The feedback of written assignments in distance education as a factor for shaping the self-esteem of students

Abstract

An important learning tool in distance learning education is the feedback that teachers provide to the students’ assignments, as it can affect them emotionally and contribute to the further improvement of their learning pathways. The aim of this research is to examine the perceptions of postgraduate students of the Hellenic Open University (H.O.U.) about the degree of emotional influence, the usefulness of feedback they receive and the extent to which these perceptions relate to their self-esteem levels. Our research questions related to emotional influence, the usefulness of feedback, the self-esteem of students and their degree of correlation. We use the quantitative method and a questionnaire with closed-type questions as the tool of collecting data. Our sample consists of 201 postgraduate students in the Faculty of Humanities at the H.O.U. attending the courses of Adult Education and Education Sciences. The data analysis shows that postgraduate students are emotionally affected by the provided feedback and find it useful as long as it meets their educational needs and helps them to further improve themselves.