Feedback practices with teacher dashboards in primary education: Exploring dashboard-prompted feedback across lesson phases

Key findings from this study

• The study found that dashboard-prompted feedback occurred predominantly in later lesson phases rather than during initial instruction or guided practice segments.
• The researchers demonstrate that teachers' use of dashboards differed primarily in when they provided feedback across lesson phases, not in the variety of feedback types they selected.
• The authors report that task and process feedback dominated teacher dashboard-prompted feedback practices, with negligible use of metacognitive, social, or personal feedback categories.

Overview

This study examined how primary teachers provide dashboard-prompted feedback during mathematics lessons supported by adaptive learning technologies. Teachers use dashboards that display real-time student performance data to deliver targeted feedback across different lesson phases. The research identified patterns in when and what types of feedback teachers deliver based on dashboard information.

Methods and approach

Researchers observed 25 primary teachers delivering mathematics lessons supported by adaptive learning technologies. They analysed the distribution of dashboard-prompted feedback across lesson phases using visualised behavioural clustering. The study categorised feedback into five types: task, process, metacognitive, social, and personal feedback.

Results

Dashboard-prompted feedback predominantly consisted of task and process feedback, with minimal use of metacognitive, social, or personal feedback types. Teachers delivered this feedback mainly during later lesson phases, including independent practice, extended instruction, closure, and evaluation. Analysis identified three distinct clusters of teachers based on the number of lesson phases in which they provided dashboard-prompted feedback: those providing feedback in one phase only, two phases, or three phases. No significant relationship emerged between the type of feedback provided and the number of lesson phases in which teachers enacted dashboard-prompted feedback. Teacher characteristics showed associations with cluster membership, suggesting that experience and familiarity with dashboard-supported instruction influenced feedback distribution patterns across lesson phases.

Implications

The findings indicate that teacher support for dashboard integration should emphasise phase-sensitive implementation strategies rather than focusing primarily on expanding feedback types. Professional development interventions could target the timing and sequencing of dashboard-prompted feedback across lesson phases, particularly helping teachers integrate feedback opportunities during earlier instructional phases. Technology-specific training may improve how teachers leverage dashboards to diagnose student needs and translate dashboard data into pedagogically appropriate feedback moments throughout lessons.

Scope and limitations

This summary is based on the study abstract and available metadata. It does not include a full analysis of the complete paper, supplementary materials, or underlying datasets unless explicitly stated. Findings should be interpreted in the context of the original publication.