In the context of digital higher education, feedback remains a key tool for learning — but students don’t always take advantage of it.
Researchers Anna Espasa and Teresa Guasch, from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, have published a study in RIED showing that the opportunity to revise academic work based on received feedback significantly increases students’ cognitive engagement.
Through a quasi-experiment involving more than 130 students, they found that those who reviewed and improved their assignments after receiving comments showed greater ability to identify mistakes, apply suggestions, and self-regulate their learning process.
In contrast, students who did not have the chance to revise their work after receiving feedback showed a decline in their ability to understand, read, and actively use that feedback.
The study clearly shows that providing feedback is not enough: it must be built into the course design to have a real impact on learning. In an online environment, where interaction is limited and feedback can easily get lost among messages and submissions, this strategy becomes even more relevant.
The research also highlights unresolved challenges: although formative assessment has gained theoretical traction since the establishment of the European Higher Education Area, it still hasn't been fully implemented in practice.
The authors call for a structural transformation in course design, where feedback becomes a continuous, integrated, and dialogic process rather than a final gesture. Only then will students not only receive comments but also turn them into concrete actions for improvement and lasting learning. Could this be the future model for a more effective, student-centered higher education?
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How to Cite: Espasa-Roca, A., & Guasch-Pascual, T. (2021). How to Engage Students to Take Advantage of Online Feedback. RIED-Revista Iberoamericana De Educación a Distancia, 24(2), 127–148. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.24.2.29107
