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O objetivo deste projeto de Mestrado foi o estudo, a análise e o desenvolvimento de técnicas de Realimentação de Relevância (RR) para melhorar a respostas de consultas por similaridade que empregam técnicas de recuperação de imagens por conteúdo (do inglês content-based image retrieval - CBIR). A motivação para o desenvolvimento deste projeto veio do iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), que é um protótipo de servidor Web para o processamento de consultas por similaridade, em construção no GBdI (Grupo de Bases de Dados e Imagens) do ICMC-USP. O iRIS pode ser integrado a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) permitindo que estes possam recuperar imagens por semelhança. A principal restrição do uso de sistemas que incorporam CBIR é a descontinuidade semântica (semantic gap), que credita-se principalmente à utilização de características de baixo nível para descrever as imagens. As características mais utilizadas são baseadas em cor, textura e forma, e geralmente não conseguem mapear o que o usuário deseja/esperar recuperar, gerando um descontentamento do usuário em relação ao sistema. Entretanto, se sistema permitir a iteração do usuário na classificação do conjunto resposta e usar estas informações no processo de refinamento, as consultas podem ser re-processadas e os resultados tendem a atender a expectativa do usuário. Esse é o propósito das técnicas de realimentação de relevância. Este projeto desenvolveu duas técnicas de realimentação de relevância (RR): o RF Projection e o RF Multiple Point Projection. O ganho com a aplicação dessas técnicas foi expressivo, alcançando 29% a mais de precisão sobre a consulta original já na primeira iteração e 42% após 5 iterações. Os experimentos realizados com usuários mostraram que em média são executadas 3 iterações para chegar a um resultado satisfatório. Pelos resultados apresentados nos experimentos, podemos afirmar que RR é uma poderosa ferramenta para impulsionar o uso dos sistemas CBIR e aprimorar as consultas por similaridade. / This Master project aimed at studying, analyzing and developing relevance feedback (RF) techniques to enhance similarity queries that employ the content-based image retrieval (CBIR) approach. The motivation to develop this project came from the iRIS (internet Retrieval of Images System), which is a Web server prototype to process similarity queries. The iRIS can be integrated to a PACS (Picture and Archiving and Communication System) adding the functionality of retrieval images comparing their inherent alikeliness. The main reservation about using CBIR techniques is the semantic gap, because the general use of low level features to describe the images. The low level features, such as color, texture and shape, mostly cannot bridge the gap between what the users expect/want to what they get, generating disappointment and refusal of employing the system. However, if the user is allowed to interact with the system, classifying the query results and using such information on refinement steps, the queries can be reprocessed and the results tend to comply with the users’ expectation. This is just the core of the relevance feedback techniques. Looking at this scenario, this project developed two relevance feedback (RF) techniques: the RF Projection and the RF Multiple Point Projection. The improvements on the similarity queries were expressive going to up 29% with only one interaction, and to 42% on the fifth interaction, when compared to the original query. Experiments performed with users, have shown us that in average they run 3 iterations before get satisfactory results. By the results given by the experiment, one can claim that RF is a powerful approach to improve the use of CBIR systems and enhance similarity queries.

Patient feedback about practitioners’ and practices’ care is commonly used in UK general practice, sometimes by practitioner choice but often embedded in quality assurance and quality improvement programmes. Significant resources in NHS Scotland are spent gathering and reporting on patients’ reported experiences of care using a national GP patient experience survey – Better Together. There is however limited reference in current health policies to strong evidence demonstrating that this is an effective strategy to stimulate improvements in practice and patients’ experiences of care. This research study used realist review of existing literature to understand the impact of patient feedback at practice and practitioner level on patients’ experiences of general practice care, and realist evaluation of three general practices to understand how patient feedback is viewed and used for quality improvement in everyday general practice. Findings from the realist review indicate that there is little or no evidence that practice or practitioner level patient feedback leads to improvements in patients’ experiences of general practice care. The realist evaluation demonstrated great variance in how practice teams gather and respond to patient feedback and significant concerns about the validity of the Better Together survey. Variance in the strategies used to gather feedback and responses to it were predominantly influenced by collective staff beliefs about the quality of service they provided, their estimates of patients’ views of the service and their perceptions of patients’ preferences for providing feedback. While GPs mostly perceived that patients would be likely to tell someone in the practice when dissatisfied, interviews with patients indicated they had little understanding of how they could give feedback and an overall preference for doing this anonymously. One practice team was seen to initiate significant changes aimed at improving patients’ experiences but their ability to demonstrate improvements in experience were limited by changes in their workforce, conflicting externally set targets and methodological limitations of current patient experience measures. Further research is needed to understand how the findings from this study apply to general practice across Scotland and how practices can be best supported to use patient feedback to improve services.

This mixed-methods project was designed to answer four questions around the quality of oral production of French Immersion students: How does the nature of the interactions between intermediate-level FI students provide possibilities for them to engage in peer oral corrective feedback (OCF)? To what extent do students engage in peer OCF following targeted instruction in the technique? If peer OCF is taking place, to what extent is it having an impact on the accuracy of the targeted forms for correctors and correctees in terms of noticing and production? How comfortable (or willing) are students with providing and receiving OCF to and from their peers (both higher & lower proficiency)? A pre- & post-test, and questionnaire, format was used, and detailed analysis of participants in L2 interaction was carried out. The results indicated that the target structures and the OCF techniques may have been too cumbersome to elicit any improvement, or to elicit much peer OCF. However the conversation analysis indicated that in certain circumstances intermediate FI students could participate in sustained L2 interaction, and that within their interactions there were many openings for other forms of active assistance between learners.

Error correction for English language learner's (ELL) writing has long been debated in the field of teaching English to learners of other languages (TESOL). Some researchers say that written corrective feedback (WCF) is beneficial, while others contest. This study takes a look at the manageability of the innovative strategy Dynamic Written Corrective Feedback (DWCF) and asks what factors influence the manageability of the strategy (including how long marking sessions take on average) and what suggestions experienced teachers of DWCF have. The strategy has shown to be highly effective in previous studies, but its manageability has recently been in question. A qualitative analysis of the manageability of DWCF was done via interviews of experienced teachers that have used DWCF and the author's experience and reflections using the strategy. The results indicate that this strategy can be manageable with some possible adaptions and while avoiding some common pitfalls.

This thesis provides reflections on a practice of corrective feedback known as dynamic Written Corrective Feedback (dynamic WCF). First addressing 20 years of concerns regarding the highly-debated topic of feedback in second language (L2) writing and then outlining dynamic WCF as a pedagogical practice founded on four principles, the thesis finally introduces a recently developed handbook for instructors. This handbook presents the four foundational principles of dynamic WCF (timeliness, manageability, meaningfulness, and constancy) to first-time instructors and supports the implementation of dynamic WCF to optimize benefit and enhance manageability in written corrective feedback.

Over the past several decades, cognitive and behavioral scientists have been researching the most effective practices for training muscles to produce specific movements consistently and accurately. That research has led to relatively wide acceptance of several best practices for the training of motor skills. One such practice is the reduction in the frequency with which augmented (external) feedback is provided by the instructor/trainer during skill-acquisition. This theory of low-frequency feedback has been examined by research in a wide variety of fields ranging from exercise and sport to voice therapy and rehabilitation. Prior to the study reported here, however, this theory had not been applied the acquisition of vocal skills associated with classical singing techniques. The current research consisted of an alternating treatment single-subject study, which was conducted on a college campus over the course of a 15-week semester. 8 college voice students (3 male and 5 female) ranging in age from 18 to 25 participated in voice lessons provided by the researcher and aimed at improving the overall quality of the voices of the participants. Over the course of the15 weeks, the instructor alternated between providing a high-frequency feedback (HFF) instruction condition and a low-frequency feedback (LFF) instruction condition. At the beginning of each session, a vocal sample was recorded to test the retention of the skills trained in the previous lesson. Those recordings were evaluated by a panel of five college voice instructors who provided a numerical score (out of a possible 100 pts.) for each sample on the basis of tone quality, breath management, and intonation. The results of this study indicated that three of the eight subjects retained more vocal skill ability during the HFF phases of the study, while the remaining five subjects retained less vocal skill ability during the HFF phases of the study. It was also seen that the three subjects who responded favorably to the HFF instruction condition were also those whose scores were higher throughout the duration of the study. These findings would appear to indicate that an HFF instruction condition may be more beneficial to more experienced or more skilled singers, while an LFF instruction condition may be more beneficial to more novice singers. In the final chapter of this report, several modifications to this study are suggested along with suggestions for future research regarding the application of other principles from motor-learning theory to the acquisition of new vocal skills.

Misalignment between student preferences and instructor assumptions regarding feedback may impede student learning. Researchers have investigated postsecondary students' preferences for types of instructor feedback including written, audio, and video. However, postsecondary online students' preferences have not been explored in a large-sample study. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was conducted to describe postsecondary online students' preferences and the reasons for those preferences. Vygotsky's social-constructivist theory was used to frame instructor feedback as a scaffolding tool to promote self-regulation in student writing. A survey containing quantitative and qualitative questions was used to collect 93 responses from undergraduate and graduate students attending a large private online university; data collection also included interviews with a subsample of 4 volunteer participants who were selected using maximum variation sampling according to their degree program. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive frequencies; qualitative data were analyzed for emerging themes. Findings indicated that students preferred proximal, detailed, supportive feedback. Students' preferences were based on the desire to enhance their writing skills and understand point deductions assessed by instructors. Implications for social change include increasing instructor awareness of students' preferences and enhancing collaboration in the feedback process to promote writing skill development and improve academic outcomes among postsecondary students, especially those matriculated in online programs.

Inconsistent math assessment practices do not accurately represent and communicate student mathematics achievement. Because of inconsistencies in assessment practices, local middle school mathematics teachers in an urban school district in the northwestern United States piloted the use of multiple formative assessments. The purpose of this study was to compare mathematics achievement, growth, and course percentage grades for students who have multiple formative assessment attempts compared to students who are not provided multiple assessment attempts. Theoretical foundations originated from Black and Wiliam, supporting the use of formative assessment for a positive impact on student learning. A quantitative, ex post facto quasi-experimental design was used. The research question focused on the statistical differences in course percentage grade, state standardized testing score, and growth score on state standardized math tests between groups of students who were allowed multiple formative assessment options and those who were not. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test and a one-way MANOVA, which showed a statistically significant difference for student course percentage grade. Findings were used to produce a 3-day professional development program supporting teachers' use of formative assessment in mathematics classes. The findings will inform educational stakeholders' decisions regarding the use of multiple assessment attempts and differences between this specific formative assessment strategy and student mathematics assessment performance to promote positive social change. Positive social changes may include increased awareness of how multiple assessments may affect student growth, course percentage grades, and state testing scores.

Two studies were undertaken in order to investigate the effect of different forms of error feedback and error framing in learning a complex novel task. The experimental task in both studies was a computer-based simulation of a group management situation. After each of the 12 trials, all participants received feedback about their performance on that trial. Participants receiving signal error feedback were also advised as to where they had made errors. Participants receiving diagnostic feedback were told how they could have achieved optimum performance on the previous trial. Learning, performance, strategy, exploration and depth of processing were measured during the task. Self-report measures of self-efficacy, self-set goals, satisfaction and intrinsic motivation were taken after the first six trials and again after all 12 trials were completed. In study 1, detailed diagnostic feedback was associated with better performance than feedback which simply signaled where an error had been made, or feedback that did not identify errors. Diagnostic feedback facilitated the development and use of effective problem-solving strategies and discouraged trial-and-error exploration of the problem space. In this research, exploration was found to be negatively associated with learning and performance. Learners??? self-efficacy moderated the effects of error feedback: learners with high self-efficacy showed high levels of performance regardless of the level of information that the feedback provided but for those with low self-efficacy, detailed diagnostic feedback was essential for the learning process. In the second study, positive error framing (error management) was investigated as a possible means of making signal error feedback more valuable in learning. However while positive error framing was associated with more exploration as expected, it also produced poorer strategies and worse performance than negative error framing (error avoidance instructions). Participants who used good learning strategies instead of exploration performed well despite impoverished feedback. Self-efficacy moderated the impact of error framing: positive error framing helped those with low self-efficacy, but for those with higher self-efficacy it was of more value to encourage error avoidance than error tolerance. The findings show important interactions between error framing, error feedback and learner characteristics.