Academic ability generates better quality feedback: Evidence from PeerWise assessments

The provision of feedback by students to peers contributes to their own learning and performance, improves learning experiences, and enhances understanding, problem-solving, and self-assessment abilities. However, the nature of feedback generated by students is not fully understood and, given its ubiquity, merits further investigation. In the present study, undergraduate students ( N = 226) were asked to provide feedback on multiple-choice questions they had created. Each student’s generated feedback utterance ( N = 977) was coded for complexity, and item response theory methods were used to eliminate non-discriminating feedback types. Five types of feedback fit the item response theory model: verification, justification, explication, source, and metacognition. Structural equation modelling indicated that students’ midterm academic performance predicted both the length and complexity of students’ generated feedback. The latter also predicted end-of-course performance.