Using Dialogic Feedback to Create Learning Communities During COVID-19: Lessons for Future Teacher Development

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic substantively impacted educational processes and posed urgent questions regarding how teachers can adapt their practices to create supportive learning communities in online environments. The purpose of this study was to understand how teachers provided dialogic feedback using technologies to create learning communities despite the unexpected switch to online learning during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Ten pre-service teachers and six in-service teachers were interviewed to understand their experiences using technology-assisted feedback during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Our findings show that the focus of feedback shifted during the pandemic. Over time, both teachers and students became more comfortable navigating online environments, going from self-level feedback that provided little support for learning to using technologies in innovative ways to create opportunities for dialogue around feedback and learning. We provide directions for future research and suggestions on how these findings can inform the creation of teacher training opportunities.