Pedagogical feedback in the motor skill domain for computer-based sports training

Abstract

With the rapid development of Computer-based Sport Training (CBST), feedback plays an important role in both coaching and learning. A good CBST system includes not only good training strategies but also effective feedback design. Feedback in the motor skill domain via CBST may be synthetically designed to allow athletes to practice in a more effective way, and enhance their skill acquisition. Little research has been undertaken on the integration of pedagogic theory and instructional design with the design of feedback in CBST. To bridge this gap, this thesis's purpose was to explore the design of pedagogically-informed feedback in the motor skill domain via CBST, in order to support athletes' achievement of their intended training outcomes.

This thesis presents a framework of pedagogical feedback in the motor skill domain. It draws a picture of how principles from learning transactions, competency, cybernetics, and behaviourism, can work together to build sound pedagogical feedback for the implementation of a CBST system. The key principle of the framework is to generate feedback based on the athletes' achievement of their intended training outcome. The training outcome is conceptualised as comprising two components: a statement of capability, and a statement of the subject matter to which the capability applies. The pedagogical feedback system measures athletes' performance and compares it against the intended training outcomes. The system then identifies any performance gap and generates feedback to reinforce better performance.

Four counterbalanced experiments asked student rowers to explore the differences between the pedagogical feedback system and their current feedback system (Sean-Analysis). Pedagogical feedback was at least as good as Sean-Analysis with respect to the level of satisfaction of the athlete. In addition, pedagogical feedback seemed able to generate feedback that was consistent with the athlete's intended training outcome, support the athlete's positioning within their level of achieved performance, and support the athlete's self-assessment. Overall, it can be concluded that the pedagogical feedback based on the proposed framework appears to be a good model for generating feedback in CBST.

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ORCID for Gary Wills: orcid.org/0000-0001-5771-4088

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