Adaptive digital feedback and self-regulated learning
A semester-long mixed-methods study found task enjoyment and personalized adaptive feedback central to how university students plan and regulate learning with a digital tool.
Source
Effects of adaptive feedback through a digital tool - a mixed-methods study on the course of self-regulated learning
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Concurrent mixed-methods: quantitative adaptive-feedback trial plus qualitative data
- N
- N=33 · Mean age 26.3 (SD 3.89) university students
- Population
- University students using a digital tool with adaptive feedback
- Outcome
- Learning outcomes under adaptive digital feedback
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Adaptive digital feedback and self-regulated learning
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What SRL phases structure the study’s view of learning?
pre-actional, actional, and post-actional phase
What did the study aim to understand about feedback?
adaptive feedback on students’ SRL
What they did
Researchers embedded an adaptive learning tool (“studybuddy”) in a Swiss university methods course and followed students over a semester using a convergent parallel mixed-methods design. Quantitative SRL measures (n=33) were integrated with qualitative evidence on how learners perceived and used adaptive feedback across SRL phases.
What they found
Quantitative and qualitative strands converged on task-related enjoyment as an important prerequisite for pre-actional planning, with personalized feedback shaping how students integrated guidance into learning actions. The study maps SRL across pre-actional, actional, and post-actional phases in a digital setting.
The limits
What it doesn't show
Authors note the lack of a control group, so effects cannot be definitively attributed to the tool. The small single-course sample limits generalizability beyond this higher-education context.
Key terms
- Self-regulated learning (SRL)
- Planning, monitoring, and adapting one’s own learning processes toward goals.
- Adaptive feedback
- Feedback tailored to a learner’s state or performance rather than one-size-fits-all comments.
- Pre-actional phase
- The planning stage of learning before task performance begins.
- Convergent parallel design
- Collecting qualitative and quantitative data in the same phase and integrating findings.
- studybuddy
- The digital tool used in the course to capture SRL and deliver adaptive feedback.
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What was studybuddy used for?
Common questions
What tool delivered the feedback?
A digital tool called studybuddy used in a methods course.
How many students were in the quantitative sample?
33 students (mean age 26.3).
What emotion mattered for planning?
Task-related enjoyment was highlighted as important for pre-actional planning.
Can we say the tool caused better SRL?
Not definitively—the authors caution there was no control group.
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