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Random Experiment on Relative Performance Feedback in Higher Education at URJC

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Addressing Inequities in Modern Educational Assessment

Abstract

This article shows the effect of providing feedback to university students at the Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid on their percentile in the distribution of grades in different tests carried out throughout the second semester of the 2022 academic year. To conduct the study, carried out a randomized experiment among students, with the aim of determining whether greater transparency in the results throughout the semester increased performance at the end of the course. It is intended to demonstrate that informing students about their relative position during the semester based on the percentile they obtain with respect to the class can achieve added motivation to improve final grades. The random experiment has been carried out once the students have returned to normality in the classrooms after the pandemic caused by COVID-19. The pandemic caused a lack of motivation to attend classrooms due to telecare and remote work. To carry out the randomized experiment, the class was divided into two groups. A treatment group, randomly chosen from the total number of students, who were notified of the percentile with respect to the class throughout the semester and a control group to analyze the effects with respect to the treatment group. The sample taken in this random experiment was very small because this experiment is intended to be carried out over several semesters, so as an essay, this article will be a first approximation of the results that are expected to be obtained in the next courses.

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Correspondence to Cristian Macías Domínguez .

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Domínguez, C.M. (2023). Random Experiment on Relative Performance Feedback in Higher Education at URJC. In: Sainz, J., Sanz, I. (eds) Addressing Inequities in Modern Educational Assessment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45802-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-45802-6_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-45801-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-45802-6

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