A technology using feedback to manage experience based learning

Abstract

The aim was to establish how ICT could apply feedback principles to experience based learning. Based on a survey of student and staff requirements, we developed a personalized educational technology (‘iSUS’) that: (1) Made students clear what they should learn; (2) Helped them meet appropriate real patients; (3) Encouraged reflective feedback; (4) Calculated benchmarks from accumulated feedback; (5) Compared individual students’ feedback against those benchmarks; (6) Matched clinical activities to curriculum objectives; (7) Gave feedback to teachers and course leads. Bench testing proved the system usable. During seven weeks of real time use, a whole year group of 111 students feedback on 1183 learning episodes. Five hundred and forty-one (46%) of feedback episodes were self initiated. We have successfully prototyped an application of feedback principles to experience based learning that students seem to find useful.