Supportive error feedback fosters students' adaptive reactions towards errors: Evidence from a targeted online intervention with Italian middle school students.

BACKGROUND: Although it is well established that students' adaptive reactions towards errors promote learning outcomes, little is still known about the role of error feedback in promoting these reactions. AIM: Through a targeted intervention based on an online teaching unit, this study aimed at testing whether supportive error feedback promotes more adaptive students' reactions towards errors and higher learning outcomes. SAMPLE: A total of 250 (Mage = 12.18, SD = .89; 46.4% girls) Italian middle school students took part in the intervention. Students were randomly assigned to either a discouraging error feedback condition (n = 124) or a supportive error feedback condition (n = 126). METHOD: The intervention consisted of an online teaching unit, which students filled in at home, that was divided into pre-test, intervention and post-test phases. During the intervention, students replied to training questions and every time they made an error, informative feedback appeared: supportive smileys and sentences in the supportive feedback condition, and disappointed smileys and sentences in the discouraging feedback condition. Before the intervention, students filled in the pre-test and after the intervention, students reported their reactions towards errors and filled in the post-test. RESULTS: Receiving supportive feedback resulted in more adaptive affective-motivational reactions towards errors, which in turn were related to more adaptive action reactions towards errors. Differently from our expectations, action reactions towards errors were not related to the post-test scores. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings can inform the development of online teaching units that promote an error-oriented approach.

Time spent on distance learning moderates changes in teachers' work-related well-being one year after the first school closures.

It is now well documented that school closures enforced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic impaired teachers' well-being. Yet, only a few studies tracked changes in teachers' well-being during the subsequent phases of the pandemic, phases that were characterized by the discontinuous implementation of in-person teaching and distance learning. To fill this gap, we conducted a follow-up study at the end of the school year 2020-2021 (May-June 2021, T2), administering an online questionnaire to Italian teachers (N = 240) who had previously taken part in a data collection conducted at the end of the first school closures (May-June 2020, T1). Our first aim was to monitor changes in teachers' psychological and work-related well-being between T1 and T2. Our second aim was to assess whether time spent on distance learning moderates these changes in psychological and work-related well-being. Results showed that teachers' psychological well-being decreased between T1 and T2, whereas work-related well-being increased. What is more, time spent on distance learning moderated the general increase in work-related well-being observed at T2: The longer teachers implemented distance learning during the school year 2021, the less their work-related well-being increased. In conclusion, although it seems that teachers have adapted to the changes associated with the first school closures, this study showed that distance learning remains a possible risk factor for teachers' well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Teachers navigating distance learning during COVID-19 without feeling emotionally exhausted: The protective role of self-efficacy.

In the context of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, teachers faced unprecedented challenges and threats while implementing distance learning. Consequently, teachers may have experienced emotional exhaustion. The aim of our study was threefold: To explore teachers' threat appraisals, to investigate the relation between teachers' threat appraisals and their emotional exhaustion, and to examine processes protecting teachers from emotional exhaustion. Self-efficacy belief, especially, may have driven teachers' perceptions of distance learning as an opportunity (i.e., distance learning strengths), rather than an impediment (i.e., distance learning weakness) to teaching. During the first wave of COVID-19, Italian teachers (N = 1,036) filled in an online survey. A mixed-method design was used to address our three research aims. Findings indicated that, above and beyond other COVID-19 threats, one third of teachers reported worries, fears, and concerns related to their job (i.e., job-related threats). Furthermore, those who mentioned job-related threats experienced greater emotional exhaustion. Finally, teachers' self-efficacy was related to lower emotional exhaustion both directly and indirectly via teachers' perceptions of distance learning. Indeed, distance learning weaknesses (but not distance learning strengths) mediated the negative relationship between self-efficacy and emotional exhaustion. Altogether, our findings encourage reflection on possible interventions to reduce teachers' job-related threats and help them navigate distance learning effectively. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Self-efficacy and psychological well-being in a sample of Italian university students with and without Specific Learning Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Despite an internationally recognized significant increase of students with a diagnosed Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) entering higher education, psychological features of university students with SLD still remain to be explored. AIMS: The study aims to investigate the perceived academic self-efficacy and to identify predictors of psychological well-being in a sample of university students with SLD, compared to a control group of students without SLD. METHODS AND PROCEDURE: 60 Italian undergraduate students with SLD and 283 students without SLD were included in this study. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results indicated that university students with SLD, compared to students without SLD but with comparable academic achievement, did not report significantly lower levels of academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, a multiple regression analysis indicated that self-esteem and perceived social support by significant others did significantly predict the value of psychological well-being in students with SLD. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The findings suggest that undergraduate students with SLD may represent a particular category of young adults who have beaten the odds, who have persisted in effort even if they struggled and then who have succeeded.