Motivation, Peer Learning and Feedback in Flexible Learning

Abstract

Flexible learniang is designed to provide learners with increased choce, convenience and personalisation. This is highly compatible with the concept of constructive alignment and its key concept, that students construct meaning from what they do to learn. At the Department of Design Sciences two courses are given that rely entirely on virtual learning environments (VLEs). The courses were used as resources in this study, where we took a closer look at feedback, peer learning and motivation, and their relation to constructive alignment. Based on material from previous classes, we examined 1) the respective roles of student-to-student, teacher-to-student and student-to-teacher feedback, 2) the ways in which students consulted and collaborated with each other in a peer-learning mode, and 3) the strategies to enhance the students' extrinsic and intrinsc motivation.

The purpose was to study and describe how feedback, peer learning and motivation were manifested in two VLE-based courses at our department, in order to learn how they relate to constructive alignment and how they support flexible learning in diverse student groups, and based on that suggest changes to enhance student learning.