From Reflection to Action: A Controlled Field Study on How Learners Interpret and Respond to Feedback in Learning Analytics Dashboards

Background: Learning analytics dashboards (LAD) have been developed as feedback tools to help students self-regulate theirlearning (SRL) by using the large amounts of data generated by online learning platforms. Despite extensive research on LADdesign, there remains a gap in understanding how learners make sense of information visualised on LADs and how they self-reflect using these tools.Objectives: We address this gap through an experimental study where a LAD delivered personalised SRL feedback based on in-teractions and progress to a treatment group, and minimal feedback based on the average scores of the lecture to a control group.Methods: After receiving feedback, students were asked to write down how they planned to adjust their study habits. Thesereflection texts are the target of this study. Three human coders analysed 1251 self-reflection texts from 417 students at threedifferent times, using a coding system that categorised learning strategies, metacognitive strategies and learning materials.Results and Conclusions: Our results show that learners who received personalised feedback intend to focus on different as-pects of their learning in comparison to the learners who received minimal feedback and that the content of the LAD influenceshow students formulate their self-reflection texts. Furthermore, the extent to which students incorporated suggested behaviouralchanges into their reflections was predicted by state measures like perceived helpfulness of the feedback. Our findings outlineareas where support is needed to improve learners' sense-making of feedback on LADs and self-reflection.