (PER) against the various wireless channel environments.

Field Tests of a Tractor Rollover Detection and Emergency Notification System.

The objective of this research was to assess the feasibility of a rollover detection and emergency notification system for farm tractors using field tests. The emergency notification system was developed based on a tractor stability model and implemented on a mobile electronic device with the iOS operating system. A complementary filter was implemented to combine the data from the accelerometer and gyroscope sensors to improve their accuracies in calculating the roll and pitch angles and the roll and pitch rates. The system estimates a stability index value during tractor operation, displays feedback messages when the stability index is lower than a preset threshold value, and transmits emergency notification messages when an overturn happens. Ten tractor rollover tests were conducted on a field track. The developed system successfully monitored the stability of the tractor during all of the tests. The iOS application was able to detect rollover accidents and transmit emergency notifications in the form of a phone call and email when an accident was detected. The system can be a useful tool for training and education in safe tractor operation. The system also has potential for stability monitoring and emergency notification of other on-road and off-road motorized vehicles.

A group intelligence-based asynchronous argumentation learning-assistance platform

Structured argumentation support environments have been built and used in scientific discourse in the literature. However, to the best our knowledge, there is no research work in the literature examining whether student’s knowledge has grown during learning activities with asynchronous argumentation. In this work, an intelligent computer-supported collaborative argumentation-based learning platform that detects whether the learners address the expected discussion issues is proposed. After each learner presents an argument, a term weighting method is adopted to derive input parameters of a one-class support vector machines classifier which determines if the learners’ arguments are related to the discussion topics. Notably, a peer review mechanism is established to improve the quality of the classifier. Besides, a feedback module is used to issue feedback messages to the learners if the learners have gone off on a tangent. The experimental results revealed that the students were benefited by the proposed learning-assistance platform.

A Web-based, computer-tailored smoking prevention program to prevent children from starting to smoke after transferring to secondary school: randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundSmoking prevalence rates among Dutch children increase rapidly after they transit to secondary school, in particular among children with a low socioeconomic status (SES). Web-based, computer-tailored programs supplemented with prompt messages may be able to empower children to prevent them from starting to smoke when they transit to secondary school.ObjectiveThe main aim of this study is to evaluate whether computer-tailored feedback messages, with and without prompt messages, are effective in decreasing children’s smoking intentions and smoking behavior after 12 and 25 months of follow-up.MethodsData were gathered at baseline (T0), and after 12 months (T1) and 25 months (T2) of follow-up of a smoking prevention intervention program called Fun without Smokes. A total of 162 schools were randomly allocated to a no-intervention control group, an intervention prompt group, or an intervention no-prompt group. A total of 3213 children aged 10 to 12 years old participated in the study and completed a Web-based questionnaire assessing their smoking intention, smoking behavior, and sociocognitive factors, such as attitude, social influence, and self-efficacy, related to smoking. After completion, children in the intervention groups received computer-tailored feedback messages in their own email inbox and those messages could be accessed on the intervention website. Children in the prompt group received prompt messages, via email and short message service (SMS) text messaging, to stimulate them to reuse the intervention website with nonsmoking content. Multilevel logistic regression analyses were performed using multiple imputations to assess the program effects on smoking intention and smoking behavior at T1 and T2.ResultsA total of 3213 children participated in the Fun without Smokes study at T0. Between T0 and T1 a total of 1067 children out of the original 3213 (33.21%) dropped out of the study. Between T0 and T2 the number of children that did not participate in the final measurement was 1730 out of the original 3213 (53.84%). No significant program effects were observed for any of the intervention groups compared to the control group at T1 for the intention to engage in smoking—prompt, OR 0.67 (95% CI 0.30-1.50), no-prompt, OR 0.76 (95% CI 0.34-1.67)—or for smoking behavior—prompt, OR 1.13 (95% CI 0.13-9.98), no-prompt, OR 0.50 (95% CI 0.04-5.59). Similar nonsignificant program effects were found at T2 for the intention to start smoking—prompt, OR 0.78 (95% CI 0.26-2.32), no-prompt, OR 1.31 (95% CI 0.45-3.82)—and smoking behavior—prompt, OR 0.53 (95% CI 0.12-2.47), no-prompt, OR 1.01 (95% CI 0.24-4.21).ConclusionsThis study showed that the Web-based, computer-tailored feedback messages with and without prompt messages were not effective in modifying children’s smoking intentions and smoking behavior as compared to no information. Future smoking prevention interventions are recommended to start closer to the age of actual smoking uptake. Furthermore, future studies on Web-based, computer-tailored smoking prevention programs should focus on assessing and controlling exposure to the educational content and the response to the prompt messages.Trial RegistrationNetherlands Trial Register NTR3116; http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=3116 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6O0wQYuPI).

Outage Minimization via Power Adaptation and Allocation in Truncated Hybrid ARQ

In this work, we analyze hybrid ARQ (HARQ) transmission over the independent block fading channel. We consider two scenarios with respect to the message sent by the receiver via the feedback channel: i) “conventional”, one-bit feedback used to inform the transmitter about the decoding success/failure (ACK/NACK), and ii) the multi-bit feedback message, where on top of ACK/NACK, the transmitter is provided with additional information about the state of the receiver. To minimize the outage probability under long-term average and peak power constraints, we cast the problems into the dynamic programming (DP) framework and solve them for Nakagami-m fading channels. An approximate, closed-form solution for the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime is proposed using geometric programming (GP). The obtained results quantify the advantage of the multi-bit feedback over the conventional one-bit approach, and show that the power optimization can provide significant gains over conventional power-constant HARQ transmissions even in the presence of peak-power constraints.

Examining the role of feedback messages in undergraduate students' writing performance during an online peer assessment activity

Although the effectiveness of online peer assessment for writing performance has been documented, some students may not perceive or attain learning benefits due to receiving certain types of feedback messages. This study therefore aims to explore the role of feedback messages in students' writing performance. The feedback messages given by 47 undergraduate students in a three-round online peer assessment review were firstly examined by a series of content analyses regarding the affective, cognitive, and metacognitive aspects of the comments. The influences of the feedback messages on the students' performance progression during the three rounds of review were then explored. The results show that cognitive feedback (e.g.,direct correction) was more helpful for the students' writing learning gains than was affective feedback (e.g., praising comments) and metacognitive feedback (e.g., reflecting comments). However, this effect on the students' performance progression decreased in the last stage of the activity.

A Distributed Multi-Channel Feedbackless MAC Protocol for D2D Broadcast Communications

In Device-to-Device (D2D) broadcast communications, the design of Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is quite challenging since it is urged on alleviating data collision under the constraints of no feedback messages, no central coordination, and half-duplex transmission. We propose a multi-channel MAC protocol for data channel competition. Theoretical and simulation results show that this protocol resolves all channel collisions in only a few iterations. Moreover, the collision resolution time is dominated by the number of channels, rather than the number of D2D transmitters. Thus, even in scenarios with densely-distributed D2D devices, the proposed protocol can guarantee short collision resolution time.

Computer-supported feedback message tailoring: theory-informed adaptation of clinical audit and feedback for learning and behavior change.

BackgroundEvidence shows that clinical audit and feedback can significantly improve compliance with desired practice, but it is unclear when and how it is effective. Audit and feedback is likely to be more effective when feedback messages can influence barriers to behavior change, but barriers to change differ across individual health-care providers, stemming from differences in providers’ individual characteristics.DiscussionThe purpose of this article is to invite debate and direct research attention towards a novel audit and feedback component that could enable interventions to adapt to barriers to behavior change for individual health-care providers: computer-supported tailoring of feedback messages. We argue that, by leveraging available clinical data, theory-informed knowledge about behavior change, and the knowledge of clinical supervisors or peers who deliver feedback messages, a software application that supports feedback message tailoring could improve feedback message relevance for barriers to behavior change, thereby increasing the effectiveness of audit and feedback interventions. We describe a prototype system that supports the provision of tailored feedback messages by generating a menu of graphical and textual messages with associated descriptions of targeted barriers to behavior change. Supervisors could use the menu to select messages based on their awareness of each feedback recipient’s specific barriers to behavior change. We anticipate that such a system, if designed appropriately, could guide supervisors towards giving more effective feedback for health-care providers.SummaryA foundation of evidence and knowledge in related health research domains supports the development of feedback message tailoring systems for clinical audit and feedback. Creating and evaluating computer-supported feedback tailoring tools is a promising approach to improving the effectiveness of clinical audit and feedback.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13012-014-0203-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Examining Fidelity of Web-based Acceptance and Commitment Interventions for Women with Chronic Widespread Pain

Objectives. To examine the protocol adherence to the theoretical background of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in a RCT of a web-based intervention including e-diaries and written personalized feedback delivered via smartphone for persons with chronic widespread pain.Methods. The data consisted of 790 written feedback. A qualitative descriptive design on how ACT and other therapeutic processes were used in the feedback which was applied. The analysis was done with a feedback coding scheme developed employing a combination of an inductive and deductive approach.Results. The coded feedback messages reflected five of the six main ACT processes in addition to communication and motivation strategies. The degree of inter-rater reliability between the researchers coding the feedback, measured by Cohen’s kappa, was 0.790.Conclusions. Based on the level of adherence to ACT-principles the treatment integrity can be judged as high. The developed coding scheme can serve as a basis for coding written therapeutic feedback and thereby serve as a tool for a reliable assessment of the treatment fidelity in ACT based interventions delivered by internet.Practice Implications. Internet-delivered psychological interventions to support people with chronic conditions are increasingly common. Such interventions can be seen as person-centered therapeutic approaches. This study indicates that ACT can reliably be delivered in a written web-based format.

Automatic messaging for improving patients engagement in diabetes management: an exploratory study.

Mobile health systems aiming to promote adherence may cost-effectively improve the self-management of chronic diseases like diabetes, enhancing the compliance to the medical prescription, encouraging and stimulating patients to adopt healthy life styles and promoting empowerment. This paper presents a strategy for m-health applications in diabetes self-management that is based on automatic generation of feedback messages. A feedback assistant, representing the core of architecture, delivers dynamic and automatically updated text messages set up on clinical guideline and patient's lifestyle. Based on this strategy, an m-health adherence system was designed, developed and tested in a small-scale exploratory study with T1DM and T2DM patients. The results indicate that the system could be feasible and well accepted and that its usage increased along with adherence to prescriptions during the 4weeks of the study. A more extensive research is pending to corroborate these outcomes and to establish a clear benefit of the proposed solution.

The Use of mHealth to Deliver Tailored Messages Reduces Reported Energy and Fat Intake

Evidence supports the role of feedback in reinforcing motivation for behavior change. Feedback that provides reinforcement has the potential to increase dietary self-monitoring and enhance attainment of recommended dietary intake. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of daily feedback (DFB) messages, delivered remotely, on changes in dietary intake. This was a secondary analysis of the Self- Monitoring And Recording using Technology (SMART) Trial, a single-center, 24-month randomized clinical trial of behavioral treatment for weight loss. Participants included 210 obese adults (mean body mass index, 34.0 kg/m²) who were randomized to either a paper diary (PD), personal digital assistant (PDA), or PDA plus daily tailored feedback messages (PDA + FB). To determine the role of daily tailored feedback in dietary intake, we compared the self-monitoring with DFB group (DFB group; n = 70) with the self-monitoring without DFB group (no-DFB group, n = 140). All participants received a standard behavioral intervention for weight loss. Self-reported changes in dietary intake were compared between the DFB and no-DFB groups and were measured at baseline and at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Linear mixed modeling was used to examine percentage changes in dietary intake from baseline. Compared with the no-DFB group, the DFB group achieved a larger reduction in energy (-22.8% vs -14.0%; P = .02) and saturated fat (-11.3% vs -0.5%; P = .03) intake and a trend toward a greater decrease in total fat intake (-10.4% vs -4.7%; P = .09). There were significant improvements over time in carbohydrate intake and total fat intake for both groups (P values < .05). Daily tailored feedback messages designed to target energy and fat intake and delivered remotely in real time using mobile devices may play an important role in the reduction of energy and fat intake.

An Intelligent Assessment Mechanism for Online Short Text

In this work, an intelligent online short text assessment mechanism that detects whether the learners address the expected discussion issues is proposed. The concept maps related to the learning topics are first outlined by the instructor. After each learner issues a short text post on the online discussion platform, a feature selection approach is adopted to derive the input parameters of a Support Vector Machines (SVMs) classifier. The classifier then determines if the learners’ posts are related to the concept maps previously outlined by the instructor. Notably, a feedback rule construction mechanism is used to issue feedback messages to learners in cases where the online short text assessment mechanism detects that the learners have strayed astray from the expected learning topics in their posts. The experimental results revealed that the proposed approach achieved very good classification results and verified its effectiveness.

Framing of feedback impacts student's satisfaction, self-efficacy and performance.

Feedback is considered important to acquire clinical skills. Research evidence shows that feedback does not always improve learning and its effects may be small. In many studies, a variety of variables involved in feedback provision may mask either one of their effects. E.g., there is reason to believe that the way oral feedback is framed may affect its effect if other variables are held constant. In a randomised controlled trial we investigated the effect of positively and negatively framed feedback messages on satisfaction, self-efficacy, and performance. A single blind randomised controlled between-subject design was used, with framing of the feedback message (positively-negatively) as independent variable and examination of hearing abilities as the task. First year medical students' (n = 59) satisfaction, self-efficacy, and performance were the dependent variables and were measured both directly after the intervention and after a 2 weeks delay. Students in the positively framed feedback condition were significantly more satisfied and showed significantly higher self-efficacy measured directly after the performance. Effect sizes found were large, i.e., partial η (2) = 0.43 and η (2) = 0.32 respectively. They showed a better performance throughout the whole study. Significant performance differences were found both at the initial performance and when measured 2 weeks after the intervention: effects were of medium size, respectively r = -.31 and r = -.32. Over time in both conditions performance and self-efficacy decreased. Framing the feedback message in either a positive or negative manner affects students' satisfaction and self-efficacy directly after the intervention be it that these effects seem to fade out over time. Performance may be enhanced by positive framing, but additional studies need to confirm this. We recommend using a positive frame when giving feedback on clinical skills.

Individual Factors Affecting Preferences for Feedback Message Tactics in the Contexts of Physical Activity

Tailored feedback on personal physical activity behavior has been used to inform individuals and promote physical activity among different populations. This study aimed to increase the understanding of factors associated with young men's preferences for feedback message tactics in the context of physical activity and exercise. How preferences vary was analyzed in terms of the self-reported physical activity, stage of exercise behavior change, exercise self-efficacy, objectively measured physical health status, and sociodemographic characteristics of young Finnish men. Population-based survey data, including physiological measurements (n = 525), were collected at the Finnish Defence Forces’ call-ups in the city of Oulu, Finland, in September 2011. The results indicate that the stage of exercise behavior change, exercise self-efficacy, physical health status, and educational level are associated with a preference for normative and ipsative comparison. Multivariate logistic regression models show that an advanced stage of exercise behavior change and education in the academic track of an upper secondary school are independent predictors of preferring ipsative and normative physical activity feedback among young men. The study provides new insights into how the stage of behavior change influences health information behavior and is in line with studies emphasizing social factors—including education—as being important in shaping health-related behavior. These factors could form the basis for tailoring information when designing health promotion.