Enhancing preservice teachers’ noticing via adaptive feedback in a virtual reality classroom

Background: Despite the relevance of adaptive performance feedback in teacher education, it remains unclear if it improves preservice teachers’ noticing abilities. Aims: This study aimed to investigate the influence of feedback on teachers' noticing abilities, specifically in the context of visually attending to disruptions within a virtual reality (VR) classroom. We examined the effect of feedback conditions (adaptive/static/no feedback) on three aspects of teachers’ visual attention performance (VAP): selective visual attention, visual scan scope, and visual sensitivity to significant events. Sample: The sample consisted of 98 preservice teachers who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Methods: We used linear mixed-effects modeling to examine feedback effects in a VR classroom with eye tracking. VAP was measured by both subjective (self-report) and objective (the number of fixations on students versus on objects; the degree of dispersions of fixation locations; the number of seen disruptions and the average time to first fixate on a disruption) measures. Adaptive feedback was based on real-time process data from eye tracking and provided participants with individualized evaluations of their actions, while static feedback only offered generic recommendations. Results: We found that participants in both feedback conditions perceived their (subjective) VAP to be improving compared to the control group. But the actual objective VAP only improved for teachers receiving adaptive feedback. Conclusions: This study provides empirical support for using adaptive feedback systems based on real-time process data in enhancing preservice teachers’ professional competence in noticing significant classroom events.