Feedback in learning processes and student permanence in higher distance education

Abstract

In Colombia, as in many other countries, one of the most pressing problems facing the education system is the low rate of permanence and graduation of students. This problem is much more felt in distance education programs, where less than 30% of the students who enter manage to finish their studies.

Faced with this situation, at the Universidad Nacional Abierta and Distancia UNAD, an institution that welcomes more than one hundred thousand students, a study was carried out with the purpose of analyzing the factors associated with student permanence. The research was oriented under the qualitative paradigm, the ethnographic method was applied and information gathering techniques as depth interview and focus groups with students and teachers of the institution were used.

Among the relevant findings, it is worth highlighting that constant feedback, in student teacher interactions, contributes significantly to student learning, self-regulation, motivation and permanence. Feedback emerges as a dialogic and cyclical process that keeps the actors of the educational process focused on their goals and aware of their performance, progress in learning and the development of skills.