Exploring Affective Feedback Design. The Impact of Feedback, Goals and Emotions on Learning with an Experimental eTraining Object

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to and to give practical recommendations for designof automatic affect based feedback systems in eTraining. It does this byexploring the affective process which underlies the the influence of experiencedfeedback on learning achievement, time and efficiency.Theory: The theoretical background of this study is the achievement goal framework(Elliot and Murayama, 2008) and the achievement emotion theory (Pekrun et al,2005). Further, it utilizes Bloom’s revised taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl,2001).Method: The method of data collection is the web-based experiment. The study was abetween subject design. It was comprised of three conditions: self-referentialfeedback, normative feedback and no feedback. The data analysis utilizesstructural equation modeling in the form of path analysis, independent samplest-tests, ANOVA and descriptive statistics.Results: The results of this study indicate that affective variables influence the effects offeedback on learning achievement. It is suggested that automatic feedbacksystems focus on self-referential feedback if only general information aboutimprovement or decline in performance is available for the learner. However, itcould be expected that self-referential feedback lowers positive achievementemotions as well as negative and thus additional measures should be taken toimprove enjoyment, pride and hope of learners.