Format of Instructor Feedback on Student Writing Assignments Affects Feedback Quality and Student Performance

Electronic feedback given via word-processing software (e.g., track changes in Microsoft Word) allows for a simple way to provide feedback to students during the drafting process. Research has mostly focused on student attitudes toward electronic feedback, with little investigation of how feedback format might affect the quality of instructor comments. In this study, we experimentally manipulated the feedback format, either electronic or handwritten, used by instructors grading papers in an introductory research methods course. Among the effects observed, instructors using electronic feedback provided longer comments, were less likely to rewrite student passages and were more likely to offer general observations about the writing. Students whose papers were graded using electronic feedback also showed greater improvement on subsequent drafts.