Using Smileys in Error Feedback

When students receive error feedback it usually causes a negative emotional response, this in turn can impact learning.  If we could somehow elicit a positive emotional response to error feedback, research suggests that this will increase motivation, enhance the desire to continue on a learning task and promote the use of efficient metacognitive strategies.  In today’s podcast with Dr Annalisa Soncini we discuss how using a simple smiley in written error feedback can nuance the feedback so that the emotional reaction is more positive and the surprising impact this has on a student’s learning experience. 

Annalisa’s paper ‘Supportive error feedback fosters students' adaptive reactions towards errors: Evidence from a targeted online intervention with Italian middle school students’ is open source and can be found on this link: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjep.12679

You can find out more about Hattie’s Visible Learning here: https://visible-learning.org/