Making formative assessments really formative: Evaluating the efficacy of narrated video feedback

The use of formative assessments have been shown to improve student learning of economic concepts. Students learn better when they have an opportunity to practice and to review their mistakes. Therefore, a critical part of this process is the ability to obtain feedback, whether provided by the instructor or from a publisher provided resource. Typically, however, most online feedback comes in the form of a short written explanation, which may not be the most effective way to explain concepts that are inherently graphical in nature.  This paper tests the efficacy of an alternative form of feedback: narrated multimedia feedback. Narrated multimedia feedback consists of short narrated videos explaining a question and its answer, thereby simulating an office hours setting. By syncing the narration along with the visuals, this type of feedback uses the natural cognitive process to explain the concepts to students. We test the efficacy of this multimedia feedback by conducting a field experiment in a large enrollment (757 student) microeconomic principles course. Students are randomly grouped into a control group that received no feedback, and two treatment groups that received either written feedback or narrated feedback. We provide evidence that students who had access to narrated feedback scored significantly higher on assessment questions relative to those with access only to written feedback or no feedback at all. This difference is significant for questions that are inherently more graphical in nature. The results have practical implications for the increasingly number of instructors assigning online activities and assessments for their students.

JEL Classification: A20; A22

Subject Areas: Economic Education; Formative Assessment; Feedback; Active Learning