Feedback in an Age of Efficiency

Fuente: ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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Main Author: Nichols, T. Philip
Format: Recurso educativo Open Access
Language:en
Published: 2012
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author Nichols, T. Philip
author_facet Nichols, T. Philip
Nichols, T. Philip
collection Education Resources Information Center
contents Feedback in an Age of Efficiency Nichols, T. Philip Student Evaluation Artificial Intelligence Feedback (Response) Classroom Techniques Interaction Evaluation Methods Teacher Student Relationship Classroom Environment Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor at MIT, designed ELIZA in 1964 as an experiment in artificial intelligence. ELIZA was constructed with a library of ready-made questions that could be summoned at a moment's notice in response to human input. When users' statements fell outside the program's scripting, ELIZA could adapt by rephrasing the words into a question that demanded further elaboration. ELIZA was a sensation in the computer science community, but Weizenbaum's own reaction was tempered by his observations of how people interacted with his invention. According to Weizenbaum (1984), people seemed to forget that the machine could not really understand them. Although the calculated feedback of the computer imitated genuine human response, it lacked the intention and spontaneity of true interpersonal interaction. The ELIZA project illustrates how easy it is to conflate technical feedback with meaningful response. This has significant implications in the classroom--especially in the 21st century, when there are rubrics to justify student grades, online services to analyze student writing, classroom management software to calculate student progress, and standardized tests to compare student performance. The digital age has enabled everyone to make just about every instructional teacher-student interaction quantifiable, systematic, and scalable. But at what cost? Has the desire for increased efficiency and objectivity in assessment conditioned teachers, students, and parents to be satisfied with technical calculations that lack the nuance of meaningful human feedback? And if so, how might teachers begin restoring personal, dialectical response to student learning? These questions are addressed in this article.
format Recurso educativo Open Access
id eric_EJ1002445
institution ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
language en
publishDate 2012
record_format eric
spellingShingle Feedback in an Age of Efficiency
Nichols, T. Philip
Student Evaluation
Artificial Intelligence
Feedback (Response)
Classroom Techniques
Interaction
Evaluation Methods
Teacher Student Relationship
Classroom Environment
Feedback in an Age of Efficiency Nichols, T. Philip Student Evaluation Artificial Intelligence Feedback (Response) Classroom Techniques Interaction Evaluation Methods Teacher Student Relationship Classroom Environment Joseph Weizenbaum, a professor at MIT, designed ELIZA in 1964 as an experiment in artificial intelligence. ELIZA was constructed with a library of ready-made questions that could be summoned at a moment's notice in response to human input. When users' statements fell outside the program's scripting, ELIZA could adapt by rephrasing the words into a question that demanded further elaboration. ELIZA was a sensation in the computer science community, but Weizenbaum's own reaction was tempered by his observations of how people interacted with his invention. According to Weizenbaum (1984), people seemed to forget that the machine could not really understand them. Although the calculated feedback of the computer imitated genuine human response, it lacked the intention and spontaneity of true interpersonal interaction. The ELIZA project illustrates how easy it is to conflate technical feedback with meaningful response. This has significant implications in the classroom--especially in the 21st century, when there are rubrics to justify student grades, online services to analyze student writing, classroom management software to calculate student progress, and standardized tests to compare student performance. The digital age has enabled everyone to make just about every instructional teacher-student interaction quantifiable, systematic, and scalable. But at what cost? Has the desire for increased efficiency and objectivity in assessment conditioned teachers, students, and parents to be satisfied with technical calculations that lack the nuance of meaningful human feedback? And if so, how might teachers begin restoring personal, dialectical response to student learning? These questions are addressed in this article.
title Feedback in an Age of Efficiency
topic Student Evaluation
Artificial Intelligence
Feedback (Response)
Classroom Techniques
Interaction
Evaluation Methods
Teacher Student Relationship
Classroom Environment
url https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1002445