Feedback Design Considerations for Intelligent Team Tutoring Systems

Challenges arise when developing a computer-based Intelligent Team Tutoring System (ITTS) that attempts to deliver feedback to teams as effectively as a human tutor. The purpose of this current work is to outline elements of feedback that should be considered when designing feedback for an ITTS. The authors present the results of a study that consisted of 32 participants grouped into 16 teams of two. Each team conducted a surveillance task where they received individual or team feedback. Feedback content was written using either the bald (direct feedback; no need for interpretation) or off-record (general feedback; interpretation needed) etiquette strategy. The results showed that feedback delivered using the bald etiquette strategy positively correlated with improved performance. The results also showed that team level feedback positively correlated with more accurate self-assessment among participants. This suggests that in an ITTS, direct feedback can lead to better performance, and that feedback provided at the team level can help to align self-interpretation of performance with actual task performance.