Web viewLam, C. F., DeRue, D. S., Karam, E. P., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2011). The impact of feedback frequency on learning and task performance:

EFFECT OF FEEDBACK CHANGES ON TIMELY COMPLETION OF GROUP

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1

Effect of Frequency of Feedback and Number of Group Members Present for Feedback

on Timely Completion of Group Project Products

Ruthie Gronenthal

Seattle Pacific University


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2

Introduction

Group projects are a great way to encourage collaboration and teamwork with

students, but often cause lots of grief for both students and teachers. Students are focused

on getting good grades, and there is usually a range of motivation levels across the

different students in a group. There are students who want to do everything themselves,

there are students who don’t want to do anything, and there are some in-between. Even in

a magnet STEM high school with highly motivated students, different motivation levels

are apparent in my students when working in a group.

My 10th grade biology students are working on an interdisciplinary group project

called The Environmental Challenge Project. This project is in conjunction with Sea-Tac

Airport, and students are to solve a problem presented by the airport that changes yearly.

The group home base is their English classes, so when we see our students for biology

they may have some group members present during class, but some have no group

members present with them during their biology class period. However, the biology

period is where students have most of their work time, and the class where students focus

on the data products for their project proposals.

With the factors of varying motivation levels and missing group members, timely

and effective feedback is very important for student success in this project. This project

requires very little direct instruction, and creates the role of teacher as facilitator in the

classroom. In years past, my mentor teacher has noticed that missing group members


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3have been a problem for facilitating feedback that all students in the group have access to,

resulting in one member doing most of the work for the data products. Varying levels of

motivation and different number of group members present have resulted in missed

deadlines and unfinished products from student groups. This led me to ask, does the

frequency of feedback given and the amount of group members present for feedback

affect the quality and on time turn in rate of the products for group projects?

Literature Review

To answer these questions, I needed to investigate if frequency of feedback

affects student success, as well as group success despite missing group members.

Relevant research shows that not only types of feedback, but also the frequency of the

feedback can affect the success rate of students in the classroom. Research also shows

that students who work in groups are less likely to feel isolated or frustrated, and more

likely to be motivated to work. This can result in higher student achievement when

working with others, compared to working alone.

Feedback Frequency

The amount of feedback that an instructor gives to students can make or break a

student’s success. Feedback can give students the tools they need to achieve in whatever

they are working on, but can also overwhelm a student very easily. Feedback can

improve the work of a student who did not perform well to try and avoid failure, as well

as those who are working well and are encouraged by the feedback. However, feedback

can also discourage an underdog who isn’t doing well, and students who hear they are

ahead with their work can stop working prematurely based on the feedback they are


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4receiving from instructors (De Paola & Scoppa, 2011). Thus, it is important that feedback

is both encouraging and helpful for student success. According to a study done on high

school students in Spain, students who are told whether or not they are doing well in their

classes are more likely to get better grades (De Paola & Scoppa, 2011). Feedback is an

important aspect of student success, but teachers must be careful in how they give

feedback to students. Too much feedback or the wrong kind of feedback can be counter-

intuitive to student success.

So how much feedback is too much feedback? According to my research, no sure

amount has been set for too much feedback. Frequent use of positive feedback directed

towards student work has been linked to high percentage rates of student on-task

behavior (Apter, Arnold, & Swinson, 2010). This is evidence that teacher feedback can

have a strong influence on student success, and thus must be careful that the feedback is

positive and encouraging, as well as helpful and purpose-driven.

However, other research states that too much feedback can cause more harm than

good for students. According to Lam et al. (2011), “…feedback can divert cognitive

resources away from on-task activities such as learning, and toward self-regulatory or

off-task activities that can impede performance improvement.” This is an interesting

concept, that feedback can be distracting and sidetrack focus away from the task at hand.

Teachers must be careful about how much and what kind of feedback they give to

students to keep them on task and encouraged to get the job done. We must find the

“optimum’’ level of feedback frequency for different people, and not merely assume that

more feedback is always better for learning. (Lam et al, 2011).” Therefore, I must find


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5the perfect amount of feedback to give to my students during this project to help students

succeed without distracting or changing their focus away from the task at hand.

Group Work and Feedback

During most projects, all members of a group are present to work together on

their assignments. However, during this project, not one group is entirely present with all

members in the class. This means any feedback given to students during the class period

is not always given to most group members, and thus some members may be informed

while others are not. This can result in inconsistent communication across the group, and

student success can be impacted. This also means that students have to find time outside

of class to work together on their project. However, according to Roberge & Gagnon

(2012), coordinating meeting times is hard due to after school activities, transportation,

family responsibilities, and other difficulties, and can result in entire-group failure. That’s

why it is important for teachers to provide as much in-class work time as possible.

Students who work in groups are more likely to have expanded thinking and more

developed products for assignments. A study done by Williamson (2006) showed that

students feel isolated and frustrated when working alone, while those who work in groups

felt more confident and motivated. I wonder if this will affect those students in my

classroom who are isolated, with no other group members in the class with them. There

are several students in each of my classes that don’t have any of their group members in

the class with them. Having only one group member present to receive feedback may

frustrate those students, and I want to see if there is any affect on student products for the

project with only one group member present for feedback.


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6Even if not every group member is present, it is important as a teacher to be

available for students, no matter what the group arrangement is. Roberge & Gagnon

(2012) also recommend that teachers make themselves available to students as much as

possible to “provide additional reassurance that the work is meaningful and fruitful.”

However, they also caution that too much feedback can take away from the creative

group work process.

Conclusion

This brings us back to the question, at what point do teachers cross the line into

too much feedback? This is a tough question, and I’m not sure that I will find the answer

to this question during this research. However, by exploring the affect on two different

groups, I hope to discover whether everyday feedback on a group project is beneficial

compared to weekly feedback. Along those lines, I am hoping to discover if the number

of group members present for feedback affects student success with group project

products. Research says that students who are isolated can be frustrated with their work,

and I want to see if I see similar results with my students.

Methodology

Since the home base for the project is in their English classes, students will only

be meeting with their entire groups during that class. Thus, no group in our class periods

will be there with all their group members. Our biology classes are focusing on the data

collection portion of their projects, and as teachers we will be facilitating feedback on the

products for this data for students. Students are arranged in their groups through their

English classes, so in our biology classes the students are randomly placed, with some


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7groups having 3-4 members of their group in the class and others only having one person.

Each team has one data analyst, and each data analysts have to have biology as a class.

Therefore, since our class focuses on data and the data analysts are in our classes at some

point, we will check in with the data analyst for each team when they are in our class

period, along with any class members present with their data analysts.

The modifications will occur during different periods. Since our first period class

has only 4 data analysts in the period, we chose to use this period as the frequent check-in

class for the ease of being able to check in with students every day. Each day during work

time that isn’t a conference day, we will do a check-in with each data analyst on their

project products using the rubrics as a guide for feedback. Our students that are data

analysts without other members of their group present are in second period, so this is

where the individual feedback modification will occur. They are the only members of

their groups that will be present for the feedback, but they will receive the same amount

and kind of feedback as other groups in their period. The groups in third and fourth

period will receive the same amount of feedback and all groups in those two periods have

other group members present for their feedback.

Feedback is given based on a rubric created by my mentor teacher. The rubric

focuses on presenting each group’s solution to the Environmental Challenge Problem in a

way that is clear and accurate. Formal conferences with each group occurred on due dates

for each product, for both rough drafts and final drafts of each product. These

conferences happened 1-2 times per week.

Proposal for Data Collection and Analysis


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8Evidence for student success will be evident on whether or not students meet the

deadlines set out for each conference. Students can only meet deadlines if their work is

acceptable-if work is not up to rubric expectations, they do not meet the deadlines. Since

all students are graded on the same rubric, student success should be an equal

measurement for each group. I will provide results for a survey with qualitative data of

student experience with the project. I will also provide success deadline data for students

with feedback received every day and students with only one group member present for

feedback. I will collect data at each conference day, and data will be recorded on a

Google spreadsheet. Data will be analyzed by percentage of groups meeting deadlines,

and qualitative results will be reported and analyzed by positive and negative reactions.

Data Collection and Analysis

Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected for research purposes.

Student survey results serve as my qualitative data, which was collected at the end of the

experiment through a Google form survey given to students who were a part of group

conferences at one point. This allowed me to see student perception of feedback from the

assignment. The quantitative data comes from a calculated percentage of times that

students were able to meet their deadlines. For example, if they were only able to meet 4

out of 5 deadlines on time, they had an 80% on-time meeting percentage.

Changes in the methodology for this proposal must be noted. First of all, because

of guest speakers and other conflicts in our schedule, we were not able to meet with

groups in first period everyday as planned. However, we met with the teams in first

period as much as possible, and therefore kept the condition that those groups received


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9more frequent feedback. Another modification was the ability to meet conditions for late.

If a student didn’t meet a deadline on time but did meet it later, it was noted as “late” on

the data collection sheet, but still interpreted as not meeting the deadline.

Quantitative Data

A summary of the quantitative data can be found in appendix A. I summarized in

tables the percentage of on-time meetings by group for each class period. The data from

these tables were taken from a Google Docs sheet where my mentor teacher and I

recorded whether a group met the requirements for the specific deadline. For the groups

in second period where there was only one student present for conferences, I changed

their box in the team number column to purple to set apart those groups. For the due dates

where groups met their deadlines, I colored those boxes green. For the late deadlines, I

colored those boxes yellow, and for deadlines not met at all, I colored those boxes red.

This was done for each deadline set out for the project-5 in total.

Review of this data shows a few interesting trends that should be noted. First of

all, the class that was given more feedback (period 1) and the class that only had one

group member present for feedback (period 2) had 40% of groups failed to meet at least

one deadline for the project in each class. Also interesting to note, two out of the three

groups that only had one group member present for feedback (period 2) failed to meet at

least one deadline. Both classes that had modifications had lower percentages of on-time

meetings compared to the classes with no modifications, and there were a high

percentage of groups with only one member present that failed to meet at least one

deadline. Over the course of the project, it was shown through the data that the absence of


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10group members during conferences and extra conferences resulted in groups that had

lower rates of completion for all deadlines.

There are a couple facts that should be noted for statistical reasons. First, all

periods except period four had at least one team that failed to meet at least one deadline

for the project over the five conference due dates. Also, because first and second periods

were the smallest classes, there were fewer groups in those classes compared to periods

three and four. This decreases the sample size for those periods and makes it seem like

there are more groups that were not successful in meeting deadlines out of those classes.

In reality, however, the same number of groups missed deadlines in periods one, two, and

three. While I still believe that there is some significance in the data from periods one and

two, these points must be taken into account.

Qualitative Data

A summary of the qualitative data taken from the survey that was given to

students at the end of the project can be found in appendix B. Qualitative data was taken

from a survey with four questions that anyone that was present for conferences could

take, including students who were not data analysts on their teams. Questions were asked

in the form of choosing the most appropriate answer to their feelings, and then students

had the option of adding comments about each of those questions. In appendix B, you

will find the list of questions, along with the percentages of each answer given by

students, arranged by class period. I also listed all comments given by students for each

question, along with the period represented by each comment.


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11Interestingly, student survey data does not support the research given. For

example, question two asks about the frequency of feedback given to each group. In

period one, which received more frequent feedback, 75% of students surveyed strongly

agreed that the feedback they received was enough for them to do well, and 25% agreed

with that statement. The only two comments received for that question were both from

students in period one, and they both had positive things to say about the frequency of the

feedback given, with one student even remarking that “the amount didn’t overwhelm me

and it gave me time to fix things, but it also wasn't spread out too far apart so we would

forget our previous conferences.” If the frequency of feedback negatively impacted

student achievement, I would have expected more negative answers for this question

from students.

Qualitative data about group members present for conferences seem to support the

research that more group members present gives more success for students. In period

two, which had the groups with only one group member present, 25% of students replied

that their feelings were neutral or they disagreed that the number of group members

present for conferences were helpful for their group to do well. Comments for that

question were widespread across all periods, with some students saying that having other

group members helped them to be more accountable to meeting their deadlines and other

students saying that having other group members present was not essential for their

success. Overall, this data lined up more with research on the topic.

Again, certain facts need to be kept in mind with this data. First of all, not all

students who were a part of group conferences were able to take the survey. Due to


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12timing with state standardized testing, there were a fraction of students who missed class

on the day the survey was given and did not make it up. Also, this survey was voluntary-

students were not required to complete the survey, and thus lower response numbers

occurred. I believe this data would have been more conclusive if more students had

responded.

Summary of Results

The initial question for this research related the frequency of feedback given to

students during a group project and the amount of group members present for feedback to

student success based upon quality and on-time turn in rate. From the data collected, I

found that increased frequency of feedback could have a negative affect on student on-

time turn in rate. According to the quantitative data, students in the class that received

more frequent feedback were slightly more likely to miss more than one deadline for their

project. My data also strongly suggests that giving feedback to single group members,

rather than multiple group members, increases the likelihood that these groups will not be

as successful in meeting deadlines. Two-thirds of students that only had one partner

present for feedback failed to meet two deadlines, and qualitative data shows that

students liked having their other group members with them to help them remember

deadlines and to keep them accountable.

Related literature shows that too much feedback can hinder student’s performance

for various reasons (De Paola & Scoppa, 2011; Lam et al, 2011). I found that giving

feedback to my students on an almost-daily basis caused students to be more likely to

miss deadlines for this project. This was consistent with the current research. However,


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13according to qualitative data, students were generally happy with the amount of feedback

they received, both in the class with extra feedback and in all other classes.

Additionally, the literature states that showed that students feel isolated and

frustrated when working alone, while those who work in groups felt more confident and

motivated (Williamson, 2006). My research agreed with this literature. Two-thirds of

students that only had one partner present for feedback failed to meet two deadlines-only

four other groups in other classes failed to meet two deadlines (see appendix A)!

Qualitative data for this research also shows that students liked having their other group

members with them to help them remember deadlines and keep accountable to their other

group members. Students that had other group members present for data were more likely

to do well and feel supported as they worked towards the goals of the project.

Based on my results, I conclude that increased feedback for student projects can

negatively impact student success. I also conclude that isolating students during feedback

can negatively impact student success for group projects. Increasing the frequency of

feedback for students caused more groups to miss at least on deadline in their project, and

therefore negatively impacting student success. Also, giving feedback to groups where

only one member of the group was present caused two-thirds of these groups to miss at

least two deadlines on their project-a large indicator of negative impact on student

success. The changes made during this research caused more students to become

unsuccessful in their work, as well as causing students to feel overwhelmed, isolated, and

unmotivated. This caused students to be less successful.

Implications and Next Steps


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14While overall my research methods were appropriate, there are several critical

details that must be taken into account. First, my classes had different numbers of groups

in each class, with the classes where modifications took place having fewer groups in the

classes than my control classes. This caused the data in those smaller classes to have a

smaller sample size, and therefore results for those two classes were more impactful.

Another way to look at this is that periods one, two, and three all had the same number of

groups that missed at least two deadlines, but these groups represent a higher percentage

of groups from periods one and two, compared to period three, because period three had

more groups.

Another product I wish I had for data purposes is for the more frequent feedback

period. I did not take any record of what happened during those extra feedback sessions,

or how often they happened. I believe that this extra data would have allowed me to see

direct results of extra feedback on student success, rather than just the on-time meeting

percentage that was calculated at the end of the research.

I believe two changes to my results would have given more accurate data. First of

all, having a more equal distribution of group members across all periods would have

allowed me to compare data with other classes in a more accurate manner. If each period

would have had almost the same number of groups, then I could compare the number of

groups missing deadlines for each class more accurately. A larger pool of data would

have also helped with this issue. Secondly, if I had applied statistical methods to my

quantitative data, I could say whether or not my results were significantly correct or


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15incorrect, but without the p value associated with my results the statistical significance

cannot be concluded.

This study has caused me to see that contrary to belief, more frequent feedback as

well as separating group members for giving feedback can have negative affects on

student success on group projects. Important implications for future research included

figuring out how much feedback is too much feedback. We know from this experiment

that giving feedback to groups at every change possible is a negative influence on student

success, but at what point does the frequency of feedback given change from a positive to

a negative influence? I would like to continue research on this question by giving group

feedback on a more consistent schedule in the future, and changing the feedback schedule

slightly for different periods to have more consistent data on this research. In light of the

results on individual vs group feedback, my mentor teacher has decided to advocate for

the biology class to be the home base for this project next year, so all group members can

be present for data analysis and feedback. I also plan to use these results in my own

classroom by planning group instruction around all group members being present. I have

seen the negative impact that lack of communication and isolation can have on group

members, and my future teaching practices will prevent these issues as much as possible.


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16References

De Paola, M., & Scoppa, V. (2011). Frequency of examinations and student achievement

in a randomized experiment. Economics of Education Review, 30, 1416–1429.

Apter, B., Arnold, C., & Swinson, J. (2010). A mass observation study of student and

teacher behaviour in British primary classrooms. Educational Psychology in

Practice, 26(2), 151–171.

Lam, C. F., DeRue, D. S., Karam, E. P., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2011). The impact of

feedback frequency on learning and task performance: Challenging the ‘‘more is

better’’ assumption. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,

116, 217–228.

Roberge, G. D., & Gagnon, L. L. (2012). Are Two Minds Better than One? Creativity

and Teacher Education. Education Canada, 52(4), 33.

Williamson, V. (2006). Group and Individual Work. Mathematics Teaching

Incorporating Micromath, 195, 42-45.


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17Appendix A: Quantitative Data

Period 1

Table showing on-time meeting percentage for all deadlines of the ECP for groups in my first period class. This class had groups where we checked in with groups the most frequently.

Period 2

Table showing on-time meeting percentage for all deadlines of the ECP for groups in my second period class. This class had groups where only one group member was present, which is represented here in the purple highlighted team number.

Period 3

Table showing on-time meeting percentage for all deadlines of the ECP for groups in my third period class. This class had normal conditions for group members present and the amount of feedback given.

Period 4

Table showing on-time meeting percentage for all deadlines of the ECP for groups in my fourth period class. This class had normal conditions for group members present and the amount of feedback given.


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18Appendix B: Qualitative Data

Question 1: I feel like the amount of feedback I got on the data analyst products for the ECP was sufficient for our group members to do well.

Period Strongly Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

1 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%2 100% 0% 0% 0% 0%3 33% 33% 33% 0% 0%4 50% 33% 16.67% 0% 0%

Comments: “I was able to get constructive feedback on my graphs, the labels, and the discussion of the graphs, in order to make them more understandable.” (Period 1) “There was a lot of helpful feedback I got from Ms. G, it was awesome! It helped us a lot in our data success.” (Period 1)“Very helpful in helping me organize my brainstormed ideas.” (Period 2)“Very thoughtful responses and help.” (Period 3)“Our graphs definitely improved after we took your advice into account. Thanks!” (Period 4)

Question 2: I feel like the frequency of feedback I got on the data analyst products for the ECP was often enough for our group members to do well.



1 75% 25% 0% 0% 0%2 62.5% 37.5% 0% 0% 0%3 33% 33% 33% 0% 0%4 66.67% 33.33% 0% 0% 0%

Comments: “I was able to conference with my teachers multiple times per week, if needed, and I had more than enough time to make edits and revisions to them. This way, my team members and I were on top of the graphs and we all knew what was expected for the next conference.” (Period 1)“The amount of conferences was great because the amount didn’t overwhelm me and it gave me time to fix things, but it also wasn't spread out too far apart so we would forget our previous conferences.” (Period 1)

Question 3: I feel like the number of group members present for conferences for the data analyst roles was helpful for my group to do well.


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19



1 25% 75% 0% 0% 0%2 50% 25% 12.5% 12.5% 0%3 33% 33% 33% 0% 0%4 66.67% 16.67% 0% 16.67% 0%

Comments:“It was very nice to have a team member present during the conferences with a teacher, but that it wouldn't have needed to be essential for success.” (Period 1)“I think that having my partner with me helped me to stay accountable as well as helping me to write the A2, B2, C2...” (Period 1)“I was the only one, but it worked out well and I was able to discuss the graphs with my group members in other classes.” (Period 2)“I was the only one there (in response to disagreeing with question 3).” (Period 2)“Our actual analyst did not meet all the deadlines even though we assisted his work (in response to answering neutral to question 3).” (Period 4)

Question 4: I feel like the due dates for data analyst products were fair and helped my group to succeed.



1 50% 50% 0% 0% 0%2 62.5% 25% 12.5% 0% 0%3 0% 66.67% 33.33% 0% 0%4 50% 33.33% 0% 16.67% 0%

Comments:“My team had plenty of time to research data, put it into graphs, make revisions, and write discussions.” (Period 1)“I felt the due dates were perfect! And pushed me to get things done and have them be quality because I was showing them to a real outside my group person.” (Period 1)“The due dates were really close together.” (Period 1)“I got them done on time, but a little extra time for me to make changes would have helped.” (Period 2)“Our analyst did not perform his assignments adequately.” (Period 4)

Appendix C: Rubric Used for Grading Deadlines


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20Team Members: _________________________________________________________________ Team #________Environmental Challenge Project: Using Data as Evidence in Your Proposal Data A1: Graphs/Tables/Charts Appendix A: SeaTac Transportation DataTitle of Graph/ Table/Chart: ______________________________________________________________________ Presenting the Data Check Teacher FeedbackPresent the data in the appropriate format. The type of graph or chart used makes sense for that data.Present tables and graphs neatly. They are easy to read.Include a descriptive title.Label the axes of each graph completely and/or provide a key if necessary. Use correct units where appropriateWrite a short descriptive caption for each figure that includes info about the source of that data.Do NOT include any discussion of results here.


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21Data A2: Written Analysis of Data

Analyzing the Data (Discussion) Check Teacher FeedbackDescribe the main point or purpose you want to make with this graph/table/chart. Think about what question you are trying to answer with this data and answer it in the first sentence with a solid statement.Refer to specific results/ trends/data points that support your proposal (cite the figure you are referencing, ie. Figure 1 shows…) and use actual numbers or quantitative data in your writing.Give the reasoning for your conclusions and explain how it supports and/or informs your proposed solution to the problem.Make connections between this data and the problem you are trying to solve OR make comparisons of this data with other research/data. Explain how it relates to the airport’s goals.


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22Data B1: Graphs/Tables/Charts Appendix B: Environmental Impact(s)Title of Graph/ Table/Chart: ______________________________________________________________________ Presenting the Data Check Teacher FeedbackPresent the data in the appropriate format. The type of graph or chart used makes sense for that data.Present tables and graphs neatly. They are easy to read.Include a descriptive title.Label the axes of each graph completely and/or provide a key if necessary. Use correct units where appropriateWrite a short descriptive caption for each figure that includes info about the source of that data.Do NOT include any discussion of results here.


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23

Data B2: Written Analysis of Data



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24

Data C1: Graphs/Tables/Charts Appendix C: Budget (short/long-term)Title of Graph/ Table/Chart: ______________________________________________________________________ Presenting the Data Check Teacher FeedbackPresent the data in the appropriate format. The type of graph or chart used makes sense for that data.Present tables and graphs neatly. They are easy to read.Include a descriptive title.Label the axes of each graph completely and/or provide a key if necessary. Use correct units where appropriateWrite a short descriptive caption for each figure that includes info about the source of that data.Do NOT include any discussion of results here.


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25

Data C2: Written Analysis of Data


Documents

Web viewLam, C. F., DeRue, D. S., Karam, E. P., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2011). The impact of feedback frequency on learning and task performance: