Does Immediate Feedback While Doing Homework Improve Learning

In a randomized controlled crossover-“within-subjects” design, 61 seventh grade math students participated. In one condition students received correctness feedback immediately, while doing their homework, while in the other condition, the exact same feedback was delayed, to when they checked their homework the next day in class. The results show that when given feedback immediately students learned more than when receiving the same feedback delayed.

Control- Wait until next day for feedback

Note: The feedback these students received was identical. They just had to wait until they got to class.

Start on paper:

Experiment- immediate feedback at home

This student in the Immediate Feedback condition has done

This is from problem set PSABQRK

Because the teacher had data from the night before this group was able to review the homework with the item report. This clip shows data from 6 of the 14 problems on the homework. Note on the 3rd one that 75% of the student who go it wrong got 24, they imediately knew this due to the condition they were in.

Then on the next day they use iPod touches to check their answers on ASSISTments.

Kehrer, P., Kelly, K. & Heffernan, N. (2013). Does Immediate Feedback While Doing Homework Improve Learning. In Boonthum-Denecke, Youngblood (Eds) Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference, FLAIRS 2013, St. Pete Beach, Florida. May 22-24, 2013. AAAI Press 2013. p 542-545. (More Information) Heffernan recently found that low knowledge students learned more than high knowledge students.