Does corrective feedback influence the use of elaborated feedback in a digital environment?

Abstract

Digital environments are able to provide corrective feedback such as knowledge of response (KR: correct/incorrect) or knowledge of correct response (KCR: the correct answer is X), along with elaborated feedback (EF: explanations). It is common to assume that students process EF, although recent research shows that this is not always the case, probably because of the corrective feedback provided along with EF. The main goal of this study is to analyze the voluntary decision to access EF depending on KR and KCR feedback received immediately after answering questions from a science text. Secondary students received corrective feedback according to the condition assigned: KR, KCR, or control (i.e., non-corrective feedback). Afterwards, all the students could access EF, that included an explanation about the knowledge assessed. Results suggest that receiving KR and KCR feedback decreases the use of EF compared to control feedback, although there are no differences in the final learning.