INVESTIGATING HOW BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE STUDENTS MANAGE THE EMOTIONAL EFFECT OF FEEDBACK IN AUTONOMOUS LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Abstract
KEYWORDS: feedback literacy, emotion regulation, autonomous learning, biomedical science
SUBTHEME: Other
BACKGROUND
Managing the emotional impact of feedback is crucial for students to succeed at university (Carless & Boud, 2018). This ability to regulate their emotions is vital, as engaging with feedback significantly influences students’ motivation and performance in autonomous learning environments (Carless & Boud, 2018). Effective emotion regulation is key to navigating such emotionally charged situations and making informed decisions (Leenknecht & Carless, 2023). This study aims to explore how students manage emotions when asking for and/or receiving feedback in autonomous learning environments, shedding light onto the emotional aspects of feedback literacy.
METHODS
Biomedical Science students enrolled in a second-year physiology course (n=616) in Semester 1, 2024 were asked to describe their emotions towards asking for and receiving feedback. Consenting students’ (73%) responses were subjected to inductive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022).
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Students reported a wide range of both positive and negative emotions towards asking for and receiving feedback, with negative emotions being more prevalent than positive emotions. Feeling anxious was the most common negative emotion whilst relief was the frequently cited positive emotion. By understanding and addressing emotional responses to feedback, educators can enhance students’ abilities to handle challenges and improve their lifelong learning skills through future interventions (Liu et al., 2022).
REFERENCES
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Conceptual and Design Thinking for Thematic Analysis. Qualitative psychology (Washington, D.C.), 9(1), 3-26. https://doi.org/10.1037/qup0000196
Carless, D., & Boud, D. (2018). The development of student feedback literacy: enabling uptake of feedback. Assessment and evaluation in higher education, 43(8), 1315-1325. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2018.1463354
Leenknecht, M. J. M., & Carless, D. (2023). Students’ feedback seeking behaviour in undergraduate education: A scoping review. Educational research review, 40, 100549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100549
Liu, H.-L., Wang, T.-H., Lin, H.-C. K., Lai, C.-F., & Huang, Y.-M. (2022). The Influence of Affective Feedback Adaptive Learning System on Learning Engagement and Self-Directed Learning. Front Psychol, 13, 858411-858411. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.858411
Proceedings of the Australian Conference on Science and Mathematics Education, The University of Canberra, 18 – 19 September 2024, page X, ISSN Number TBA.