Method: Undergraduate pre-service teachers taught three, four-lesson units. The researcher provided teachers with three different types of feedback (no feedback, feedback immediately following a lesson, and feedback during a lesson). The delivery of the feedback was conducted via electronic mail and via mobile technology (two-way radio with in-ear headphones).
Analysis/Results: Semi-structured interviews were used to determine reactions to each feedback delivery and feedback timing. Students reported a higher preference to electronic feedback provided at the completion of each lesson. While the immediate feedback was found to be beneficial, the delivery via two-way radio was found to be distracting and complicated and w the least favorite form of feedback. The no-feedback frustrated students, but did lead to self-reflective strategies and development of peer feedback.
Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that pre-service teachers desire feedback. While feedback provided during the lesson was found to be helpful, the delivery of the feedback was distracting and disrupted the flow of the lesson. Further use of this technology may improve this form of delivery, possibly with the use of pre-determined cues and redirection that would require less cognitive distraction.