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Providing constructive feedback is complex due to the interplay of emotional and motivational processes students experience when receiving such feedback. In the present study, we investigated constitutive elements of what would make feedback perceived to be constructive, and whether students' mastery approach goal orientation and writing self-efficacy influenced these perceptions of feedback on an imagined, writing assignment scenario. In Phase 1, college students were asked to rate 56 feedback statements on degree of specificity and friendliness. In Phase 2, different students rated the feedback statements from Phase 1 on levels of constructiveness. Feedback high in specificity was rated higher in constructiveness than unspecific feedback; however, feedback friendliness had no effect overall. Feedback high in specificity and friendliness received lower ratings of constructiveness. This pattern was more pronounced for students high in mastery approach goal orientation and students high in writing self-efficacy.

This paper utilizes a case-study design to discuss global aspects of massive open online course (MOOC) assessment. Drawing from the literature on open-course models and linguistic gatekeeping in education, we position freeform assessment in MOOCs as both challenging and valuable, with an emphasis on current practices and student resources. We report on the findings from a linguistically-diverse pharmacy MOOC, taught by a native English speaker, which utilized an automated essay scoring (AES) assignment to engage students in the application of course content. Native English speakers performed better on the assignment overall, across both automated- and human-graders. Additionally, our results suggest that the use of an AES system may disadvantage non-native English speakers, with agreement between instructor and AES scoring being significantly lower for non-native English speakers. Survey responses also revealed that students often utilized online translators, though analyses showed that this did not detrimentally affect essay grades. Pedagogical and future assignment suggestions are then outlined, utilizing a multicultural-lens and acknowledging the possibility of certain assessments disadvantaging non-native English speakers within an English-based MOOC system.

Current views of literacy have expanded to encompass how individuals in sociocultural systems make meaning as they "read" and "write" their world. From this view, the work of students involved in pursuing deeper understandings as they discuss course concepts is a literacy act. This study focused on the inquiry and questioning moves of graduate students as they participated in nine online classroom discussions about course concepts. A coding scheme adapted from several researchers interested in inquiry and knowledge co-construction was applied to the students' comments posted in synchronous online discussion. Findings indicated that students used various inquiry moves to engage actively with course ideas, with some moves more popular than others, and with some students using a wider variety of moves than others. Although the most common moves were of those reacting to others' comments with an interpretation, supporting evidence, or more thoroughly explaining a previously shared idea, threads often developed into more sophisticated inquiry exchanges through "inferences" and "critical evaluations." Implications are offered for the use of an inquiry lens on the contributions of students involved in online classroom discussion as a way to highlight students' active, meaningful knowledge construction.

The article examines the constructive feedback from preservice teachers on student writing as of 2013. Topics discussed include previous research on feedback in general and specific research on feedback in writing, the collection and rating of feedback statements, and their reflection on the underlying foci on task, process, self-regulation, and self. Also mentioned is the learning effectivity of feedback with specific comments on improving the writing.