Date of Conferral

2015

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Carole Pearce

Abstract

Many community college students, especially those who are required to take developmental education courses, do not complete course and degree goals. Research shows that constructive feedback practices used by instructors improve academic achievement while destructive feedback practices diminish student learning. Using a constructivist framework, the purpose of this qualitative, instrumental case study was to understand how faculty who teach developmental education and entry level college courses perceive and use feedback in a large urban community college in the Southwestern United States. Data were collected through 17 in-depth, face-to-face interviews and written feedback examples submitted by the faculty members. Interview transcripts were open coded and thematically analyzed and feedback examples were coded and typologically analyzed to identify type of feedback used. Interview findings indicated that faculty used feedback predominately to provide information to students, believing that all types of feedback benefit student learning. Analysis of the written feedback indicated that instructors used both destructive and constructive feedback. Recommendations include designing a professional development training to equip community college instructors with research-based constructive feedback strategies that will support student learning. Implications for positive social change include increasing the use of constructive feedback practices, particularly in developmental and entry level college courses, which may lead to increased course and degree completion for all students.

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