Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

• M. Javadipour
• F. Seraji
• F. Rezaei

Department of Curriculum Development and Instruction Methods, Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Students' exposure to frequent teacher feedback is identified as one of the primary educational resources in e-learning. The role of feedback in the electronic environment encompasses the social perspective and human relationships in feedback, feedback related to the student's learning process, and the reception of substantive feedback. This article focuses on the power of feedback in relation to e-learning and the methods that can make it more effective. In this context, feedback is conceptualized as information provided by an agent (e.g., teacher, peer, book, parent, self, experience) regarding aspects of an individual's performance or understanding. In e-learning, feedback is often delivered from the "system" rather than an actual person. In e-learning, as in other occupational and educational environments, receiving feedback is crucial for the learners who enrolled in online courses, as it allows them to identify, improve, and correct their errors along the way, enabling the achievement of ultimate goals. In some instances, it may not be possible to request explanations or delve deeper into a subject, although the presence of messages and groups in the online course serves as a valuable resource in this regard. Therefore, for a student in a digital course, receiving feedback, much like in traditional learning, is vital for determining whether understanding of various topics is complete or requires further depth. This represents a mutual exchange between students, teachers, and e-learning course developers. This research sought to examine the quality and quantity of feedback in e-learning, the challenges of giving and receiving feedback in e-learning, as well as strategies for enhancing the desirability of feedback in the electronic environment.
Methods: The present study was based on a qualitative research method and a phenomenological approach. The data for this research were grounded in the lived experiences of teachers and students who had participated in e-learning courses, classes, and units in schools. Participants were selected using the snowball sampling method. A total of 21 participants were included, comprising 9 teachers of e-learning courses and 12 students with experience in e-learning courses in schools, who were selected and interviewed. After collecting the completed forms, the interview texts were refined, reread, categorized, and findings were presented using qualitative content analysis techniques. In this research, the data derived from notes taken during the interviews were read line by line. Subsequently, key concepts and statements were extracted, topics and sub-topics were formed, and were ultimately categorized.
Findings: The results of conducting interviews throughout this research led to the identification of four main themes and 20 sub-themes regarding the process of providing and receiving feedback in e-learning. This indicates that every educational program, both during the planning and implementation phases, must pay attention to these aspects in order to achieve its educational objectives.
Conclusion: According to the interviews conducted with the participants in this research, the positive and constructive impacts of feedback in the e-learning environment were highlighted. Furthermore, challenges and problems in the process of feedback exchange between teachers and learners were identified, which would made detrimental effects on teaching-learning activities. It is evident that if this crucial issue remains unresolved, learners will face challenges in the teaching and learning process.

Keywords

• Feedback
• E-learning
• Teacher-Learner
• Electronic Platform

Main Subjects

• Electronic learning- virtual

COPYRIGHTS 
© 2025 The Author(s).  This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)